Games students win first prize in Microsoft X48
Mon, 22 Mar 2010 08:57:00 GMT
X48: Microsoft XNA GameCamp is an event where students studying game development, game design, computer science and art get the chance to make a game in a concentrated environment very similar to professional game production. On Friday 19 of March 2010, 60 students from around the UK travelled to Huddersfield to make original video games from scratch in less than two days, in teams of two, three, or four.
Surrounded by their peers, in a race against time to produce a prize-winning game, the students also find support in the form of industry mentors - people who are incredibly experienced in the games industry, and people the developers of tomorrow can learn from. This year students were assisted by mentors from Microsoft Games Studios, Rockstar, Tuna, Mudlark, University of Newport, and the University of Huddersfield.
Partly to avoid teams bringing along pre-conceived ideas, and to ensure an equal starting point, the organisers of X48 present the teams with a theme around which to create their game. The theme is kept secret until the morning of the event. At Huddersfield, the theme was GIANTS.
The University of Huddersfield has been a strong contender from the start of X48 in 2009, where they took 1st and 2nd prize, as well as an award for Best Artistic Direction and this year, their team 'Birthday Cake' took home 1st Prize for their game 'Arrogant Incas'.
Oscar Mullen, on a placement year at the University of Huddersfield's Canalside Studios said, "Both X48 events this year were fantastic. Being a contestant at Birmingham and staff at Huddersfield I can safely say X48 is the best game making competition I have ever been to. Meeting a load of games students and industry professionals as well as getting the chance to show off your programming or art skills means that X48 is a must for anyone looking to go into the industry (or just looking to have some good, old fashioned fun)."
Damian De Luca, Subject Area Leader in Digital Media at the University of Huddersfield, said, "The school is delighted to have hosted this event, which has been a fantastic experience for all the students from many different Universities. We look forward to next year's event as X48 goes from strength to strength and thank all our industry colleagues for their continued support."
Created by Pixel-Lab for Microsoft, supported by Northern Net and Screen Yorkshire and hosted by University of Huddersfield, the March X48 event was the second to happen this year. Pixel-Lab are currently working with Microsoft and the University of Huddersfield's game development studio Canalside Studios to bring the games created at X48 to a larger audience via Xbox Live Indie Games and as downloads from the official X48 website X48gamecamp.com.
Andrew Sithers, academic lead from Microsoft says "Bringing together the excitement and pressure of X48 with the global impact of the Windows Phone 7 Series SDK gave the students a real opportunity to showcase their potential as the next generation of games industry leaders and innovators."
For full details of the event and to see videos and blogs of the event, please visit http://www.x48gamecamp.com/about or http://www.hudunigames.co.uk/
