Perhaps even more "cushtie" than being a real live rally driver, University of Dundee computing graduate Nicoll Hunt is now working for a top computer games company simulating the rallying skills of Colin McRae - Scotland's number one rally driver.
Nicoll was snapped up by computer games firm Codemasters as soon as he graduated from the Division of Applied Computing in summer 2001. During his four year degree Nicoll developed an assortment of computing software, ranging from an online IT test that helped students improve their IT skills to creating updated versions of classic games, paving the way for the career to follow.
Colin McRae Rally 3 has topped the computer games charts since its release- its success in no small part due to the skills and imagination of Nicoll. He explains: "One of my tasks on the game was to put together cutscenes, so I was responsible for getting all the officials, TV crews and spectators in the scene. The guy on the far right of the scene is me!"
Nicoll says: "It was the scope of the computing degree at the University of Dundee that gave me the skills and flexibility to move from educational software into the games industry. A degree in applied computing equips you for any computing career, giving you a strong base in developing quality software and an understanding of the computing technology to go along with it."
"We recently shipped one million copies of 'Colin McRae Rally 3' on the first day of its release. It's amazing to think of a million people playing a game I was involved with. Working on games is a very demanding occupation, the hours can be long near the end of projects, and there is a lot of pressure to make your game stand out from the competition. But short of being a rock-star there is no other job I'd rather be doing!"
In the fourth year of his degree, Nicoll was nominated as a finalist for the ScotlandIS award for an automated teaching facility he developed to test students and give them feedback on their word processing skills.
By Jenny Marra, Press Officer 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk