The world’s leading computer game design competition for students, Dare to be Digital, launches around the globe this week.
Organised by Abertay University, this year’s event will see 16 teams from Finland, the Netherlands, the UK and the USA building games from their home universities.
They will then travel to Dundee in August for Dare ProtoPlay, the UK’s biggest independent games festival, where they will show their games to thousands of members of the public.
At the festival, three teams will be picked to go forward for the Bafta Ones to Watch Award at next year’s British Academy Games Awards.
The Dare to be Digital competition is an increasingly important breeding ground for top young developers and their visionary ideas, which are increasingly leading to commercial success.
“Every year the student teams applying to Dare to be Digital amaze us with their technical skill and creativity, and this year’s selection has been a really tough process,” said Professor Gregor White, acting head of the school of arts, media and computer games at Abertay.
“Moving with the changes in the games industry, we’ve opened up Dare to allow games that have been started at game jams or during university studies and we’ve also got teams with up to eight members taking part.
“Creativity, design and originality are critical to stand out and be successful in the highly competitive world of computer games and Dare to be Digital is recognising that.
“The next global game hit can now come from a team of two or three people, rather than a team of 200 or 300.
“Our Dare ProtoPlay festival in August will be a very exciting display of the world’s very best student game designers.”
Dare to be Digital 2015 received entries from across Europe, Asia and North America, with half of the entries coming from outside the UK.
The successful teams will receive mentoring from creatively and commercially successful studios including Denki, Giant Sparrow, Kobojo, Ninja Kiwi, Reflections (a Ubisoft studio), Sony, Sega, Tag Games, thatgamecompany and IGDA Foundation.
They will also benefit from Microsoft technology support and the opportunity to pitch their games for Windows 10 and Xbox One.
Microsoft UK’s Liam Kelly said: “Student developers are important for Microsoft. Through Microsoft’s involvement in Abertay University’s Dare to be Digital competition, we can educate and help foster new UK talent in game development and we are very proud to do so.”
According to the Princetown Review 2015, Abertay ranks in the top 25 places worldwide to study video game design the only university in Europe to feature.