Video Game Legends to Judge Make Something Unreal Live
Ensemble of industry icons will be on hand to critique new ‘Fighting Fantasy™’ iOS games debuting at Gadget Show Live 2012
CARY, N.C. and LUTON, UK (March 29, 2012) – Epic Games, Inc. and Train2Game announce the distinguished lineup of video game luminaries who have committed to participate in Make Something Unreal Live, the groundbreaking game development competition coming to the Gadget Show Live on April 10-15, 2012 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.
To complement the guidance of the Make Something Unreal Live advisory board comprised of industry mentors and Train2Game directors, the following individuals will review the program’s new “Fighting Fantasy™” iOS games and coach start-up teams with their unique acumen and words of wisdom:
· Ian Baverstock, founding partner, Tenshi Ventures, and advisory board member, Game Developers Conference
· Cliff Bleszinski, design director, Epic Games
· Jon Hare, founder, Tower Studios
· Steve Jackson, co-creator, “Fighting Fantasy” series and professor of game design, Brunel University
· Ian Livingstone OBE, co-creator, “Fighting Fantasy” series and life president, Eidos
· Professor Carsten Maple, director of business education interaction, TIGA
· Peter Molyneux OBE, founder, 22 Cans
· Dr. Jo Twist, chief executive officer, The UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE)
· Jon Yates, director of product development, City & Guilds
“‘Fighting Fantasy’ has in the past been used by school teachers as inspiration for creative writing exercises but this is the first time the teaching exercise has been to create a fully-featured video game,” said Jackson. “Ian and I are impressed with what we’ve seen of the students’ work so far, and we are looking forward to seeing the final results.”
Projects to be revealed publicly for the very first time during Make Something Unreal Live are “The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters,” “The Citadel of Chaos: Dire Consequences,” “Deathtrap Dungeon” and “Armies of Death: Rise of Agglax.”
The games will be first viewable on April 10, the Gadget Show Live trade and press day. During the consumer exhibition, more than 100,000 attendees will be able to observe teams finessing their creations live on the show floor (stands C55 and C140). In addition, teams will provide project updates on the Make Something Unreal Live stage twice daily, and Train2Game and Epic will host presentations as well. The theater will be staffed by experts who can answer questions and provide advice about building a successful career in game development.
On the final day, April 15, Jackson and Livingstone will select the winning team, who will walk away with a full source, commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. A portion of the proceeds from the winning game’s sales will be donated to The Prince’s Trust.
About Fighting Fantasy
Fighting Fantasy is a series of best-selling interactive gamebooks created by Steve Jackson and Ian Livingstone that have sold in excess of 16 million copies worldwide and translated into 27 languages. “Warlock of Firetop Mountain” was the first title published in 1982. Additional information about Fighting Fantasy can be obtained at
www.fightingfantasy.com.
About Make Something Unreal Live
Co-sponsored by Epic Games and Train2Game, Make Something Unreal Live is an independent game development challenge that enables start-up studios to create brand new iOS games and release them on the App Store. In 2012, four teams sourced from the Train2Game and Epic Game Jam are building games based on the long-running “Fighting Fantasy” series of books using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit (UDK), the free edition of Unreal Engine 3. This unprecedented competition will culminate at Gadget Show Live 2012 to be held at April 10-15, 2012 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK. The winner of Make Something Unreal Live will receive a commercial, full source Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. A portion of the proceeds from the winning game’s sales on the App Store will be donated to The Prince’s Trust. “Like” Make Something Unreal Live on Facebook, and follow @Train2Game and @UnrealEngine on Twitter.
About Train2Game
Created in 2008, Train2Game offers accredited courses in Games Design, Development, Art and Animation, certified by leading industry body TIGA. Train2Game is a blended-learning organisation designed to fast track the best, most ambitious and motivated students into the games industry through comprehensive, expert-supervised courses. A big part of this is coordinating with the best developers in the country and providing top tier talented graduates for placements in the workplace. This year will see its first graduates enter the workplace after years of training.
About Unreal Engine 3
Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed tools and scalability across multiple platforms. Unreal Engine 3’s highly mature toolset and content pipeline consistently evolve along with its advanced mobile features, multi-core processor support, optimizations for numerous platforms and massive world support. Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers' productivity for computer and video games, mobile games and applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including eight Game Developer Front Line Awards and four Develop Industry Excellence Awards. Additional information on Unreal Engine 3 can be obtained at
www.unrealengine.com.
About Epic Games
Epic Games, Inc., based in Cary, NC and established in 1991, develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company has created multiple million-selling, award-winning titles in its “Unreal” series, including “Unreal Tournament 3” for PC, PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. The first two games in Epic’s "Gears of War" franchise have sold more than 13 million copies and won more than 50 game of the year awards. The third installment, “Gears of War 3,” sold more than 3 million copies within its first week of release, catapulting the franchise beyond $1 billion in lifetime sales. Epic's Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 industry technology awards and powers many bestselling games. Additional information about Epic can be obtained at
www.epicgames.com.
