The Studio School, Liverpool

Providing young people with expert advice, tips and knowledge in the gaming and digital sector. Contact: Tel: [phone] @lpoolstudio

[thestudioschool]

Some of the people you could be working with...

This blog post is a reminder of who our wonderful stakeholders are, who will be mentoring and giving advice to our students throughout their time here. 

We want to say a huge thank you to all our stakeholders for giving our students this opportunity. 

Apposing

Apposing are an award winning ideas led mobile applications development team, creating apps for the likes of Carphone Warehouse, CSL Sofas, Unilever, Pretty Green, BBC iplayer & Chester Zoo.

Based only around the corner from the studio, they have built a reputation for their development of mobile applications and tech. 

Dave, one of our governors says 'we are passionate about teaching, learning, and creating amazing idea's'.

You can follow Apposing on Twitter at @apposing

  Catalyst Studios

@catalyst_games

http://www.catalystos.com/

Catalyst is a games production company offering the highest production value solutions for all aspects of video game development. Some of their clients include: Sony, Lucid, Ubisoft, Thumbstar, Bizarre creations, Guerrilla & Activision. 

Not only have Catalyst been selected for the NESTA mentoring programme award they have become a finalist at the develop awards 2009. 

With their great expertise in games development we are proud to say that we can work with them. 

Lucid

"A boutique studio developing cutting edge games and apps"

With over 100 years experience between them, Lucid are by far a leading games company in the UK. Their expertise specialise in: Augmented reality, Unreal Engine, Original IP, Game monetisation, Design & Technology solutions, Cloud and Network Gaming, Console, Social and casual games. 

You can follow Lucid on twitter: 

@LucidGamesLtd 

Yoma

http://www.yoma.co.uk/

@Yoma_Uk

Yoma is an online marketing agency who look after every aspect of a companies online marketing strategy. Yoma's mix of expertise, passion and dedication in pursuing new market trends give clients fantastic results in Design, Development and E-Commerce. 

One of the school's pathways is Entrepreneurship, where you will be learning some of the skills that are needed when working in Yoma. These skills may include Management, Marketing, Design, Production manager. 

Onteca

Onteca is an independent games development studio based in Liverpool that was established in 2001. They have produced innovative top-tier Casual games and applications for Nintendo Wii, iPhone/iPod touch/iPad and Android.

They had a number of Top Ten titles for iOS including Draw with Powertools which was Number 1 in Switzerland and Top 10 in 11 other countries, Santa Tracker which reached the Top 25 in the USA and UK and Big Pub Quiz which was a Top 10 iPad Game in the in the UK in 2013.

Not only this they also have a ground-breaking 3D strategy-puzzle game Monsteca Corral is available on Nintendo WiiWare service.

You can follow Onteca here: https://twitter.com/Onteca

Setgo

Setgo Limited are a social gaming development company based here, in Liverpool. As well as developing games they also have a platform-agnostic game analytics solution for game developers and publishers.

I am sure, if you have been to one of our Design/Code/Game events in the past you would have met Managing director Clemens Wangerin, one of our governors at the school. He will be there to mentor and give you guidance in business and gaming throughout the year.  

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A full list of our Governors and stakeholders can be found on our website: http://thestudio-liverpool.co.uk/supporters/

You can follow the studio here: @lpoolstudio

                                                 : @lpoolgirlgeeks

[thestudioschool]

Want to be a Digital Artist? We speak to a freelance expert...

Jonathan Macdonald is a Freelance Digital 3D Artist working with clients such as the BBC and Nickelodeon. Jonathan has created characters, building's and props for games, mobile, advertising and television.

We thought it would be great to interview him and get him to answer some questions about how to get started within the industry!

  1) How did you get started in this industry?

After finishing University, while I was developing my skills I got involved in a few Indie game projects. This was a great insight into working with other people on a project. A valuable skill needed when working in a studio. From there I was then hired at a local studio where I worked on Cloudbabies and various other projects.

2) What are your favourite projects you have worked on ?

So far Cloudbabies has been a good project and a major milestone for animation in the UK, as it was the first CG television series done 100% in the UK. Also the project I have just started working on now seems set to become a favourite too.....It has Martians in it, but unfortunately I can't say more.

3) Whats your favourite thing about working in the industry?

Doing what you do  as a hobby all day, every day. So really work just becomes an extension of what you do at home.

4) What advice would you give to young people who wanted to get started in the sector?

Never  stop! I can't say that enough! If it's the one thing I have learnt, it is that your learning doesn't stop at University. You have to keep doing , growing and evolving your skills and speed. Try and find inspiration from everywhere you look and turn that into your creative drive. Also never give up! There will be a time when you get to applying for work and a lot of the time you won't get replies or you will get some "No thank you" emails. Don't let it deter you, keep going you will get there!

If you would like to see some of Jonathan's work you can here;

http://jonathan-k-macdonald.weebly.com/index.html

For more career advice you can talk to some of the the industry greats at our next Design/Code/Event this Thursday

http://designcodegame.eventbrite.co.uk/

[thestudioschool]

Want to develop games for XBOX, Playstation & Nintendo?

Carl Dalton, Creative Director of Brain in a jar, an independent software developing company answers our questions about how he got started within the industry...

1) How did you get started in this industry?

I'm an industry 'old timer' having started my career at Psygnosis back in 1995. I had studied film and television production at college; there were no games design courses then, and everybody that got into games came from a different background. While at college a group of us discovered Deluxe Paint, Imagine 3D and Real 3D in the college computer labs (a room filled with about a dozen Amiga 4000 computers - networked and everything)! A few of us had Amiga 500s at home and the revelation hit us that we could actually make games for ourselves.  It was just before the launch of the original Playstation and the new 'Edge' magazine was full of articles about the 3D revolution that was about to happen. All thoughts of getting into movie special effects were dropped and making 3D models and animation became the new obsession. Having finished college I applied to just about every games company in the UK, my number one choice being a company called 'Virtuality' that made virtual reality arcade games. I got knocked back by pretty much everyone; even back then 'getting in' was hard.  My girlfriend was taking life drawing lessons at a local college and met an artist from Psygnosis there. He invited me to go and see the studio. Soon after I was lucky enough to get an interview for an artist position on a game called 'Sentient' for the Playstation and the rest is history! Many years later I own and run Brain in a Jar, we've been going for fifteen years now. We are a 'micro developer' (there's only eight of us) and I still love every minute . As it happens I might get to do virtual reality after all, as we recently backed the very successful 'Oculus Rift' project (a virtual reality headset) on Kickstarter and will get our development kits soon.

2) What games have you developed? projects you have worked on ?

Over the years I have worked on over twenty games, most of them racing related in one way or another. The most famous games I've been involved in are Need for Speed: Underground, Formula One, Indycar Series, Driver SanFrancisco and most recently we have worked on NASCAR and WatchDogs. 3) Whats your favourite thing about working in the industry?

My favourite thing about the industry is that it is always changing, always new, always exciting. It's almost like getting paid to do a hobby (except the running a business part, which is actually real 'work'). 4) What advice would you give to young people who wanted to get started in the sector?

My advice is 'be passionate about it'. Games is one of those businesses that needs and thrives on passionate, driven people. It's not really a job, it's a way of life. Play games, dissect them, figure them out, enjoy them, love them and then make them. No idea is a bad idea until someone has played it (then.. it might turn out to be a bad idea! But then again, it could be the greatest new idea ever)! Without the totally insane 'Parappa the Rapper' there would have been no 'Guitar Hero'... ... and be a programmer... we need more programmers! 

Website: http://www.braininajar.co.uk/aboutus.html

Twitter: @braininatweet

[thestudioschool]

Clemens, Managing director of SETGO games talks to us about how to get started in the industry...

 1) How did you get started in this industry?

  I'm not a coder, artist or designer but I've always loved games. So when I came into the industry, some 20 years ago, I was hired to write product evaluations for a distributor of computer and video games who was based near where I lived. I was hired as "Product Evaluator" and my job was to assess, play and review a continuous stream of pre-release software for PC, Amiga, SNES and MegaDrive by game companies like Ocean, Krysalis, Coktel Vision, Sierra, Infogrames and a slew of Japanese companies. The idea was that reviews I and other in-house experts produced, would help inform buying decisions to decide how many units the distributor would commit to. 

It was a dream job. I didn't even know such a job existed when I took it. The industry was still so young at that point, and that gave me the opportunity to take a foothold and continue on up from there. I moved from there into localisation, translating games into German and leading recording sessions with voice actors, through Marketing and into Product Development. As the industry has matured, those kind of opportunities are far fewer than they maybe should be, but there's a lot more people trying to get into the industry these days. 

If that was today, my way into the industry would possibly more likely to have started by writing a blog, as a Journalist, Community Manager, or in QA. I would then possibly have specialized in one of those, or tried to move from there into Production or Design. 

  2) What games have you developed? projects you have worked on ?

  I had my hand in 10 years' worth of Formula One games for PlayStation, which were great games to be working on. Sony gave me the task toput together a development team in Liverpool that would handle creating the exclusive F1 game for 4 years, which was a huge but very rewarding effort. There were some really excellent people in that team. I also played a role in making three successive Wipeout games: Wipeout Pure and Pulse for PSP and Wipeout HD for PS3. For my money, all 3 represent a worthy contender for "best in series". They were all certainly made by teams of great professionals with phenomenal skills.  

Outside of those two, I must have worked in some capacity on over 50 games for everything from Amiga, SNES, MegaDrive, all the Sony platforms up to PS3 through to XBLA, Facebook and PC. 

  3) What's your favourite thing about working in the industry?

  One of my favourite things is how much it's continuously changing, with new platforms and new audiences emerging every 12 - 18 months these days. It's great to work on things people ultimately enjoy when they interact with it. It's made even better when you meet people who you have no connection with, who have played a game you've worked on, or have heard of the app, and hear them talk about how great it is.  

  4) What advice would you give to young people who wanted to get started in the sector?

  Get started on your own. Start a game with your friends or find friends of friends, cousins, brothers or sisters. If you really want to get started making games, just do it & use whatever tools or help you can get your hand on. Start with something really simply. Make Tic-Tac-Toe. Just make sure you finish what you've started. Even if it's not that good, it doesn't matter. Taking something from start to finish is a valuable achievement in creative development. You will learn a lot.  

  And start networking. It's never too early to start building your network of contacts, even early on. Come to one of The Studio's events where you can meet industry professionals and introduce yourself, tell us what you're up to and what you're working on.  

5) Apart from relevant qualifications, what is it this industry is looking for in a person wanting to work in the industry? what would give someone the edge over another?

  Talent does make you stand out, but accept that to be talented and great takes a lot of hard work. Being able to communicate, holding a conversation, and being able to express yourself well verbally or in writing are things that will also make you stand out. Passion and enthusiasm for what you want to do (art, code, design, whatever) and a demonstrable understanding of the skills you've put on your CV are a persuasive combination. And languages are always a plus, whether that's machine code or human languages. 

Finally, we need more women in the games and digital sector. A lot of games are played by as many, if not more, women then men, or boys and girls, but that is not yet reflected in the creative and entrepreneurial talents behind the majority of games and apps out there. While that's improving, it'd be great to see this change occur more rapidly than it is at the moment.  

Clemens Wangerin

[thestudioschool]

Interview with Jonathan Holmes, CEO of MilkyTea production Studios

Milky Tea is a Liverpool based production studio who are masters of CGI graphics and design.

Check them out;

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Milky-Tea/162842881751

Website: http://www.milkytea.com/

We speak with the CEO to help get you started in the industry

1) How did you get started in this industry? 

 Well, it’s been a bit of a long journey! I actually studied Product Design Engineering, a 50/50 mix of conceptual industrial design and manufacturing engineering. This left me with two very different attributes, one being the creative side and the other being  more structured and problem-solving.

 I’ve actually taken a few different roads to get here. I started out in the Unilever Design Centre, crafting lots of products for different brands and getting involved in Rapid Prototyping and 3D Printer technology. I then went on to work for a furniture design company and then to a company designing and fitting out businesses such as Pret a Manger, Starbucks and Hilton Hotels.

The one thing all these roles had in common was 3D CAD or CGI.

Every-time we designed something, someone would want a computer generated image of what it would look like before they committed to the idea or project. It meant that the imagery we had to produce had to be highly accurate and detailed. When the last company I worked for went into liquidation, I was asked with one of the designers who worked with me to carry on with our work for Papa Johns Pizzas and another well known high street chain of coffee shops. Overnight and a couple of credit cards later, Milky Tea was born and the real journey began. Both myself and Ian who set up Milky Tea have intense passion for design, games, animation and CGI. We wanted to create a company that was a bit different and encompassed fun and creative elements in its work. 

 2) What games have you developed? projects you have worked on ?

 Over the past seven years, Milky Tea have created games and interactives for the likes of Fairy, SSE and BBC. In October 2012, we launched Milky Tea Play, our own dedicated games division. The two projects I’ve been most proud of are The Well and our debut, Roller Rally. The Well was an interactive online game made for the BBC which ran alongside a series of the same name. It won numerous wards, including a BANFF Award, and was nominated for a BAFTA and EMMY.  Roller Rally, a UNITY iOS and Android mobile/tablet casual game, was launched in December last year. I’m delighted with the art quality and attention to detail throughout and the fact that only a small team delivered this game in three months. The reviews we have been getting have been fantastic and have put Milky Tea Play on the map.

 3) What’s your favorite thing about working in the industry? 

 I’d say it’s the variety of projects and creative challenges. Every project is different and you never know what to expect next. I look back at what we've achieved every year and the amount of high-quality, creative content we produce and deliver is astounding. I just wish that people understood a bit more about the craft, skills, creative thinking and sheer graft that goes into to some of this work to hit client deadlines. I think anyone can be creative, but being creative under the pressure of tight deadlines and restrictive budgets is massive learning curve. Also as creatives we quite have to juggle five or so projects at once, so it can be very difficult at times. 

 4) What advice would you give to young people who wanted to get started in the sector?  

 Work for free and try to do as many internships as possible.

Treat internships like an extension of university or school. Even if you are making people tea or running around delivering mail, it’s all about watching, learning and picking up all the little skills that come along with working in a professional environment. I wish I had taken on more internships.

 The other thing that I always advise people on is to work on their communication skills. I used to work in a clothes shop and a bar when I was at college and university. I think the communication skills I picked up there helped me tremendously in dealing with clients and colleagues. You have to remember that people buy into people to deliver work. If someone doesn’t want to work with you or if you’re difficult to work with, it will seriously affect your chances of success.

 The last attribute I always advise young people to work on is their attitude. I think if you have the right attitude and are determined enough you can accomplish most things in life. Life has a funny way of testing us all and knocking us at times, so having the right attitude will enable you to keep going and also to try your hardest even when a project doesn’t interest you, it will allow you to stay one step ahead of the rest. 

Jon Holmes, CEO Milky Tea Productions.

[thestudioschool]

My Future by Jordan McCormick

This is a blog post by Jordan McCormick, who also visited the Apposing and Lucid Games offices last week. Here's a blog post he has written about his experience:

"We got invited to visit Apposing and Lucid via Twitter, to share some ideas, get help with the #designcodegame event and also to have a look around"

The first office we went to was Apposing which was quite small, to see what they were doing. We saw different apps being developed and some really great ideas that had been sketched up. We met people who worked on design who were creating the look of the apps. We also met the coders and one person who made Paperboy.

Everyone in the Apposing office seemed to really enjoy their job which means it isn't  really a job at all.

Next we went across the road to Lucid, which was much larger and had lots of people working there. There were storyboards on the walls and lots of the work was based around games. We weren't told what the people there were doing as it was top secret! but we got told how animation works and got to share the rest of my ideas.

I definitely want to do something like this in the future and work in one of these offices!

[thestudioschool]

My day at Apposing & Lucid Games by Luke McCormick

Here is a blog post by Luke McCormick, who spent the morning at both Apposing & Lucid Games offices;

"We got invited to go into Lucid and Apposing’s office through twitter and they showed us their offices and what they do daily. They make Games/apps for companies like they made the app for CSL sofas!

Both offices were REALLY full of computers and IPhones / IPads/IPods and it was a great influence.

I’m only 9 years old, and it was a great experience at such a young age, and I’m starting to think that I want to do the same when I’m older!

I met a man called Dave who showed me around his office (he was from apposing). And a man called Nick who showed me around his office too (he was from lucid).

The offices were very spaced out and sociable, there were many desks spread out across the room.

In the lucid office, there were nerf guns all over the tables!!! (**LOL**)

When we went to Lucid they were in progress of making a game, but its top secret so I can’t tell you the name, and they showed us a little preview of it. They also made a mountain bike game and working on a racing car game.

I had Played some of their Previous games (like PGR 4 for Xbox 360)… It was great to meet the people that had made games that I have played and to thank them!

I told them about our ideas and they liked them. They gave us tips to making the games and helped us by telling us what to add in/take out.

It looked like everyone in the offices were enjoying doing what they were doing, and it was a happy environment 

The most enthusiastic man was the coding man at apposing. He sat at a desk at the back of the room and programmed the apps, whilst the others did art/design etc.

He gave me a tip to learning a programming language, C sharp. I’m going to look into C sharp and try to learn it!

Overall it was a very helpful and inspiring day; I hope to go back there another day! ( maybe to work there….!)

Luke McCormick 9 years old

[thestudioschool]

Ever thought about having a career in Gaming?

There is a strong community of games, apps, social media and interactive TV developers who are looking to employ young people to help support this growing industry;

One of them being Phasic Labs. This independent games company specialise in mobile games for Iphone and Ipad.

The game Hexius was development by this Local team which is an extremely popular and addictive puzzle game which has had over 5 million plays. 

The Studio School offers you a chance to learn from these experts and let you develop the skills that you would need to work in this kind of environment. If you are interested in Games Development, come to one of our #designcodegame events or follow us on twitter @lpoolstudio.

W: http://www.phasiclabs.com/?p=home

T: @Phasiclabs

[thestudioschool]

Want to have a career in App Development?

App development is the process by which application software is developed into a mobile application on your Blackberry, Iphone or Android device.

Apposing, a Liverpool based app developing company has won award winning mobile applications and technologies.

The small team have worked with clients as big as The Carphone Warehouse, CSL sofas, Pretty Green, Unilever, The BBC, Nandos and Chester Zoo.

The studio school will offer you the chance to learn from there expertise and learn how to build apps like they do, through design, coding and programming technologies.

T: @apposing

W: http://www.apposing.co.uk/

[thestudioschool]

"the best coders are like poets, able to express their thoughts powerfully through the most effective, shortest pieces of code"

[thestudioschool]

Catalyst: Video Game production

Catalyst, are a Liverpool based Video game production company who have over 100 years collective experience between them. 

The company based in Elevator Studios work on all aspects of video game production from development, management, trouble shooting, pitching and legal advice.

As well as working on the amazing sonic adventures game and Travel Bug on PlayStation they have had some fantastic clients;

Playstation,

Xbox 360,

Blur, 

Ubisoft, 

Driver,

IPhone,

Sony.

http://www.catalystos.com/

Go check them out on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Catalyst-Outsourcing-Limited/140288916037191

[thestudioschool]

Company: Lucid Games

This blog will showcase some of the local businesses that produce fantastic games, apps and use digital technologies. We will work closely with these companies so that our students can recognize where they could be potentially working after school.

The first company to show case is Lucid Games, a Liverpool based games developing company who have worked on PS1 classics such as Formula 1 97, the BAFTA winning Project Gotham Racing franchise through to recent blockbusters such as Blur and James Bond 007.

As well as design they create cloud, network, social, mobile and casual gaming as well developing technical solutions. 

Email: [email protected] Facebook: Lucid Games Ltd Twitter: @lucidgamesltd

Website: http://www.lucidgames.co.uk/

[thestudioschool]

We would like to welcome everyone to our new blog. This blog will provide information, tips and information about gaming, coding and the digital arts. 

Each month we have a #designcodegame event which will lead to a festival of code in the summer and then the opening of our studio school in Liverpool City Centre in September.

For more information visit our website www.thestudio-liverpool.co.uk

Whether you are interested in video games, app development, coding or digital arts the studio school can help find you a career.