Tag Archives: UK Games Industry

Train2Game News: SpecialEffect Case: Craig & James

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Craig

Craig’s father Paul contacted us after seeing one of our videos for a one-handed controller set-up we created online. He wrote “Hi, my son Rifleman Craig Wood lost both his legs and left hand and nose in Afghanistan and I have just seen the “XCM Re-mapper” plus “Saitek Aviator Joystick” in use. Is there any way the lad could try one before buying one?”.

As this is a complicated piece of equipment to set up, we visited Craig at his home in Doncaster to show him how to configure it to his own requirements. He took to using the controller straight away. Craig has the controller on loan through our Loan Library.

A week after our visit, we asked Paul how Craig was getting on with it. “Yes, going good, never off it!”.

James

We were contacted by James via email requesting help with accessing his Xbox 360. “Hi, I am an injured soldier in the British Army and due to my injury, I have lost the use of my left hand now. I just want to play the games I play with the efficiency I used to be able to with two hands.”

We set James up with the controllers he was interested in trying, to enable him to try each one and see which helped him play to the standard he hoped for.

“I am writing back to say I have been using the controller since it arrived and I find it really useful.”

Do remember to keep sharing SpecialEffect’s video around and try and get them to reach their goal of 25,000 views by Christmas day!

 

Train2Game News: Sony hits milestone and launches new service

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Sony’s PlayStation 3 has surpassed 5 million sales in the UK and they have launched PlayStation Mobile for PS Vita and some Android devices.

The PlayStation 3 has now sold over 5 million units as of this morning. The company has enjoyed a 138 per cent jump in sales the week of September 28 following the launch of the new PS3 Super Slim. A second edition of the Super Slim, a 12GB edition targeted at casual audiences, is due for general release tomorrow.

PlayStation UK boss Fergal Gara said “It is fantastic that we passed the 5m mark.

“Most importantly to me it is not the milestone itself, but the fact that there is momentum behind it. With the new chassis and the way the market is panning out this year, PlayStation definitely has the momentum.”

Secondly, PlayStation mobile has gone live today on the Vita and certain Android devices.

The service, designed to bring PlayStation style gaming to Android devices, is available in countries including the US, Canada, UK, France, Spain, Germany and Australia with more set to follow. The cross-platform gaming service currently supports Sony tablets and mobiles such as Xperia smartphones, Sony Tablet S and P and HTC smartphone One S, X and V.

The launch-lineup for PS Mobile includes 21 games, featuring titles such as Vlambeer’s popular shooter Super Crate Box, Crash Labs’s puzzle action game Twist Pilot and Albino Pixel’s puzzler Underline.

The Mobile SDK is being released in November for an annual fee. The development kit is set to be released in 11 different regions, appearing in a phased manner to Japan, US, Canada, UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Australia, Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Train2Game News: Kickstarter rides in to the UK

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The popular business model, Kickstarter is coming to the United Kingdom on October 31.

Kickstarter is the service that allows developers to show their plans and ideas to the public and, if it is liked, people can donate money to the development of the project. It lets consumers decide what gets created.

Kickstarter has announced that it will be opening to projects in the UK on October 31, 2012. Users can begin building their projects today.

The Kickstarter team said “We thought the three-week gap would give everyone plenty of time to build and tweak their projects before launching. Beginning October 31, they can launch and share their projects with the world.”

Kickstarter really flexed its muscles in February earlier this year with Tim Schafer’s Double Fine. Their latest project earned record breaking funding. It has seen many high profile developers creating new interesting projects, which some publishers may not of allowed them to do.

UK campaign amounts will be listed in pounds sterling but international parties that attribute will see their donations in the approximate equivalent of dollars.

Other localised changes see UK backers not being redirected to Amazon for payment, international shipping has been streamlined, and new options are available to campaign organisers to alter reward tiers for international backers.

Train2Game News: Jonny Robinson’s Blog

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Train2Game Student Jonny Robinson has been writing his own blog. He talks about his experiences on being a fledgling games designer. He covers subject such as his time at DR Studios and his work with Commando Kiwi, the winning team of the Make Something Unreal Live at the Gadget Show Live earlier this year.

You can read Jonny’s blog below:

http://ironcore1.wordpress.com/

Train2Game News: Mid-week round up – 10.5.12

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The OnLive console is not dead according to CEO Charles Jablonski and UK general manager Bruce Grove. The new plan is all about forming partnerships to provide OnLive’s service, instead of relying on PCs and its own console.

The Volus race has come to Mass Effect 3 multiplayer with the new DLC, The Retaliation Pack. The comic relief character has been put in to the online game play to show the ever expanding war according to BioWare’s Chris Schanche. The new pack also sees the return of The Collectors to battle against.

Earlier this week it was announced that Windows 8 will primarily use real world currency over Microsoft points. This had the games world speculating that the Xbox Live Arcade was going to start phasing out MS points. Microsoft have announced this is not the case. XBLA will still use the previous points system.

Rovio and LucasArts have teamed up in an interesting combination to create Angry Birds Star Wars. The game will see the birds dressed as the main Star Wars protagonists and the pigs are going to be dressed as Storm Troopers and Darth Vader. The levels will be famous Star Wars locations such as Hoth and Tattooine. The game is being released November 8 for iOS.

IGN have brought their application to Xbox in the UK. The app is already available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA. The app offers content, shows and access to its pro-gaming league.

Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Facebook has now surpassed one billion users. Since Facebook’s formation in 2004, it has seen more than 140 billion friend connections made, 219 billion photos uploaded, and 1.13 trillion likes. Facebook’s director of developer products said around a quarter of its active user base, about 230 million people, play games on the site in a month. He also noted that Facebook has more than 130 apps.

A one-man company, Cryptic Sea, has created a game called A New Zero. The game has no animation and only uses physics for any movement in the first person shooter. In addition, visuals are also procedurally generated, chopping Zero’s total size below a single megabyte. You can download the game from Cryptic Sea’s website.

Train2Game News: Games industry jobs – 10.5.12

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This is going to be another regular blog where I post up the latest jobs from around the games industry. Making it easier for you to find the jobs you want.

ART

CREATIVE ASSEMBLY are looking for an Animator. The job is based in Horsham.

Key responsibilities:

Full responsibility of producing high quality animation for in-game animations and cinematics as set by the animation lead.
Deliver work in the required time.
Make sure all work is implemented correctly, providing feedback to other members of the production team so all issues are driven to closure.
Reports to the Lead Animator

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

Have an excellent understanding of animation principles – timing, weight and staging
Must be self-motivated, enthusiastic and a team player
Good knowledge of a 3D package (Motionbuilder, Maya, Max, XSI)
Good knowledge of human and animal anatomy
A strong passion and enthusiasm for animation and video games
Critical analysis and problem solving

You can find out more about the job HERE.

Futurlab is looking for a Junior Artist for their studio in Brighton. As Junior Artist you will be assisting the Lead Artist in the creation of both 2D and 3D game assets. You will be working closely with all other members of the team to ensure high standards of presentation are maintained across each project.

Requirements:

Exceptional 2D draftsmanship essential.
Strong ability in 3D modeling and texturing a plus.
Animation, lighting and rendering skills a plus.
General understanding of game design and development.
Ability to work both individually and in a small team.
Excellent communication skills with a friendly and positive demeanor.
Self motivating and diligent.

You must also be excited about working in the sci-fi genre!

You can find out more about the job HERE.

DEVELOPER

SEGA is looking for a junior developer for their studio in central London

Key Responsibilities:

Learn and help develop various areas of the game on handheld platforms
Work with Senior Developers and increase skill set
Help analyse existing projects and improve upon them.
Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

Experience in C/C++
Comfortable with game design and implementation
Examples of own demos, with source code, very beneficial.

You can find out more about the job HERE.

Q & A

Creative Assembly are looking for a games tester. The job is based at their studio in Horsham. These fixed term contracts are for our established Total War team, testing our project currently in development

Requirements

Test games in development for software bugs

Enter bugs clearly and accurately into our bug database

Verify and recreate bugs as required

Report additional balancing, design and accessibility problems

Essentials

A clear understanding of QA process

A keen enthusiasm for gaming

Good communication and reporting skills

Driven and flexible approach

You can find out more about the job HERE.

Train2Game News: Game Jam on the Guinness World record site

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Train2Game’s World record Game Jam has a story on the Guinness World Record official website.

There are some great pictures from the weekend in the story.

You can read the story in the link below:

http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2012/10/games-development-students-lose-sleep-but-win-game-jam-record-45209/

Train2Game News: World Record Certificate

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We have been sent our Guiness  world record certificate! The certificate was awarded for most participants at a 48 hour Game Jam. Well done everyone once again! It is a huge achievement.

Train2Game News: Matty Wyett-Simmonds student diary: Week 43

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The weeks go by so fast I forget about writing these diaries!

As usual it’s been a busy week. We had a late night again to get some work done. If I haven’t mentioned already working in this industry is not easy, I can never slack otherwise I won’t finish my weeks work! I do enjoy it though so the amount of time I put into it doesn’t feel like much and it’s rather easy to overdo it sometimes.

Over the weekend I went to Leeds to see my girlfriend, who seems to be settling in well, the city is pretty fancy with lots of old buildings, it’s all pretty impressive. I also went to the museum there and saw a mummy! I had to take a coach up there (first time taking a coach anywhere) it’s not as bad as I thought it would be, didn’t sit next to anyone annoying. ^^

The project I’m working on at the moment is starting to look really awesome and it’s only a matter of time till everyone will get to see it! It will be my second commercial game which I think is pretty good going, I’ve sat through My Sea Park from the beginning to the end and now I’m doing the same with this one, however this time we have a lot of artists (4 and a half if you count Craig), but I’m still working just as hard! ‘Til next week!

MattyWS

Train2Game News: Ezekiel Morris student diary: Week 16

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This week has been excellent, so far, as I have finished all my sprints. I am now double checking that the animations are working in the game engine.

Last Friday I went back to my home town to see my family and friends, to catch up on stuff and it was great to see everyone. After meeting everyone I had a fat meal then I’m chilling down with the family watching The Big Bang Theory.

I went to Eurogamer Expo last Saturday and met up with some students and the tutors from Train2game. I took some good photo’s. I didn’t get to play all of the games on show as the queues were ridiculously long but the ones that I did play were Devil May Cry, Tomb Raider, Resident Evil 6 and Doom 3 in 3D.

Monday Oct 1st I had a team meeting with Commando Kiwi, we were discussing schedules for the new project that we are working on. My sprint is to create three concepts, so I will be working my ass off 6 hours a week. I’m happy to be working on the project as I like to doing realistic characters so yep it’s time to get to work!