Train2Game

Gadget Show Live

April 2012

Co-sponsored by Train2Game and Epic Games, the Make Something Unreal Live

event was an independent game development challenge that enabled Train2Game

student start-up studios to create brand new iOS games and then release them on the

iTunes App Store. It was an unprecedented competition, spanning 6 months of work,

learning new technologies, and competing against over a hundred other students.

Only the best were going to win, but the prize was massive, A holiday at the luxury

resort Aquacity, a place on the team inside a newly formed studio, a chance to work on

one of the most well known brands in Gaming, Unreal 3 iOS engine (made famous by

the recent success of Gears of Wars and the phenomenally successful Infinity Blade)

all leading to the start of a new career, in computer game development.

The story started back in

November 2011 at the

Train2Game and Epic Game

Jam when 10 competing

teams, built games using

Epic’s Unreal Development Kit

(UDK), the free edition of

Unreal Engine 3.

The theme was of course,

Guy Fawkes

The Gadget Show Live 2012 saw the culmination of nearly six months' work for the

four development teams that secured a place in the Epic Games and Train2Game-

sponsored Make Something Unreal Live game jam.

Amid the bustling halls of the UK’s biggest consumer electronics event in Birmingham

earlier this month, with over 100,000 visitors, each of the ten-strong student teams had

48 hours to very publicly polish up their iOS games under the expert guidance of

industry veterans including Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, and Peter Molyneux, as well as

Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, authors of the long-running Fighting Fantasy

interactive novels on which all four games were based.

Mike Gamble, Epic Games European territory manager explained that the stand

attracted a lot of attention from members of the public, looking to get into the computer

games industry. “We had plenty of people come up and talk to the teams and members

of staff that were around, asking about how they could get into game development, both

on a professional and amateur level.”

Ian Livingstone OBE is an English fantasy author and entrepreneur. Along with Steve Jackson he is the co-founder of the popular and influential series of Fighting Fantasy roleplaying gamebook series and author of many books within that series. He is also one of the co-founders of prominent games company Games Workshop. Awards

In 2002, Livingstone won the Gift of the Academy in the BAFTA Interactive Entertainment Awards for outstanding contribution to the community.

Livingstone was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for "Services to the Computer Games Industry" in the New Year’s Honours List 2006.

In 2011, Livingstone was made an honorary doctor by Bournemouth University.

Helping and Mentoring the Train2Game teams were some of the most respected members

of the computer games industry

Steve Jackson is a game designer, writer and game reviewer. He co-founded the

company Games Workshop with John Peake and Ian Livingstone.

In 1980, he created the line of the Fighting Fantasy gamebooks published by Puffin

Books with Ian Livingstone. He went on to Co-found Lionhead Studios with Peter

Molyneux.

Peter Douglas Molyneux OBE is an English computer game designer and game programmer. He created the God games, Dungeon Keeper, Populous, and Black & White, among others, as well as business simulation games such as Theme Park and more recently, the RPG series Fable. Awards

Molyneux was inducted into the AIAS Hall of Fame in 2004 and was honoured with an OBE in the New Year's Honours list announced on 31 December 2004.

He was awarded the title of Chevalier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in March 2007. In July 2007, he was awarded an honorary degree of Doctor of Science by the University of Southampton.

In March 2011, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Game Developers Choice Awards and has received a BAFTA Fellowship at the 2011 British Academy Video Games Awards.

Ian Baverstock is a founding partner at Tenshi Ventures. He has been growing and leading

businesses in the games and technology sectors since 1989. This has included a 4 year spell

as CEO of 300 man game developer Kuju Entertainment.

Outside of his commercial roles, Ian was Chairman of TIGA, the UK games developers’ trade

association, for 4 years.

He is a Director of the South East Media Network organisation, a member of the Game

Developers Conference Advisory Board and a Director of the One Big Game charity initiative.

Jon "Jops" Hare is a British computer game

designer, game artist and musician. He is one of

the two founder members and directors, with

Chris Yates, of Sensible Software, one of the

most successful European games development

companies of the late 1980s and 1990s.Hare was

co-designer and artist of all of Sensible's hits

prior to 1992 including Parallax, Wizball,

Microprose Soccer, SEUCK and Wizkid.

He was also the lead designer and creative

director of Mega Lo Mania, the Sensible Soccer

series and the Cannon Fodder series, some of

the most popular software franchises of the mid

1990s.

Jo Twist, Commissioning Editor,

Education, Channel 4. Jo is

Commissioning Editor for Education

at Channel 4. She joined the channel

in 2010 from the BBC, where she

was Multiplatform Commissioner for

Entertainment & Switch responsible

for digital formats and online

products. Before that, she was BBC

Three Multiplatform Channel Editor

and led the online strategy for the

channel’s rebrand. Her earlier career

was as a journalist for Newsround

then BBC News online,

commentating across digital print,

Carsten Maple is the Pro Vice-

Chancellor for Research & Enterprise at

the University of Bedfordshire. He is the

Educational Advisor to the TIGA

Examination Board as well as the TIGA

Director of Business Education

Interaction.

Carsten first taught 3D modelling at

University in 1998 and developed one of

the first BSc Computer Games

Development courses in the UK. He is

also a Director of Ansmart Technologies,

a mobile games and applications

development company.

Carsten is an Executive of the Council of

Professors and Heads of Computing

(CPHC), whose remit is to promote

public education in Computing and its

applications.

Train2Game talking to Ken Gains from City & Guilds

“In terms of Gaming, Train2Game are the first people that we have worked with in this

area, and the reason for doing that was when we sat down and talked to them, and

they presented the programme, there was a very solid training programme there.

There was a very solid method of assessing students wishing to go on the course, and

what they were going to do, and that appealed to us.” – Ken Gains, City & Guilds

Ken Gains, from City & Guilds was very complimentary not only of the students, their work

but also of the Train2Game course itself.

“Its industry backed, it’s very solid and the important thing for City & Guilds is that we’re able to

take the experience element and a qualification element that will get them into the industry. Because

the problem for many people is you might be able to design a game, but to what sort of standard?

That’s where the qualification comes in. We do have people, who’ve done so-called qualifications in

gaming before, but they have no experience, and a lot of industries want a combination of the two.

So, that’s why working with Train2Game has been so good, because they bring the two things

together.”

That’s good, because City & Guilds is one of the best qualifications you can have, isn’t it?”

“We’d like to think so, yes! We are one of the leaders in, if not the leader in vocational education,

that’s where we come from. So the whole drive, especially for me, is making sure that whatever we

offer, whatever certification we provide, is actually going to lead into something. It’s not just a piece

of paper you can hang on the wall and go “aren’t I clever?”

Why Train2Game? How did you become involved with Train2Game?

“They said, would you like to come and talk to Myra Smallman from Train2Game to see if there is

something we can do together. What we’ve come up with is the first product at Level 6 and Level 7,

so it’s quite high university type level of qualification in order to put a course programme with robust

assessment criteria behind it.”

It’s interesting you say it’s the same level as a university qualification, is it in that ball game?

“It’s in that level, yes”.

“So Train2Game are doing it Properly?” Interviewer

“That’s what we believe, yes, absolutely” – Ken Gains, City & Guilds

“Train2Game aren’t just about coming

here and doing competitions, they do a

programme to develop game developers

in Design, QA, Art & Animation and the

game development itself. We’ve worked

with them to deliver a qualification that

will support the experience that these

young people are getting, so they can

actually go out and get a job”

TIGA is the non-profit trade association representing the UK's games industry. Their

members include independent games developers, in-house publisher-owned developers,

outsourcing companies, technology businesses, universities, individuals and students,

and TIGA won trade body of the year for the last two years. TIGA is also the awarding

body for all the Train2Game exams

TIGA were represented at the show

by Richard Wilson CEO. Richard is

well known to the students, as he has

personally given many talks and

lectures at various Train2Game

events, including the last November

Game Jam

Three months of home working for the Train2Game students, went into over drive during the

Gadget show Live, where the students in addition to finishing their game entries also

presented twice a day to industry legends, implemented their suggestions and continued the

high octane pace

Train2Game student, Nick

Stone, a member of the

winning team, Indigo Jam

was one of Indigo Jam’s

game designers working on

their Fighting Fantasy game

Death Trap Dungeon

Nick started playing video games and designing them when he attended Canon Slade

School, “I want to create game that people will remember. For me the Train2Game course

doesn’t feel like learning. If you have a passion for something the urge to learn will be like

second nature and you will always look forward to your work”

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to get

to experience with a giant IP that

can actually get me in to the

Industry”. When Nick was asked

about Train2Games Make

something Unreal competition, and

his team’s game he replied “The

Game is an adventure with lots of

sneaking and dice throwing like the

original gamebook. I’m so excited

it’s just unbelievable we’ve made it

to the Gadget show, there’s so

many high calibre experts who will

be there. It’s Magic !

Win or lose Indigo Jam are

intending to stay together.

Ben Stoneman, from Bognor Regis, one of the Train2Game students taking part in the

Make Something Unreal competition, had this to say to members of the public who asked

him about his time at the show.

“We study mostly from home a sort of virtual classroom, and this is where we have made

most of the game, my role on the Indigo Jam team (one of the student start-up studios) is

that of Games Designer.”

“I’m like the designer of a car, I make up the blueprint and make sure all the parts for it are

in the right place, then the artists will embellish them, before the programmers put the parts

together”.

Ben works at the Unity games studio in Brighton making the software which runs the games,

having gained a student placement through Train2Game. Train2Game’s student placement

program has be very successful at placing those students that are able to take advantage of

the opportunity, directly into industry

It was a real tribute to the quality of the Train2Game students and their training that

they produced in only three short months, whilst working in virtual teams from their

homes scattered across the UK, four games of such high quality that they all secured a

publishing deal from a major App publisher, who will work with them as they finalise the

games and get them ready for market.

Chloe Martin, from Digital Mage was one of the many female Train2Game students to

have one a place on to the Gadget Show live event. It was Chloe’s passion for Gaming

and Art that made her choose Train2Game as the best way to help her achieve her desire

to get in to the computer game industry. Working as a team leader in a local coffee shop

Train2Game has enabled to study in her spare time at home.

When asked about studying from home,

Chloe admitted it could be a little hard

sometimes “Because it is virtually (home

study) it can be much harder to get the

motivation after work, when you are feeling

a bit drained, but you just have to realise

where you want to be, where you want to

get to, what you have learnt so far, which

is amazing, and it all becomes worthwhile”.

“I loved every second, I’ve met so

many important people from this

industry and I have got so much

feedback from the team, and

developing a game has been one

amazing opportunity. “

Chloe has really enjoyed being

part of the Train2games Digital

Mage team and is confident that

this be the first of many games

they develop together.

Train2Game student, Joyce Webb, of team Indigo Jam, thinks Train2Game is “brilliant”

now about half way through her course, she is delighted at the opportunity that being here

at the Gadget show as one of the contestant is bring her. Meeting Joyce was a real breath

of fresh air, her passion and drive are quite infectious.

When asked about what’s it been like the last few months she replied “A little bit crazy,

trying to fit in a job at a local cinema, continuing with the study and the competition,

coming home from work then going straight back to work (making the game) but it has

been great fun, can’t fault the team, they are all excellent and great fun to work with.

When asked about her

time on the team Joyce

admitted it was quite fun

being one of the girls, with

the boys looking out for her

and making sure she

rested and ate properly.

“it’s really good and they

(the rest of the team) are

really nice and supportive.

The show has been

absolutely amazing, loved

every minute of it”

A Scene from

Rise of Agglax

- Digital Mage Team

Citadel Of Chaos

- Derp Studios

Great Artwork from Train2Game Students

“I’m just dead proud of my team. They’ve worked really hard and this

competition has changed our lives forever,” said Jonny Robinson,

producer of Commando Kiwi and team captain for Make Something

Unreal Live.

Train2Game Student wins fame

Train2Game Student, Ashley, talks about his win

Train2Game - Hot Job News

Jonny Robinson , captain of Train2Games Commando Kiwi team revealed, that he

was invited to go for a job interview with a high profile computer game industry

veteran, based on the work that he had created up to and during the competition.

Jonny was understandably delighted.

“it’s amazing, I just can’t thank you guys (Train2Game) enough, I would not have

been able to meet xxx (name deleted for confidential reasons) let alone show him my

work, I’m just so stoked at the moment”

I could not have imagined being where I am now six months ago ….. I met up with a

gentleman who liked my work and after the show, there is the possibility of a job, so

all the hard work has been very worth while.”

Cat Forsythe , a Train2Game student

artist at the show, also confirmed she

had been approached by a talent

spotter at the show. It (the show) has

been a massive opportunity

Train2Game - Hot Job News

James Valaitis, Presenter and developer (Train2Game student Programmer) for

Digital Mage, pictured here talking to’ Cliffy B’ Design Guru for the phenomenally

successful Gears of war game, was also invited to an interview at the show, by a

key industry figure.

His comment “it’s amazing, just so amazing …” says it all

James is only 18, and was one of the youngest contestants, he has been studying

with Train2Game for about 12 months now.

James presenting and answering questions from Ian Baverstock, Jo Twist and

Jon Hare, a tough audience !

Train2Game - Hot Job News

Train2Game – More Fame,

More Employment Exposure

The Winning Train2Game Team

“Train2Games Commando Kiwi really captured the essence of ‘The Warlock of

Firetop Mountain’ with great gameplay and visuals,” said “Fighting Fantasy” author

and co-creator, Ian Livingstone. “It’s remarkable what these student teams were able

to produce working remotely for such a short period of time using UDK.

Although only one of the teams has won this amazing prize, the experience the

Train2Game students have gained is invaluable and I fully expect to see many of

them working in the video games industry. We look forward to playing these games,

and Steve and I are sure that Fighting Fantasy fans everywhere will really enjoy these

new interactive experiences based on the books."

Happy Train2Game Students

“I think our Train2Game students are now very much realizing that they can start a studio with just two or three people, and that there are more real possibilities for small studios than there have been in years,” - Train2Game course director Myra Smallman

"Irrespective of what happens to the games and the teams as they exist now, I think every

single one of those students has got an amazing leg-up into the industry so that if they want to

go and join a studio they'll have a shipped game on their CVs, and have worked on a team -

that's immensely valuable.” - Mike Gamble, Epic Games European territory manager

A great competition that led to

some excellent work by the

Train2Game students resulting in

three provisional job offers and

several more interviews.

It was the start of four new studios

with their first project already

agreed and signed