Dundee’s love affair with the computer games industry was further underlined at the weekend when 9000 people attended a games conference at Caird Hall.
Delighted organisers of the Dare ProtoPlay Festival, run by Abertay University, said the attendance over the three days was treble that of last year’s inaugural event in Edinburgh.
Coming to Dundee for the first time, the festival saw record-breaking numbers of visitors having fun watching and taking part in the action.
A spokesman for the university said: “This has smashed all records and it really shows how much support there is for games in Dundee and what a great, thriving local industry there is here. Amazing.”
The festival also unveiled the games stars of the future as the Dare to be Digital winners were announced. The three winning teams Digital Knights, Evolved Ape and Swallowtail will now compete for the exclusive BAFTA Ones to Watch award which only the Dare to be Digital winners are eligible to compete for at a ceremony in London early next year.
FunBox also won the Visual Adrenaline award, sponsored by Intel, for the best graphics.
“They arrived at Abertay University nine short weeks ago as promising students. They leave us as very promising young professionals. We will watch their careers with great interest.”
Applications from over 70 universities worldwide were whittled down to just 15 teams to compete in Dare to be Digital. Hosted and run by Abertay, Dare to be Digital brings in games industry professionals to hand-pick and mentor the teams.
Many competitors go on to receive job offers from these world-leading companies.