Organizers of the UK-based game development competition, Dare to be Digital, have announced the contest's winners in each of its three main categories during a special event in Dundee, Scotland.
Developed and organised by the University of Abertay Dundee, the now eight-year old Dare to Be Digital contest pits teams of students from the UK, India and China against each other in a 10 week contest to develop a fully functional prototype of a new game idea, with the finalists judged by a panel of games industry experts.
The three main prizes for 2007, each worth £2,500 ($4,965), were awarded to Phoenix Seed's Far East-styled casual game
Bear Go Home, for ‘Innovation and Creativity;’ Carebox's cooperative adventure game
ClimbActic, for ‘Use of Technology’; and Voodoo Boogy's musical fantasy RPG
Ragnarawk, for ‘Commercial Potential’.
In addition to these three awards, Voodoo Boogy was also voted on by the public as the winner of the Dare to be Digital 2007 Audience Award as well.
All three winning teams will now move on as the only nominees for the new BAFTA 'Ones to Watch' award, due to be announced in October. “The judges were incredibly impressed by the quality of the work they saw,” commented NCSoft's Geoff Heath, who served as the event's chairman of the judges.
Noted professor Mike Swanston, vice principal of academic development at Abertay University: “Dare to be Digital was first run eight years ago and its growth has been phenomenal, but the ethos of the competition remains constant: students come in with ideas, boundless energy and enthusiasm, and come out confident and highly skilled with much-sought-after experience under their belts.”
