[This article originally appeared at University of Ulster's website. To see the original, click here.]
A team of University of Ulster students are set to represent Northern Ireland in the finals of an international video game development competition.
Elijah Blyth and Michael Sheridan from the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems and Mark Quinn and Niall Carlin from the School of Creative Arts, all based at Magee, will compete in the Dare to be Digital finals in Edinburgh this summer.
They will be joined by a fifth team member, Alan Monaghan, from Belfast Metropolitan College.
Dare to be Digital is the premier competition for students who want to design their own video games. Backed by game industry sponsors it is held annually alongside the Interactive Entertainment Festival.
Michael Callaghan, School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, who is one of the team’s mentors, said: “Qualifying for the Dare finals for the second year running, this year’s Ulster team overcame stiff competition from sixteen other shortlisted applicants for only two places in the regional finals.
“The team will now spend their summer based in Trinity College Dublin developing their video game ‘The Creeping Dark’ on Emergent Technologies Gamebryo, a world class games development engine, before moving to Edinburgh in August for the Dare to be Digital finals.
“They will then go head to head with eleven other teams from the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland, China and India to compete for the BAFTA ‘Ones to Watch’ Games Award.
“Participation in this exciting competition highlights the creative talent and technical skills available in the region, where students from Northern Ireland are competing on an international stage show-casing their expertise in the latest in high tech software.”
Dr Shane Wilson, also from the School of Computing and Intelligent Systems, added: “Participation in this exciting competition highlights the creative talent and technical skills available in the region.
“Games are a cross-disciplinary medium, bringing together computer programming, music, animation design 3d modelling and interactivity into a single product. The team’s qualification for the competition highlights the importance and rewards of inter-faculty collaboration in this increasingly important area.”
Justin Magee and Mark Cullen from the School of Creative Arts also acted as mentors to the students during the competition.
For further details visit the Dare website: www.daretobedigital.com
For further information, please contact:
Press Office, Department of Communication and Development
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