All 12 entries tagged VGDSoc

Panel Discussion with Rare next week: CANCELLED

Follow-up to Panel Discussion with Rare next week from The Video Game Design Society

Unfortunately Nick Burton and the guys from Rare have had to pull out of tommorow’s panel discussion due to tight deadline constraints. They’re planning to come to Warwick at some point next term instead, so we will re-organise the event then. Sorry for any disappointment.

: 25 Feb 2007 15:05 |  Tags: Events Games VGDSoc |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Panel Discussion with Rare next week

We're very pleased to announce that on Monday 26th of February (week 8), Warwick Video Game Design Society will host an interactive panel discussion with three programmers from Rare; creators of Viva Pinata, Perfect Dark Zero, Kameo: Elements of Power and of course Goldeneye. The discussion will feature Nick Burton, an expert on graphical effects programming, as well as the two AI programmers responsible for Perfect Dark Zero and Kameo.

There is no particular theme for the discussion but expect it to focus on the technical aspects of graphics and AI in modern game development, as well as some discussion of the games industry in general and the directions it is heading in. We anticipate that the guys will bring along an XBox 360 so they can demonstrate some of the things that are talked about. It should be a really interesting session, so please come along if you're free! 

The event takes place at 1pm on Monday 26th of February in room B2.13/14 (off of the science concourse, just along from L3). We expect it to last around an hour.

You may also be interested to know that Nick is giving a talk for the third year Computer Graphics module earlier in the day at 10am in MS0.1. Everyone is welcome, not just those taking the module.

Hope to see everyone there on Monday!

: 22 Feb 2007 16:57 |  Tags: Events Games VGDSoc |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Welcome Freshers!

Writing about web page http://www.warwickgamedesign.co.uk

Today’s freshers’ fair has gone extremely well for VGDSoc, over 150 leaflets were handed out!

If you missed us then don’t worry we’ll be back on Friday with more leaflets and another chance to win a brand new video game!

You can also catch us at our first meeting to meet the freshers at 7:00pm meeting room 2, in the Union North building. If you don’t know where this is, send us an e-mail and we’ll give you a map. If you have some idea of the part you would like to play in the game generation process, we can begin to plan how to spend our budget to best support you.

Wednesday 11th will see a talk by Volatile Games about the making of “Reservoir Dogs”, as soon as the venue is confirmed we’ll post it up on the website. This is open to any university member, you don’t have to be affiliated to the society.

If by some huge stroke of bad luck you are busy during all of these periods don’t worry, we will soon be canvassing for members throughout the university and distributing our promotional CD which contains the games we have made this year along with some “behind the scenes” extras.

In short… You can’t escape us, and you shouldn’t try.

Happy gaming.

: 04 Oct 2006 17:43 |  Tags: Events Socials VGDSoc |  Comments (2) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

The Making of Splat! – A 6–part Documentary

Writing about web page http://www.warwickgamedesign.co.uk/

As part of a collaboration with Warwick Students Arts Festival the Video Game Design Society spent a few hours today filming some footage for our upcoming game to tie in with the event.

I went along and participated, and also shot a crude Making Of…, which you can see below:

Video at YouTube

Credits:

• Bryan Gale (Treasurer) as Director
• Jonathan Gover (Publicity Officer) as a karate bunny and cinematographer
• Nico Waller (President) as an English-style Ryu
• Helen Ryan as a Chun-Li style character

It’s nothing if not funny. Unfortunately I missed former President myself and former former President Dan Lawrence doing E. Honda and Bruce Forsyth/Megaman style characters, but when the game comes out in around 4 weeks time you’ll be able to see it!

VGDSoc

Mathew Mannion : 30 Apr 2006 01:24 |  Tags: Splat VGDSoc Video Wsaf |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Grid Wars

Writing about web page http://www.incitti.com/Blitz/

When the Xbox 360 launched in December, I don't think anyone really knew what would be the best launch title on it. People had talked about Project Gotham Racing, about PD:Zero, but when the Video Game Design Society got a sneak peak of the 360 in November, I don't think any of us thought that would be the case.

This is because we got our hands on a retro beauty called Geometry Wars, that's available for something in the order of £4.50 from Xbox Live Arcade, and I think every Xbox 360 owner I've spoken too freely admits that they've spent at least as much time on Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved than any other game (and I wasn't that impressed when I played PD:Zero anyway…)

Anyway, I digress. What's really been burning the candles in the Society the past week or so has been Grid Wars, a clone of Geometry Wars written for the PC by Mark Incitti. It's pretty faithful to the original (although slightly easier until you turn the difficulty up, and it has a few different things such as powerups and spawn points for those nasty shapes) and it's frigging awesome if you have a dual analogue pad (or an Xbox 360 pad to just plug straight into your PC). It also runs surprisingly quickly, considering how pretty it looks. It's not quite as beautiful as the original, mainly because it's written in BlitzMax, I'm guessing, but it's pretty good.

And it's bloody competitive… The Geometry Wars veterans get 1mil+ on their first go, yet I'm still proud of the 870000-odd I just acheived…

Mathew Mannion : 05 Mar 2006 16:39 |  Tags: Games Geometry Wars Grid Wars VGDSoc |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Interested in designing games?

Are you interested in designing video games? Whether it be for a living, or just for a laugh, or even if you're just interested in playing games, then we might just have something to brighten up your Monday evening.

As a society, we design (and play…) video games from the ground up, including the concepts, programming, artwork, sound effects, music and scripts – and you don't necessarily need to be able to do any of these to be able to learn, of course. We also provide a lot of resources for members, access to local game companies for tours, talks and whole days where you can come in and spend a day inside a games company and work alongside professionals to improve your skills.

If you're interested, then come along to Meeting Room 2 (in Union North, through the doors to the right of Costcutter, up both flights of stairs then along the corridor on the right) at 7pm tonight (or any Monday) and you can find out more information.

Mathew Mannion : 30 Jan 2006 13:39 |  Tags: VGDSoc |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Getting into the games industry

There are a number of ways to get into games design. The best way is to build up a portfolio of work and submit it to a number of games companies, who may take you on for an interview. A lot of companies want experience, but some companies will take on good applicants wo have a good portfolio.

The qualifications you'll need depend on which area you're interested in – obviously the qualifications needed to become an artist are different to those required to be a programmer. This is written on the assumption that you want to become a programmer – if you want to be an artist, a script writer, or an audio engineer, then the links at the bottom of this post may be of more help.

Programming-wise, you might not like to hear it but you're probably gonna need maths in there. Most of the members of the Video Game Design Society are doing a degree in computer science, which gives some experience of programming, and (in our course at least) some experience of working in a team on a large-ish project. It also involves yet more maths…

One thing that the Warwick Computer Science degree doesn't have is anything to do with C++, which is the language most games are written in. You'll almost certainly need to learn that, and then create a nice shiny demo cd to give to potential employers along with a CV.

Our sponsors, Blitz Games gave us a number of info sheets on working for Blitz, and here they are:

Warning, each of these files is a 2mb PDF file. It is strongly suggested that you right click them and "Save target as..." or "Save link as..." and read them locally

• General information about Blitz
• What's it like at Blitz?
• Work placements
• Artist careers
• Audio careers
• Programmer careers
• QA Tech and Script writers careers

Many thanks to Phillip Oliver and Simon Smith who came down to give a talk to us and gave us the leaflets. Hopefully we will also be able to distribute the presentation that they gave.

Resources

• Warwick Video Game Design Society
• Blitz Games
• Game On!

Some content abridged from Nick Forrington

Mathew Mannion : 16 Jan 2006 17:38 |  Tags: Articles VGDSoc |  Comments (11) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Photos

If you're so inclined, you can see some photos of events we've been to or held ourselves. That would make you a stalker, I'm guessing, or some kind of robot, but you're lovely either way.

• A talk from Phillip Oliver from Blitz Games
• A regular weekly social...
• ...that was followed by the Earlsdon funfair
• A talk by Kaye Elling from Blitz Games on Inclusive games design
• The IGDA Midlands Chapter meeting
• Our Christmas Meal at Wing Wah...
• ...followed by SingStar

Photos of the Retro Ball this weekend (congratulations to our members who won third place in the RetroGames competition, enjoy your Nintendo DS!) will come shortly :)

Mathew Mannion : 06 Dec 2005 17:05 |  Tags: Events Socials VGDSoc |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

"Inclusive Games Design" Seminar TODAY

"Inclusive Games Design" - A seminar held by Blitz Games

Thursday 17th November (Week 8), 6.00pm, PS1.28 (Physical Sciences Building)

FREE entry - All students and academics invited

Kaye Elling, Creative Manager for Blitz Games, is coming in today to give a seminar on Inclusive Games Design. She will give a talk and lead a discussion about how to design games that have an appeal beyond the typical demographic of videogame players – with a particular focus on the design issues they faced when creating their popular games based around the Bratz brand. The event will be held at 6pm in PS1.28 (the Physical Sciences building) and everyone is welcome – VGDsoc member or not.

If you don't know where PS1.28 is then you're in luck – nobody else does either. So we'll be putting up numerous signs in the vicinity to direct you, probably from the bottom of the steps outside the library – or look for the parade of excited people wading in around 5 to 6.

_{The Blitz Games logo is a registered trademark of Blitz Games Ltd.}

Mathew Mannion : 17 Nov 2005 04:48 |  Tags: Blitz Events Games VGDSoc |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

"Concept To Console" by Blitz Games

"Concept to Console" - A talk by Blitz Games

Thursday 20th October (Week 4), 6.30pm, LIB2 (Library Building)

FREE entry - All students and academics invited

The Warwick Video Game Design Society (link) are hosting a talk next Thursday to be given by Blitz Games (link) on the subject of game design.

The talk will cover the history of Blitz Games and the legacy that the Oliver twins have laid down in the history of video games as a whole, the process of getting a video game from the beginning to the end of a cycle (quite literally, "Concept to Console"), and also an introduction on how to get into the industry. The talk as a whole should last around 45 minutes.

The talk will feature Phillip Oliver, CEO of Blitz Games and co-creator of the Dizzy series and a celebrity in the world of game design.

Blitz Games are an independent game developer based in Leamington Spa, and have worked on a number of games in recent times including Pac-Man World 3, Fuzion Frenzy and the highly anticipated Possession (under their mature games label, Volatile Games). They are one of the top 5 independent game developers in Europe, with over 150 staff employed, and the talk is an ideal opportunity to make contacts with them – they are currently making a large recruitment drive.

This talk will cater for everyone interested in game design and media production as a whole, and will be particularly useful for anyone looking to go into the games industry after they graduate. All students and staff are welcome.

_{The Blitz Games logo is a registered trademark of Blitz Games Ltd.}

Mathew Mannion : 13 Oct 2005 08:51 |  Tags: Blitz Games Events VGDSoc |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem