Train2Game Designer student Jonathan Carter tells us what he finds most enjoyable about the course, what he’s learnt from train2Game and the project he is working on — Chess: Pirates VS Ninjas.
Train2Game Games Developer student Lee Davis explains how he’s making a game and shows us his Developers Den.
Stay tuned for more videos from other Train2Game students.
Digital and pre-owned games constituted one third of the United States market last year, with US consumers spending over $4.5 billion dollars on them according to research by the NPD Group.
It wasn’t so long ago that discs, or cartridges, were the only way for the consumer to purchase a video game. But thanks to the wonders of the internet, it’s now so easy to buy games without even leaving the house.
Of course, there’s the standard online shopping which allows consumers to buy the latest Call of Duty or FIFA through just a few clicks, but even then they’ll have to wait a few days for the postman to deliver what they want. So the gamer might be happy about not having to leave the house – because let’s face it, if we can avoid moving we will – but less pleased about not instantly receiving the game.
Digital downloads almost entirely bypass this issue. When purchasing a game, then downloading it, the consumer doesn’t have to wait long at all before they can play it. Of course, Train2Game has previously examined the discs vs. digital debate, but over the weekend I saw for myself just how easy it is for us download games – games that we may have had no intention of actually buying in the first place!
I like to relax – if relaxing can be defined as bellowing instructions to teammates down a microphone – by playing Team Fortress 2. Now, in order to play Team Fortress 2 I need to log into Steam, Valve’s content delivery system. When I logged in, a special offer popped up saying the Mass Effect games were on offer over the weekend only, with a whopping 75% off the RRP. Having never played a Mass Effect game, and having heard how great they are, I decided to buy the first Mass Effect title for the grand total of £3.24. If I could have afforded to, I would have bought Mass Effect 2 for £12.99 too.
So, having signed into Steam to play Team Fortress 2, I find that I’ve parted with my hard earned cash and soon have a shiny digital copy of Mass Effect installed on my hard drive.
This is why digital downloads are ever-increasing their share of the consumer games market – it’s just so easy to download a game! The thought of buying Mass Effect hadn’t even crossed my mind before I logged into Steam on Sunday afternoon, but a few hours later the game had been added to my collection.
Of course, the knock down price played a massive part in my decision to make the purchase – which is probably why pre-owned games are doing so well too – but the fact is I parted with my cash and bought a game that is two years old through digital distribution.
Train2Game students should take heed of how powerful the digital market has become in recent years, and strive to take advantage of it. A Games Developer, Games Designer and Games Artist & Animator can get together and make a game yes, but ultimately in order to become successful in the industry their creations will have to sell. For Train2Game graduates just starting out in the industry, digital distribution would be by far the easiest way to do this, be it through a standard PC download, Steam, the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live.
There’s a consumer market out there, who with the right incentives will buy new games at the drop of a hat. What will you do to market yours? As usual, freel free to leave your comments here or on the Train2Game forum.
Microsoft and Sony, I haven’t mentioned Nintendo? ‘Why?’ I hear you ask? But fear not, Train2Game hasn’t ignored you Nintendo fans, in fact my most excellent colleague Gabe has written a comprehensive round up of every Nintendo announcement on his own blog. Good ay?
As usual you can leave a comment – on his blog this time – or discuss it on the Train2Game Forum.
Video games are not only one of the greatest forms of entertainment, but will in future, become a key part of a single system – That’s the opinion of Marvel Comics legend Stan Lee.
Speaking to a BBC reporter at Activision’s impressive E3 event, the veteran comics publisher spoke very positively of video games.
“I love games, I’m no good at them myself, but I love to watch people play them and I love to watch people play the games.
And I think it’s one of the greatest methods of entertainment, and I think it’s only at the beginning now, it’s burgeoning, growing.
….There was a survey and it said the average age of game players now is mid 20s to mid 30s, it’s no longer just a kids thing and it’s a wonderful form of entertainment.
Because you’re seeing the story, but you’re participating in the story and what can be better than that?”
Stan Lee is certainly right about the growth of the games industry. It’s amazing to think how far it’s come in such a relatively short space of time – just compare how Super Mario Galaxy 2 on the Nintendo Wii looks compared to the first ever Super Mario Bros, released on the NES just over 20 years ago!
And with new innovations in recent years like motion controllers – including PlayStation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect – and 3D gaming, in addition to ever more photo-realistic graphics, who knows where the games industry will be in another 20 years time! The big name Games Designers, Games Developers, and Games Artist and Animators of the future – who could very well be current Train2Game students – could be revealing absolutely mind blowing new innovations at E3 2030! (In case you’ve somehow managed to miss the key events from the current E3 2010, you can catch up with developments here)
When asked about the future of video games by BBC reporter Daniel Emery, Stan Lee only sees great things:
“I think they’ll get better and better. I think the whole of entertainment is coming together, sort of homogenising.
You’re going to have comic books, you’re going to have cartoons, movies, television, video games and music.
They’re all becoming one thing and you’ll be able to watch it on your little telephone screen when you’re travelling, then everybody’s going to want the biggest TV set, bigger than his neighbour.
It’s incredible. Everybody wants the biggest TV set and the smallest little thing to watch it on, but everything will be on one screen eventually, including video games and everything else.”
If Stan Lee’s predictions do come to pass, it’s entirely possible that Train2Game course graduates could be designing games that will be accessible to anyone through a single multi-purpose entertainment system. Are the first steps towards this already happening? Possibly, with OnLive going live tomorrow (Thursday 17th June) we could be seeing the future of gaming, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Of course, smart phones such as the iPhone already provide people with multiple forms of entertainment – including games – in one place, and as we’ve discussed previously on the Train2Game blog, the iPhone could give a Train2Game student their big break.
The video games industry has a very bright future, and as a Train2Game graduate, you could very well be a part of it. Do you think you could end up developing games for a home entertainment hub? As usual let us know here on this blog, or on the Train2Game Forum.
Another big name has waded into the Discs vs Digital debate in the form of Namco Bandai VP of sales, marketing and publishing Olivier Comte.
You may remember that recently, SCEE President Andrew House acknowledged that games sold on discs in boxes are still popular but that digital content could possibly the way forward. His comments were discussed in great detail on the Train2Game Forum.
In an interview with MCV, Comte spoke about a number of subjects including the digital market. He questioned its relevance on consoles;
Today digital is a significant part of PC gaming. We are a Japanese company and Japanese companies are not known for PC titles. But we need to have a product on every platform – including PC – so in that sense digital will start to become more important for Namco Bandai. There is better margin and using a digital platform gives us direct access to the consumer.”
“But in terms of console, it is a little bit too early to say. The only real business model for digital on consoles is DLC because the consumer will always want to have the box because it is an expensive thing.”
He raises a good point about the contrasts between the digital markets of console and PC games. As mentioned in a previous blog, the PC has embraced the idea of digital distribution and downloadable content far more enthusiastically than the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 has. The dominance of Steam in the digital distribution market has of course helped this along. Meanwhile, console owners prefer their games to some on a disc in a box.
So, while downloadable games may not be to the tastes of major distributors, it’s an ideal way for independent Games Designers, Games Developers, and Games Artists and Animators – like Train2Game students – to get their work out there.
This appears to have worked for independent studio Hello Games, who’ve just released their first production in form of Joe Danger on the PlayStation Network – and it’s had some very good reviews. We’ll have to wait and see if these positive reviews transform into downloads, but with a relatively low price it’s likely that many gamers will be tempted to try it out.
We’re not so willing to risk our money on something new if it costs £40 and doesn’t even come in a box. But this raises an important question for independent developers; do you save costs by releasing your first game as a digital download? Or do you sell it in a box which consumers can pick up on the shelf. Train2Game students, as producers, which medium would you prefer?
June 24th 2010 is a big day for mobile video games, phone applications and Apple fans in general. Why? Because on that day the iPhone 4G is released, and not only will it continue to revolutionise mobile communication, but it’ll also continue to expand the opportunity for playing quality, well developed, video games on the iPhone.
The iPhone 4G will introduce a number of enhancements over previous models, including “improved camera system and battery life, as well as an updated version of the iOS operating system, designed to provide more flexibility for developers.”
That last bit is likely to be most appealing to Train2Game students, be they a Games Designer, Games Developer or a Games Artist & Animator, as the continued advancement of the iPhone technology means it’s easier than ever to get a video game published. Apple themselves say they approve 95% of Applications within a week.
iPhone games are getting more and more popular, especially with old classics such as Final Fantasy and Monkey Island now available for the handset. Twenty years ago you would have needed a state of the art games system in your room in order to play these. Nowadays you can enjoy these almost legendary titles wherever you are, be you on the train, at the park or *ahem* in the bathroom.
The choice and quality of games available for the iPhone can only improve, as according to Apple, “4G’s gaming applications will be superior to previous models due to the addition of a three-axis gyro, which will allow for a wider array of motion control options.”
Many of the biggest gaming news websites have already taken note of the potential of iPhone games, including GamesRadar who run an ‘Iphone game of the day’ feature’ which showcases a variety of games that people can easily go onto download from the iTunes store at generally low prices.
The advantage for developers – like the Train2Game students – is iPhone games can be developed for a relatively small amount – and bought for as little as 59p – but if the game proves popular it can really jumpstart a career in the games industry. There are a number of tales out there about iPhone game developers who have been very successful through this medium. Perhaps a Train2Game student will one day a make a name for themselves in this way.
So, who’s excited about the iPhone 4G? And who’s ready to attempt to developer a game for it?
As usual all comments are appreciated. Either leave them here or on the Train2Game Forum.
So, let’s imagine that you’ve completed your Train2Game course and a small group of you have formed your own little independent studio with a Games Developer, a Games Designer and a Games Artist and Animator. You make a game, a great game that you feel is amazing, but due to the competitive market, your title doesn’t sell as well as you’d hoped. What do you do?
Give up? No, don’t be silly! When did Train2Game ever teach you to do that?
Work on another project and just hope that it sells a bit better? Hmmm, maybe.
Send out a questionnaire asking people why they’re not buying your games?
That last one sounds a bit farfetched doesn’t it? Well, not necessarily because that’s what one independent developer has done.
Positech Games is a UK-based one man games company run by Cliff ‘Cliffski’ Harris, who last year released a title called Gratuitous Space Battles which has generally received favourable reviews. Now in the name of self-improvement, Cliffski is asking ‘“Why didn’t you buy Gratuitous Space Battles?” He says:
“I am NOT complaining. I am NOT moaning about sales. I am NOT unhappy with sales, I am not whining or anything like it. I just like making games that people enjoy, and I don’t know why the people who didn’t buy it, didn’t buy it. I’d like to know. The answers may well make it a better game for everyone, if I fix those reasons (if they make sense). It will make the game attractive to current fence-sitters, better for current owners, and more sales for me and my cats.”
Anyone, including you – yes, you – can email Cliff and tell him why you didn’t buy his game. Responses so far range from ‘I have too many games to play’ to ‘I don’t like strategy games’ to even ‘Before reading this I’d never heard of your game’ Hopefully this information has been useful to Cliffksi and he’ll benefit from it as a independent developer.
However, it isn’t the first time he’s asked the general population on the Internet about issues relating to his games. Two years ago, Cliff asked ‘Why do people pirate my games?’ and the responses he got led to the removal of DRM from his games.
Positech games may be a tiny developer, but he has allowed the general gaming public to have a say on his company’s products and this has had had an impact on sales. This could be an important lesson to any Train2Game students trying to break into the industry – you need to listen to your audience – their attitude towards your games could essentially make or break them.
Would you consider asking people who haven’t played your game why they didn’t buy it?
Digital distribution of games might be becoming more popular, especially on PC, but according to Sony, “Disc based content is still very much what the consumer is used to and wants”
Speaking to the PlayStation blog about content delivery, SCEE President Andrew House acknowledged that while discs are still popular, improved technology is making digital downloads an increasingly attractive option.
“There has been a change in attitude and technology that is making digital delivery far more feasible and far more attractive. It is our job to ensure that consumers have the choice between the two where possible.
How this area will evolve, I can’t really say at this time, as we are relying on many things outside of our control, such as broadband speeds. Things are changing quickly and we have to make sure we are ready for those changes.”
So while discs remain the dominant force on consoles for now, it appears Sony will be keeping a close eye on how the ability to distribute digital content delivers in future. Indeed, only this week it was revealed that the PSP2 could be a download content only device.
However, at this moment in time it seems farfetched that a PlayStation 3 or an Xbox 360 could become completely download only. Industry analyst Michael Pachter even goes so far to say that there’s “No chance in hell” of this happening, and explained:
“PCs are probably about 95% connected to the internet but my guess is with the Xbox 360, it’s maybe two-thirds, with the PS3 it might be as high as 85%. And with the Wii my guess is it’s below 50% but probably closer to 35%, so it’s all the guys that are NOT connected that are going to keep games from ever being mandate downloadable.”
He raises a good point. Perhaps the PC market could become a fully digital industry at some point in future just due to the very nature of how a computer works. A brand new PC has a massive hard drive and this can easily be upgraded as time goes on in order to store more content. Consoles on the other hand have limited space. What would happen to a game that needed to be uninstalled to make room for a new one?
It’s this question that’s one of the main reasons that I personally prefer to buy my games on discs. I can access them any time I want just by picking them up off the shelf. It’d be an incredible hassle to constantly have to re-install older games I may want to go back to.
Of course, both the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live allow you to download smaller independent games – one a Train2Game student could develop – but even this can take a long time. It could therefore take most of a day to download and install, say a digital version of Red Dead Redemption onto a console.
Yes, I occasionally use digital distribution through Steam to download PC games, but at the end of the day, I still prefer to have physical copies available on my shelf not only for me to pick up and play whenever I want to, but also just to sit there and look nice in exactly the same way books or DVD’s would.
Digital distribution does have advantages, a cheaper price for the consumer and an easier way for an aspiring Games Developer, Games Designer or Games Artist to get their work out to the market. But personally, I believe that discs will be around for a long time yet.
How about you? Do you prefer to buy games as a physical disc in your hand? Or as a digital download? How do you think this will develop in future?
With online gaming becoming an evermore-prevalent cornerstone of the games market, many developers are also turning to the Internet for publishing. As mentioned previously in this blog it’s Valve and their online digital distribution service Steam that are the current masters of this art – you pay your money you get your game.
Now many other developers are seriously looking at the prospect of online only publishing and this includes Realtime Worlds, the developer behind Crackdown and APB. The latter is an action orientated MMO which when purchased comes with 50 free hours of online play. After this, 20 more hours can be bought for £5.59 or if the player prefers they can buy a 30 day unlimited package for £7.99.
It’ll also be possible to buy this extra play time using an in game currency, RTW points, which can be bought in large amounts with real money or made through selling custom items to other players. In an interview with Develop, APB Lead Designer EJ Moreland said it’s a system that’ll also be implemented in the developers’ future titles.
““Realtime Worlds is transitioning from being a developer to being an online publisher, [and] RTW Points is going to be the currency for all of our games in the future.”
One of those games is a yet unannounced title and Moreland’s comments seem to suggest that the Dundee-based studio will be producing another online title. Of course, through self-publishing a title online the Games Developers, Games Designers, and Games Artists cut out the middle man in the form of needing to cover the costs of physical discs and retail. This may very well be appealing to Train2Game students looking to break into the market.
However, one has to wonder if people will use the currency to buy extra playtime. Paying for RTW points with a debit card will take some time, then will the whole process have to be repeated in order to pay for the actual product? Though perhaps the use of RTW points will strengthen the APB community, and ultimately encourage them to play for longer – and thus pay for more content. Maybe players with large amounts of RTW points will play future titles too, seeing as they’ve already stocked up on the currency needed to buy it. We’ll see.
What do you think is the best system for a developer to use when publishing a game online? Real money or a specific type of in-game currency?
