Tag Archives: Unreal

Train2Game News: Train2Game student gets big chance

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James Valaitis, a Train2Game student taking part in the Game Jam was rewarded with an apprenticeship at 22Cans following his hard work at The Gadget Show Live earlier this year.

James, 19, lives in Essex and has been a student on the developer course from Train2Game for just over 2 years. He has been involved in every Game Jam that Train2Game have hosted and his hard work is now paying off.

At last years Game Jam he was a part of Team Gandalf which went on to become Digital Mage. The team would go on to be one of the winning teams that year. Winning that Game Jam meant James and his team had 6 months to design and develop a game based on the Fighting Fantasy game books written by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson. The end goal was to display the games at The Gadget Show Live at the Birmingham NEC to several industry icons. It was here that James met Peter Molyneux, CEO of 22Cans.

James was the presenter for Digital Mage, as well as one of the developers. He would show the game to an audience and a games industry icon. Mr Molyneux was one of these icons. James did an incredible job of presenting to him and Mr Molyneux immediately saw his potential.

James said “Without Train2Game I would of never been in an opportunity where I got to meet so many legends at last years game jam.

“Going to the studio was an experience I’ll never forget and I think the best decision I have ever made is signing up for Train2Game.”

22Cans are soon to release there first product, the social experiment app, Curiosity – What’s in the cube?.

Good Luck to James in everything he does. I have no doubts that he will go very far indeed.

Train2Game News: Epic veterans form mobile studio BitMonster

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Epic Games veterans including Gears of War gameplay designer Lee Perry have formed a new mobile studio and will release Unreal powered titles on iOS devices.

BitMonster studios have signed a long term agreement with Epic Games to use their tech to produce iPhone and iPad games. Their first game, Lili, is currently in the final stages of development as is described as an adventure game RPG hybrid.

“Epic has been extremely supportive of our new studio and in helping us build the game of our dreams,” said BitMonster president Lee Perry

“We set out to create an adventure that is appropriate for nearly anyone. As a designer, it’s exciting to see that the Unreal Engine 3 tools are better than ever, and they provide everything we need to achieve a gratifying and imaginative experience.” he added.

“BitMonster is set to deliver the triple-A production values that appeal to discerning players,” said head of North American licensing at Epic Games Joe Kreiner.

“Given this team’s crazy mix of passion, talent and chemistry, and with the latest Unreal Engine tools in their hands, BitMonster has a winning recipe for success.”

Watch the trailer for Lili from BitMonster below.

As regular readers will know, Train2Game student team Commando Kiwi are currently developing an iPhone and iPad game using Unreal Technology after winning Make Something Unreal Live at The Gadget Show. Their game, based on Fighting Fantasy book The Warlock of Firetop Mountain will be released soon. There’s more about Make Something Unreal Live here on the Train2Game Blog.

Be sure to keep reading The Train2Game Blog for the latest from Epic Games and Unreal.

What are your thoughts on the Epic veterans forming mobile studio BitMonster?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: “We want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and that means having to invent it” – Epic Games

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Epic Games invent technology in order to maintain their place as one of the cutting edge names in game development.

That’s what Epic Games Vice President Mark Rein told Sports Interactive boss Miles Jacobson in a developer dialogues session at Develop Conference 2012.

“We want to be on the bleeding edge of technology and that means having to invent it” said Rein, who enthusiastically pointed out that in order to improve as a company, Epic are always hiring.

Of course, Epic recently revealed the potential future of gaming by showcasing an Unreal Engine 4 tech demo. But while Epic Games want to be number one when it comes to video games technology, their UDK modding tools allow developers of all abilities to create games, and Rein said this was always part of Epic’s plans.

“We always intended to make modding tools clean and easy enough for anyone to use.” he said.

Epic Games partnered with Train2Game earlier this year for Make Something Unreal Live, which saw winning team Commando Kiwi walk away with a fully licensed Unreal Engine for iPhone and iPad.

There’s more news from Develop Conference right here on The Train2Game Blog, while be sure to keep reading for the latest from Epic Games.

What are your thoughts on Rein’s comments?  Is inventing technology necessarily to be at the cutting edge of it?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game News: Epic want to shorten game development time with Unreal Engine 4

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 Epic Games president Mike Capps wants their upcoming Unreal Engine 4 to make game development time much shorter.

“Our goal is to keep bringing budgets down for making games because we get more games and more game content that way. Iteration is really the key to good games.” he told GamesIndustry.biz in an extensive interview, when asked if the new engine will cut down the time needed for making games.

“You build something you think is going to be fun and you try it out and if it’s not, you just keep trying again. The faster that cycle works, the more likely you are to get something that’s really fun.” Capps continued, before discussing how Unreal Engine 3 changed things for game designers.

“For us, Kismet was a big step towards empowering level designers with Unreal Engine 3 to get them to be able to do some of that iteration themselves. They could see what it would be like to kick open the door and have two locust grunts come out from either side and play it themselves.” he said.

“The things we’re doing to empower content creators this time around, and to accelerate that iteration loop, are going to have a pretty profound impact on how fun games get quickly.” the Epic Games president added.

Train2Game recently partnered with Epic Games for Make Something Unreal Live, a contest that saw student teams building mobile games based on the Fighting Fantasy series using the Unreal Engine. There’s more on Make Something Unreal Live  on The Train2Game Blog, while you can keep up to date with the latest from Epic here.

What do you think about Epic Games aiming to make game development shorter with Unreal Engine 4?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – All 4 documentary films (Updated)

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Train2Game student teams took last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Now, you can see the progress each of the four made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Train2Game students as they developed their game.

We have upgraded all the team videos on YouTube, so if you are linking to them you will need the new URLs which you can find below. 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Derp Studios Story

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The IndigoJam Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Digital Mage Story

They’re also all available, with much more, on the Train2Game YouTube channel.

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game news: Unreal Engine 4 unveiled by Epic Games

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Train2Game students can get a first glimpse at Unreal Engine 4 from Epic Games in a huge feature published by Wired.  It contains the first details about the engine that’s hotly tipped to appear alongside next-gen consoles.

“There is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of our engine team and our studio to drag this industry into the next generation,” said Epic Games’ design director Cliff Bleszinski, who last month provided advice to Train2Game students during Make Something Unreal Live.

“It is up to Epic, and Tim Sweeney in particular, to motivate Sony and Microsoft not to phone in what these next consoles are going to be. It needs to be a quantum leap. They need to damn near render Avatar in real time, because I want it and gamers want it—even if they don’t know they want it.”

It isn’t the first time Bleszinski has called for Avatar like visuals for PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 consoles.

Epic Games founder Tim Sweeny is more reserved, but hints that they’ll have a hand in suggesting the performance for next-gen consoles.

“We’re much more in sync with the console makers than any other developer is. That means we can give detailed recommendations with a complete understanding of what is going to be commercially possible.” he said.

Read the huge Unreal Engine 4 feature and see images of what it looks like over at Wired.

There’s more Unreal Engine 4 news here on The Train2Game Blog.

What are your initial impressions of Unreal Engine 4? What do you think it needs to bring to the table?

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or here on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – All 4 documentary films

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Train2Game student teams took last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Now, you can see the progress each of the four made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Train2Game students as they developed their game. Links to each of the 15 minute documentaries are below.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Derp Studios Story

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The IndigoJam Story 

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Digital Mage Story

They’re also all available, with much more, on the Train2Game YouTube channel.

As usual, leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The IndigoJam Story (Video)

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Train2Game student team IndigoJam were one of four to take part in last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Now, you can see the progress they made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to IndigoJam as they developed their game.

Watch it on the Train2Game YouTube channel, or here on The Train2Game Blog.

Leave your comments here, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live 2012 – The Commando Kiwi Story (Video)

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Train2Game student team Commando Kiwi were one of four to take part in last month’s Make Something Unreal Contest at Gadget Show Live, with the task of building an iOS game based on the prestigious Fighting Fantasy series.

Indeed, they were the contest winners, walking away with a fully licensed Unreal Development Kit for iOS.

Now, you can see the progress they made through Make Something Unreal Live in a new video from Train2Game! It features industry figures including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, Peter Molyneux and Ian Livingstone providing advice to Commando Kiwi as they developed their game.

Watch it on the Train2Game YouTube channel, or here on The Train2Game Blog.

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.

Train2Game at Gadget Show Live: The documentary

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Train2Game students recently took part in Make Something Unreal Live, a game development contest co-sponsored by Epic Games which took place at The Gadget Show Live in April.

Four teams received mentoring from high profile industry figures as they completed games based on the iconic Fighting Fantasy series. The winning team, Commando Kiwi walked away with a fully licensed Unreal Development Kit for i OS, while all four games will be published on the App Store through Appynation.

Now, here’s a 15 minute Train2Game documentary about Make Something Unreal Live. The video features all four teams that took part – Commando Kiwi, Digital Mage, Derp Studios and Indigo Jam – talking about their experiences.

Not only that, but industry figures including Unreal’s Mike Gamble, Epic’s Cliff Bleszinski, Peter Molyneux, Fighting Fantasy creators Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson.

Watch it on the Train2Game YouTube channel, or here on The Train2Game Blog.

Leave your comments here on The Train2Game Blog, or on the Train2Game forum.