28 November 2012

Students attempt to wow industry professionals with games

Photo opportunity: 3-5pm on Friday, 30th November at the Queen Mother Building, University of Dundee.

Students from the University of Dundee's School of Computing will be hoping to make an impression on potential employers when they meet with representatives of established computer games companies later this week.

As part of their coursework, third-year students have been learning how to apply software engineering concepts to computer games. This has culminated in them designing and creating their own games, which they will demo at the 'Industry Spotlight on Student Games' event on Friday.

The annual showcase enables students to receive feedback from senior industry figures that will help them write games to a professional standard. Representatives from games companies and other organisations will meet with the students, providing them with tips and hints and advising them how to develop their ideas further.

Some of the professionals they will be meeting are themselves graduates of the computing programmes at Dundee. This year, for the first time, students have been allowed to choose which platform they create for, so games written for the PC, iPad, iPhone, Xbox 360 and android devices will be premiered at the event.

Among the student exhibiting are:

• Aneta Lisowska, who has created SMAIPboard - a PC game designed to enhance the attention and spatial memory of children.
• Ross Strachan, whose iphone game teaches children how to spell and allows the teacher to upload spelling words.
• Kyle Harrison, the creator of Ariyana - a new take on wizard's chess.

Dr Karen Petrie, from the University's School of Computing, said she was sure the industry representatives would be impressed by what they see, and would be indulging in some talent-spotting.

"This is a great opportunity for students to meet with potential employers and make an impression on them," she said.

"The students have done a really fantastic job and the standard of games created is fantastic. They can only improve with the feedback they will receive from professionals from within the computer games industry."

The students will meet with Tag Games, Cigital, MTC media, Outplay, Denki, and NCR at the event, which takes place at the Queen Mother Building from 3pm to 5pm on Friday, 30th November.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277