Major international games companies Reflections, a Ubisoft studio, and SEGA Europe Ltd have joined Dare to be Digital 2015 as mentors to the student teams.
The applicants to this year’s Dare to be Digital will receive support from highly experienced games industry professionals throughout development, with a focus on preparing them for prestigious graduate careers and launching their own businesses.
Reflections and SEGA join Dundee-based Denki, Ninja Kiwi and Tag Games, giving the student teams access to globally respected companies who have achieved creative and commercial success.
Dare to be Digital is the world’s leading game design competition for students, run each summer by Abertay University. This year more students than ever are eligible to compete, with game development taking place from any location in the world. Mentoring will be available online for all teams.
Professor Louis Natanson, Head of the School of Arts, Media and Computer Games at Abertay University, said: “We’re delighted to welcome Denki, Ninja Kiwi, Reflections, SEGA and Tag Games as mentors for Dare to be Digital 2015.
“It’s an invaluable experience for a student game developer to be mentored by professionals, often with decades of experience working at the heights of this global industry.
“Being able to share your work in development, get instant feedback and guidance is an integral part of the Dare to be Digital experience.
“And it always helps accelerate the development of original, creative games that are a lot of fun for the thousands of people, young and old, who visit our Dare ProtoPlay festival in Dundee each August.”
Nicola Sharp, HR Director at Reflections, said: “Reflections is a world leading creative studio working on Ubisoft’s major titles like Tom Clancy’s The Division, MMO racer The Crew and the successful Steam title Grow Home.
“We need very highly talented graduates to join our studio to help us make these games, and to develop into our senior staff and team leaders of the future.
“In recent years we have seen that most of our interns and new junior colleagues have taken part in Dare to be Digital. It’s really important for us to support the teams taking part in Dare and nurture the next generation of talented game developers.”
Previously Dare to be Digital teams had just eight weeks to develop a new prototype game from scratch, excluding any student projects or games originally created at an event like the Global Game Jam.
In response to calls from companies and students, the only limit is now that the game must have been in production for less than a year and not have been previously commercially released.
Students keen to take part – and compete for prizes from BAFTA, Channel 4 and others – will this year develop their game at home or their own university, before travelling to Dundee to showcase their game at the UK’s biggest independent games festival, Dare ProtoPlay.
Applications to Dare to be Digital must be made at http://www.daretobedigital.com/73_Apply.html by 5pm on Monday 4 May.
Games industry experts will then pick 15 teams who have the summer to complete their game before travelling to Dundee for Dare ProtoPlay.
Free accommodation will be provided in Dundee from Saturday 8 to Tuesday 18 August to allow all the teams to set their games up for Dare ProtoPlay, which runs from Thursday 13 to Sunday 16 August in Dundee’s Caird Hall and City Square.
For more information, please visit http://www.daretobedigital.com/
