Train2game Game Jam - Interviews

Danny Palmer spent some time talking to the hard-working aspiring game developers and game jam organisers over the weekend. Now you can read the transcripts below. If you don't have time to catch up with them now you can download a pdf file and read it later on your desktop or movile device.

For more interviews, ranging from Train2Game Student radio to BBC county stations please visit the Train2Game AudioBoo page or you can listen to them through the web widget on the home page.

Phillip Stevens - Train2Game games Developer Student

Game Development student Phillip Stevens was one of over 100
participants in the event and the Train2Game blog caught up with
him on the Saturday afternoon – halfway through the event – to see
how he was getting on.

Interview: Graham Bryan

Download interview (Requires Acrobat Reader)

We're about halfway through the Game Jam at the time of recording, how do you feel it has gone so far?

I've found it's gone well considering I picked up a team three weeks beforehand. We've gotten along well and we've produced approximately half the game now. We're just going through the final stages of the final level and then we're going to polish it.

What skills learned on your Train2Game course so far have you been using throughout this event?

Mainly meeting new people, I feel that's always helped. I only knew these people through the Train2Game forum and now we're working together we know how everybody works, so it seems a lot easier to work with these people when you're with them in person as opposed to through something like Skype.

The theme of the event is Sherlock Holmes; did that surprise you at all? And what idea have you chosen for your game?

It surprised me, although the first thing that came to my mind was a game like Maniac Mansion or Monkey Island where it's a text based and side scrolling thing with the mouse. So we've gone for a simple point and click system where you interact with one object, and that object will interact with another creating the answer to a puzzle that you'll then solve to move onto the next clue.

In this short intense period that's a lot different to most of the time in the games industry, what have you learned and how do you think it has benefitted you?

I think I've learned a lot. I've learnt that I can stay up for 24 hours with lack of caffeine, lack of sleep and still produce a lot of work and I feel it'll serve me well in the future.

Have you picked up any extra skills here today?

Yeah, definitely. I didn't know how to do certain things with Audacity and other music producing software, and I've learned how to do some extra stuff in Gamemaker which is always a bonus.

And how do you see the next half of the Game Jam going?

I can see it getting very messy now, everybody is tired. I think everybody has stayed up – minus a few people – for…well, up until now really and I think it's going to get to a few of them. There's just going to be us and a few other teams who will probably not struggle with it as much.

How do you think the whole experience is benefiting you as a Train2Game student in terms of finding a career in future?

I think this will definitely be something we can put on our CVs as it shows we've had the dedication not only to travel to Luton but also to stay up for 48 hours just to create a game in such a short period of time only knowing what that topic is on the day we arrived.

Final question, if you had the opportunity to do one would you do another Game Jam?

Most definitely yeah.

Thanks Phillip

<< Back | Freelance Games Developer - Graham Bryan