Author: Duke

Induction week 2019 arrived and with it our newest intake of students, all very excited to start their game development careers. As part of the week, we whisked them off to Arcade Club in Leeds to play everything from the oldest arcade games to the newest VR titles. It wasn’t just for playing the games though, teams were built around a few interesting titles and the students tasked with creating posters to share their thoughts and experiences on those machines, all part of the University’s award winning “Flying Start” programme.

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Some of the posters are below, all a bit of fun, designed to get the students talking, mingling and thinking about game design… what makes a game fun!

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I also grabbed a few photos…

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We’re all looking forward to another exciting year!

Well, the results are in, and staff and students from our Computer Games Design course have once again come home with prizes…

Returning for its second year, the Grads In Games Awards celebrate the individuals and institutions that have made a real impact in improving the links between the games industry and education. Recognising and highlighting the academics, universities and studios that are actively helping students make the leap from student games developer to professional games developer, as well as the students who are already achieving great things.

http://gradsingames.com/news/the-grads-in-games-award-winners-2019/

You might remember from my previous post that we had several short-listings across most of the available categories…

Matthew Novak – WINNER for “Academic Award” award

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Ellie Brown, Zachray Cundall and Helen Andrzejowska – WINNER for “Student Hero” award

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Congratulations to Matt, Zach, Ellie and Helen for their great achievements!

The Grads in Games Awards 2019 shortlist has been announced with the University of Huddersfield, its staff and students all nominated for prizes.

You can read more about the categories at http://gradsingames.com/awards/ but for now, let’s celebrate all of the Huddersfield noninations and wish them all the best of luck in the final on 17th April!

Matthew Novak – Nominated for “Academic Award” award

University of Huddersfield – Nominated for “Educational Institution” award

Dale Green – Graduate from our Computer Games Programming course, now at Red Kite Games and nominated for “Graduate Impact” award

University of Huddersfield and Red Kite Games – Nominated for “Industry Collaboration” award

Ellie Brown, Zachray Cundall and Helen Andrzejowska – Nominated for “Student Hero” award

The awards were set up for the stand out stories you all have about the individuals who really went that extra mile, the studio who gave you your first job and was more supportive and nurturing than you could’ve ever imagined. Or, maybe it’s the university that could not have prepared you more for life in the games industry or perhaps the person that you just wanna say “my dream wouldn’t be complete without you in it” to quote from The Princess and the Frog, as your dream of becoming a professional gamedev wouldn’t have come true without them.

EBONY GREEN – http://gradsingames.com/news/grads-in-games-awards-shortlist-2019/

Once again, well done to all!

The results of the 3rd round of the Grads in Games “Search for a Star” and “Rising Star” European competitions have been announced, with Huddersfield students once again taking many of the highest places.

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3D Character Art Challenge

Students are asked to create an original game-ready character model for use in UE4. All stylistic, narrative, thematic and aesthetic considerations are at the artist’s discretion.

https://itch.io/jam/3d-character-art-challenge-2019

Students from 1st, 2nd and final year were eligible to enter the categories, going up against thousands of entries in stage 1. Filtering only the best, stages 2 and 3 are now complete, with the final interview stage still to go.

“Search for a Star” is aimed at final year students and “Rising Star” is aimed at 1st and 2nd year students.

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In partnership with Epic Games and a host of other games companies, this is a fantastic opportunity for students to show their skills in a challenging industry and be noticed for future employment prospects.

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Results of the 3rd round of “3D Character Art Challenge” for “Search for a Star”:

3rd	Jack Walker	https://jackwalker.itch.io/blood-knight
4th	Ellie Brown	https://ellierpbrown.itch.io/searchforastar
10th	Chloe McCann	https://skulosaurus.itch.io/dinosaur-showdown-sfas
12th	James Phiri	https://velvetfury.itch.io/so-character-art
15th	Matthew Throup	https://matthewthroup.itch.io/xu-the-tainted
17th	Callum McConnell	https://callumftw.itch.io/maroon

Results of the 3rd round of “3D Character Art Challenge” for “Rising Star”:

1st	Mellissa Hamer	https://meireille.itch.io/akazugaikotsu-rising-star-2019
2nd	Oliver Fayers	https://oli-f.itch.io/the-sea-beast-naga-rising-star
4th	Jason Morley	https://jrmorley.itch.io/rodrick-royal-guard
8th	Ben Smith	https://ben-smith99.itch.io/heist-suspect
12th	Nav Bhogal	https://nav-bhogal.itch.io/yami

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3D Environment Art Challenge

Students are asked to create and compose an original game environment scene for UE4, featuring a set of four key assets. All stylistic, narrative, thematic and aesthetic considerations are at the artist’s discretion.

https://itch.io/jam/3d-environment-art-challenge-2019

Results of the 3rd round of “3D Environment Art Challenge” for “Search for a Star”:

1st	Sam Sharpe	https://fightingsharpie.itch.io/city-bowels-cyberpunk-environment
2nd	Ruben Chatha	https://rubenchatha.itch.io/mineshaft
5th	Dan Jones	https://dan-jones.itch.io/realistic-dentist-office

Results of the 3rd round of “3D Environment Art Challenge” for “Rising Star”:

1st	Reece Parrinder	https://reeceparrinder.itch.io/sci-fi-bar
2nd	Chris Rhodes	https://chris186.itch.io/elder-tree-environment
5th	Bradley Cullen	https://bradley-cullen.itch.io/spacecorp
8th	Adam Fautley	https://adamfautley.itch.io/sammies-bar

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Games VFX Challenge

Students are asked to create an original game-ready effects sequence for use in UE4. All stylistic, narrative, thematic and aesthetic considerations are at the artist’s discretion.

https://itch.io/jam/games-vfx-challenge-2019

Results of the 3rd round of “Games VFX Challenge” for “Search for a Star”:

1st (joint)	Zack Cundall	https://cundall77.itch.io/cursed-tower
1st (joint)	Eliot Stevens	https://eliotstevens.itch.io/dubstep-laser-gun

Flux8, a game developed by the University of Huddersfield internal game studio, Canalside Studios, was part of the Yogscast Jingle Jam 2018, which ran from December 1st 2018 to December 31st. Canalside Studios employ 8 placement students from across the Computer Games Design and Computer Science with Games Programming courses each year to develop real shipped titles. The whole team was very excited to be a part of this huge endeavour for charity.

The Humble Bundle special, including 78 items, sold 88,139 times to raise a total of $3,307,929.36.

All proceeds went towards benefiting multiple charities, including Call of Duty Endowment, Cancer Research UK, International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans and Intersex Association, Mental Health Foundation, Save the Children, Special Effect, Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal, and Whale and Dolphin Conservation, as well as an option to choose any charity of the buyers choice from a list of hundreds of thousands of charities.

The game is described as “a sentient magnet, enslaved in a factory, you have two options: work or be terminated! However, not all magnets are born to work. Some dream of freedom and choose to rebel. There’s a whole wide world waiting just outside those factory doors… you must remain positive!”

If you missed the Jingle Jam, you can buy Flux8 on steam right now for £4.99

Philip Oliver of The Oliver Twins visited on the 5th of December to give a guest lecture to our Computer Games Design and Computer Science with Games Programming students, although everyone was invited. The talk, titled “Lessons from 4 Decades of Game Development” attracted over 100 of our students and staff and covered every aspect of game development, from the earliest days of just the two of them building games through multi-million-pound projects and their current role at Rebellion.

Introduced by the Dean of Computing and Engineering, Professor Stephen Donnelly, Philip gave an informative, interesting, engaging and humorous narrative of his history in the game development world, with plenty of tips for our aspiring game developers.

As an added bonus, alumni Simon Robertson visited too to answer questions from a graduate perspective.

It was a great talk, listening to interesting tales of the early days, through difficult times with publishers and the changing landscape of the games industry. The lecture ended with some insightful perspectives on the future and a QA session. Thank you to Philip and Simon for making the journey, and the HUCS team (especially Rob Farrar) for leading the organisation of this event.

The annual End of Year Showcase event took place today, with students from all years of the course, including placement year, taking part and showcasing their work. Friends, family, peers, academics and industry all got to see the best work from our Computer Games Design and Computer Games Programming (now Computer Science with Games Programming)  students. Thank you to all the students who volunteered to help with the setup in the morning and especially our technical staff and estates staff who had a challenging job in the time available.

Setup seemed to take all morning… 

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Staff, students, friends, family and industry all got to see the work from this year

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Finally, it was awards time

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Outstanding Achievement in the first year:

Computer Science with Games Programming: Luke Dicken-Jones
Computer Games Design: Oliver Fayers

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Outstanding Achievement in the second year:

Computer Science with Games Programming: Callum Armitage
Computer Games Design: Joe Taylor

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Outstanding Achievement in the first year:

Computer Science with Games Programming: Luke Dicken-Jones
Computer Games Design: Oliver Fayers

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Best Team Project Game: Doom Buggies

Best Technology in a Game: Martin Kruger

Best Art in a Game: Alexander Brown

Best Design in a Game: Harry Kay

Best Animation/VFX in a Game: Jacob Beckley

Best Kial Oliver-Gibson Award: Kial Oliver-Gibson

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We’re all looking forward to next year and seeing what the students produce… we’ve already started planning the event, so make you save the date… Thursday, May 2nd!