This weeks SpecialEffect case is a very special one. One of the young girls in the video is the daughter of the founder of SpecialEffect. The two girls use Kinect to play together, you can see how much fun they are having.
SpecialEffect has almost reached their goal of 25,000 views so lets keep watching and sharing to help them out!
You can hear the interview here:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1037414-train2game-students-chloe-talks-to-mark-on-t2g-radio
or read the transcript below:
Hello, could you tell me your name please?
Hi my names Chloe Martin
What course are you taking?
I’m currently studying Game Art & Animation
How did you find the experience of the world record winning game jam and how did it feel to win?
I found the experience unforgettable and it has really made an impact on me, rubbing shoulders with a wealth of knowledge. Being thrown into the deep end with people I had never met before and creating a team and a playable game was just overwhelming let alone winning the competition.
After finding out the theme, how did you get the idea for your game, Royal Rush?
We chucked around lots of ideas, mainly focusing on the theme but kept it as simple as possible, taking into account what the platform was and how to make it easy as possible to make within the time we got. We chose the final idea from working out which mechanics would be easy to develop, considering we only had one programmer, and making it as fun as possible. The idea came from an old-school game called Frogger. Trying to avoid traffic with a sense of urgency which gets players really excited.
Some people may know we worked together at The Gadget Show Live after winning the 2011 Game Jam. What do you think makes a winning game?
I think the limited time the Game Jam has, it needs to be as simple as possible but flexible enough to expand if you have time. Make sure the game is easy as possible to understand. However I think the enjoyment is a major factor, you need to grab the players attention, make them excited when playing so they want to come back to it again and again. Let’s not forget having a great time behind the scenes!
Who inspires your art work?
I love fantasy and technical design work. I don’t have a favourite at any one time. I get a lot of my inspiration from fellow students on the Train2Game course.
What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life?
I would say probably the Game Jams run by Train2Game. Everyone of these events I have been to has been a great experience and I have learnt so much and met some great people.
What is your reason for getting into the gaming industry and how will the gaming industry change your life?
I just love games, being part of making ideas come to life for people to get enjoyment from the experience in games just gives me such a buzz. It has already changed my life being part of this course, it has opened up so many experiences; meeting people who inspire me, creating games from scratch and seeing people play your game and enjoying it is a great satisfaction that I want to take to the top.
What is your greatest ambition?
My greatest ambition is to inspire people with my work and to be part of the future of gaming.
What’s next for you and your career?
Well I am determined to find a job in the gaming industry in 2013.Successfully finish my course and work on improving the game Royal Rush ready for Windows 8 Marketplace.
What’s your story, what are the past experiences that have shaped your life?
I think the main reason is being brought up with the games consoles and the satisfaction of learning how to play a game and how the game makes you feel when you’re consumed in it. To this day I still think back on the games that made my childhood amazing. Before this I never thought games was a career I guess. I studied and enjoyed art through most of my education and one day just put my love of games and my talent together. It has opened up this path for me. My passion for games has driven me to what I want to become in the future.
Thank you very much Chloe. Good luck with everything you do in the future.
Thank you for having me.
The game Royal Rush will be available on all Windows 8 devices.
Possibly the biggest news this week is that Disney has purchased LucasArts for $4.05 billion. In doing so Disney now has the rights to everything in the Star Wars vaults. The plan is to release Star Wars episode VII in a couple of years time. LucasArts also makes some of the games in the Star Wars universe so this could mean changes in future games from the company. We will have to wait and see.
Grand Theft Auto V has finally had a release date confirmed. The highly anticipated fifth part of the saga will be coming to PS3 and Xbox360 in Spring 2013. There has been no mention of a PC release as of yet but it is common for Rockstar to release their PC versions several months later.
Another release date has been announced this time for Peter Molyneux’s Curiosity: What’s inside the cube. The release date has been given as November 7 for iOS and Android. The app will be free to download and play.
One of my most favourite games of this year is Borderlands 2 and it has just surpassed five million sales. The sales include retail and digital sales. Take-Two said it has become “one of the most successful releases in [subsidiary] 2K’s history”. In addition Borderlands Legends has been released for iOS today.
The Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 trailer hit the world on Monday. The trailer was directed by Guy Ritchie and has a cameo from Robert Downey Jr. You can watch the trailer here.
Kickstarter, the most popular vehicle for crowdfunding games development projects, is now available in the UK. Previously UK-based developers could only pledge, but not create projects, now they can seek funding on the platform.
A sequel to the terrifying Amnesia: Dark Descent has been announced with a creepy trailer to get you in the Halloween spirit. Frictional games have always asked for fans to record screams, whimpers and blood curdling shrieks to be put in to the game. You can email your screams to piggies@thechineseroom.co.uk. The trailer can be seen here.
Lastly in more worrying news the terrible storm, Hurricane Sandy, that has hit the US has knocked out Activisions data centers and shut down online play for a number of games including Call Of Duty and Guitar Hero. My best wishes go out to all those affected by the storm.
Art
Jagex Ltd, in Cambridge, a world leading independent Online Games Studio, is looking for a highly motivated illustrator to produce art work to help market our games, including Transformers Universe and RuneScape.
Working within a team of illustrators, you will be responsible for producing highly polished & large scale pieces of creative fantasy art. Working on a large variety of projects including wallpapers, posters, adverts and websites you would have the creative freedom & time to produce outstanding images you can be proud of.
This highly rewarding & creative role will suit an exceptional illustrator with at least 2-3 years experience looking for a new challenge. The successful candidate should have an exceptional online portfolio demonstrating a large variety of art styles.
Key Duties Include:
Essential Requirements:
Desirable Requirements:
You can apply HERE.
Design
Jagex Ltd, in Cambridge, the UK’s largest developer and publisher of online games, is looking for an exceptional individual to play a major role in shaping its world renowned, Guinness World Record holding MMO, RuneScape.
Reporting to the Lead Designer & Design Manager, the successful candidate will be responsible for the design of key game features; guiding the production of their systems and content from original concept, to creation & prototyping, through final polish and community feedback.
This amazing opportunity to be a key contributor to a world class MMO from a successful and stable developer/publisher demands the highest levels of expertise, experience, passion and commitment.
Key Duties:
Requirements:
You can apply HERE.
Developer
| Dubit make Virtual Worlds, Casual MMOs and Games for kids. We’ve created many successful titles built on our own Platform for Cartoon Network, BBC, Dorothy of Oz, Diesel, Monty Python and many more. We are currently working on a number of exciting projects for 2012 and 2013 and we’re looking for team members with the drive, passion and ambition that will help us make those projects the best they can be. The Role: We have opportunities currently for talented Programmers with a passion for games. You will be proficient in object oriented programming and have an eye for detail with experience of working from game design and wireframe documentation and user interface designs. You will also be expected to work on associated gaming websites. Essential Job Functions: (You should have experience in one of more of the following)
Knowledge Requirements:
Demonstrated Ability To:
About Us: We offer competitive salaries, excellent benefits and a generous holiday entitlement. The environment itself is relaxed, friendly and built upon the basis of every team member having ownership and a realisable input into the games we create. We are located in Leeds, just off the M621. If you have a passion for making and playing games, have excellent skills and experience, dedication and, most importantly, the talent we need – then we really want to hear from you. You can apply HERE. |
With the release of Windows 8 and the student games being published on the Store, Eurogamer has done a story on the World Record Game Jam.
You can read the article below
You can listen to the interview at
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1030916-train2game-student-talks-to-mark-kingdon-on-t2g-student-radio
or read the transcript below:
Hello, I am here with Jonny Robinson from Milton Keynes, how you doing Jonny?
I’m doing very well thanks how is yourself?
I’m very good thank you, Could you tell me what course you’re on?
I’m on the Games designer course.
What is the most dramatic or exciting thing you have done in your life?
Winning the Gadget Show, that was quite cool, the Make Something Unreal Live 2012. Pretty exciting times with Epic!
What is your reason for getting in to the gaming industry and how will the gaming industry, change your life?
I wanted to get in the gaming industry when I was very young, it’s one of those things that I explain a lot to my friends that when I was young I used to put the gaming industry on a pedestal. You know you kind of worship it, you want it so bad but then you realise, I don’t know if I can do that so you kind of dismiss it for years. I then saw this course advertised in the news paper and I thought, you know what – I’ll give it a shot, it’s an online course I can do it in my own spare time and when I actually did the course I felt a lot more confident in myself. I felt I should share my experience with people so I did a lot of Train2Game promoting for the design course because it helped me a lot with my confidence and so really I would say it is one of the best decisions I have ever made so far.
After you earn your Train2Game diploma, what would be your greatest ambition in the industry?
Obviously get a full time job. I am also working with my team, the Commando Kiwi team, on a new project. I’ll chuck that out there as well, it’s the first time I’ve mentioned it. We are going to put something up on our Facebook very soon. We made a game for the Gadget Show which was “The Warlock Of Firetop Mountain” on the iOS and now we are taking a further step into the industry with the Unreal Engine, as that’s what we won at the Gadget Show. I can’t really say to much but we are on the fronts of making this new game.
What platform is the game going to be on?
At the moment we are going to stick to our current market and go with iOS but there has been hints with the team for Steam as well.
What genre is it going to be?
That’s stuff I am keeping reserved, I will let you know the scoop when I am ready to release the information.
What is your story, what are the past experiences that have shaped your life to who you are today?
Being where I am at the right time I suppose and just keep on striving for success, keep your head up and just keep going. I wouldn’t say anything has altered me, I would just say it’s the path I have been led on, you know, by destiny or whatever you want to call it but so far, if it is so called destiny, it has led me down a fine route, I have met some really interesting people.
I also know you have a blog to help fledgling designers get in to the industry, what inspired you to start that?
I have been doing video diaries for a long time and I know there are a lot of blogs out there like Gamasutra, they make some really incredible articles. I realised that there are not many from a student point of view that’s actually been in the industry and tasted that addiction as I like to call it. You know once your in the industry you kind of feel like an over whelming sense of adrenaline and I just feel like if I need to keep blurting my mind out there to people saying you need to get in this industry, it’s amazing! I’m doing whatever I can as it’s not programming or art its more design and it is a very niche market. I can guarantee you, you ask any designer and you say, what does it mean to be a game designer? What skill sets do you have? Every designer will tell you something completely different and that’s what I am trying to get across in my blogs. You have to be really open minded to be a designer and really blend your key skills to the actual studio themselves.
That leads me quite nicely on to my last point, what advice would you give to someone looking to get in to the games industry?
First of all, attend Game Jams, that’s the first one. I know Train2Game just did one with Microsoft and I attended one last year that was with Epic. The second I would recommend is trying to talk to people in the community, go on the Train2Game Forums and just generally create games. No one ever says in the industry who have you worked for, they say what experience have you got?
If people want to read more about it, where can people find your blog?
My website is www.ironcore1.wordpress,com
Thank you very much Jonny and keep us updated on all things Commando Kiwi
No problem, thank you very much for your time Mark, Ta-ra!
SpecialEffect is still quite small but is doing incredible things. Below is a one minute video of the amazing Charlotte Nott, a 4 year old little girl that battled meningitis and who we have been able to help play with her family and friends again with a specialist Nintendo wii.
Please continue to help SpecialEffect by watching and sharing the video below. We need to get to 25,000 views by Christmas day! It has now reached over 10,000 views, keep up the good work.
Steams Workshop, which is used to create content for games such as Team Fortress 2 and Skyrim, has turned one. The user created content has subsequently earned “millions of dollars” for their creators and Steam themselves.
The Greatest Video Game Music 2, the follow-up to the best-selling video game album of all time, will be released worldwide on Nov 6 and has been performed by The London Philharmonic Orchestra. The digital soundtrack album will include 17 new orchestral renditions of video game theme songs like Halo, Batman: Arkham City, Assassin’s Creed: Revelations and the ever-so classic Final Fantasy VII.
Following the success of Borderlands 2, an iOS spin-off has been confirmed with a release date of October 31. The game sees you play as the original 4 vault hunters from the first Borderlands in a wave-based survival game. Additionally, in true Borderlands style you can earn experience and level up your characters, unlocking new skills and abilities with each character having their own set of unique skills and abilities.
The first reviews of Hitman: Absolution have surface in Official Playstation Magazine UK and Official Xbox Magazine. Both magazines gave the game 9 out of 10. OPM said “This is the peak of the series so far” and OXM said “it a triumph of stealth and sandbox design that retains everything that fans have ever loved about the series”.
Wish Studios, a newly formed studio in Brighton, is working with Sony to develop a new IP. While other details about the partnership remain shrouded in secrecy, the status of Wish’s new client will likely serve as a significant help to the recently founded start-up’s presence in the industry.
A report by Google has said that over 50% of people use their tablet for gaming. The only activity performed more than gaming on a tablet is checking emails. The study, which was commissioned and published by Google, found that 51.5 per cent of its participants used their tablet for gaming in a two-week period.
The new dashboard for the Xbox was launched yesterday. It includes an internet explorer app giving the console a browser and the newly launched Xbox music which is similar to that of Spotify. The update also saw the removal of the Twitter and Facebook apps.
In an interesting collaboration, a new mod was made for the MMO World of Warcraft which sees the newly introduced pet battles become Pokemon battles. The aptly name WOWkemon sees a short tutorial by Professor Birch describing the Pokémon-ified battle screens and ability menus with the familiar sounds, screen effects, and even the font closely resembling the style of the handheld game legend.
ART
Creative Assembly
| Job Title | Animator |
|---|---|
| Skills Required | Animator |
| Location | UK & Europe |
| Job Description | Position Overview:The animator will need to create and deliver top-quality animation from in-game content to in-game cinematics. With the focus on quality, the candidate will need to use various techniques from hand-keyed animation to motion capture to deliver the desired results as set by the animation and project leads. The right candidate will need to be exceptionally skilled and it’s important that they are a motivated team player.
Key responsibilities:
Knowledge, Skills and Experience:
|
You can apply HERE.
Developer
Jagex
| Job Title | Content Developer – (Games Studio) – Cambridge |
|---|---|
| Skills Required | Lead Programmer, Java / Browser, Gameplay, Graphics / Engine, Build Engineer, Core Technology |
| Location | Cambridge, Cambridgeshire (CB1), Cambridge |
| Job Description | CONTENT DEVELOPER – (GAMES STUDIO) – CAMBRIDGEWe are seeking a Content Developer to brainstorm and create new MMO game element ideas (quests, mini-games, skills etc.) for one of world’s largest independent Online Games Studios.
With 3 Guinness world records; a Queen’s Award for Enterprise (2011) a Deloitte Technology Fast 50 (2010); a Sunday Times Top 100 company to work for (2008) and countless other awards to their name, this multi-award winning business employ over 450 people and sit at the very forefront of the online games industry, developing and publishing mini games and leading titles interacted by millions worldwide! Pivotal in creating new game element ideas (quests, mini-games, skills, etc.) you will work with graphic artists, testers and other professionals to produce the best content possible. You should be the type of Content Developer who can write high quality code (using an internal scripting language), communicate complex ideas effectively and cope with the thrilling challenges of releasing new game elements several times per month. In short, this role would suit a passionate gamer (ideally role playing games) with strong creative skills and a deep motivation to create games. To qualify… We are seeking a Content Developer who can demonstrate:
Prior experience of writing quests (levels) for RPGs, MUDs or similar is advantageous, as is experience of multiple MMORPGs/online games and a technical degree, however this isn’t essential if good programming and/or scripting skills can be demonstrated. Joining a team of talented and enthusiastic people you will get to work with one of the largest independent games Studios in the World so expect a great working environment and superb benefits to match, including: Bonuses, private healthcare, flexible working, gym membership and loads more. |
You can apply HERE.
Feral Interactive
| Job Title | Junior Developer |
|---|---|
| Skills Required | Gameplay, Graduate Programmer, Mac / OSX |
| Location | South East |
| Job Description | Feral Interactive, a publisher and developer of “Triple-A” Macintosh Games are in the process of expanding their internal development team for both Mac and iPhone based games.As part of this recruitment, we are seeking a number of new and recent graduates to fill several development roles. Joining a small and agile international company, the successful candidates will quickly become key members of our team.
Full training and support will be provided for what will be an exciting, rewarding and varied career in the games industry. Requirements
Also advantageous
|
You can apply by emailing a CV to recruiting@feralinteractive.com
QA
Creative Assembly
| Job Title | Games Tester |
|---|---|
| Skills Required | QA Tester |
| Location | UK & Europe |
| Job Description | Position Overview:The Games Tester position is a responsible job; reporting bugs and providing quality feedback for our titles in development.These fixed term contracts are for our established Total Warteam, testing our project currently in development.
Essential
Desirable
|
You can apply HERE.
The latest student diaries from Craig Moore, Matty Wyett-Simmonds, Ezekiel Morris and Amanda Blatch can be found in the link below.There has been more hard work and the return of an old friend.
The Train2Game Blog 