ScottishGames.biz

Now YOU Can Dare To Be Digital Too

Following the huge growth and expansion of the 2008 Dare to be Digital Competition, Paul Durrant and his team at Abertay have announced another significant new addition to the 2008 competition. 

Dream is a new aspect to the competition, which allows members of the public to submit game concepts.  These will be judged by Dare and then the winning concepts will be go on to be created by one of the competing teams.

This is another important addition to the overall games industry from Dare and Abertay.  Currently there's little or no value in games concepts. 

If you have a great new idea for a game, it can be difficult - if not impossible to find a way to implement it.  Unless you can develop it yourself, or work within a sympathetic development studio, which encourages new ideas.

This opens the whole Dare process up to an entirely new channel for ideas and concepts, which can only help the competition in the long run.

We hope to follow this year's Dare in more detail across the whole of 2009.  Since the editor can now hit the University of Abertay with a carefully tossed bread roll, we hope that might actually happen...

In the meantime, kudos again to the Dare team and we can't wait to see the results of this brave new step.

Finally, Dare has produced it's own promotional video to fill in people who have yet to hear about the world's premier game creation competition...

Dare to Be Digital 2008 - Download The Games

Remember those hazy, sun-kissed days of summer 2008?  The long afternoons, the polo, Pimms and festivals?

Part of that whole golden season was of course the Interactive Festival and of course, the most funky part of that whole media/arts collaboration, was the biggest ever Dare Protoplay.

Now even the unfortunate people who didn't come to the festival can share in the fruits.  Dare has just posted ALL (OK, most) of this year's entires up on their website, entirely free of charge and available for download.  By YOU the gamer.

It's just one more reason to appreciate the awesome scope of Dare as a project.  Visit, download play and enjoy some of the most creative new games you'll have seen for quite some time.

Dare 2008 - The Winners

The Dare to be Digital competition has come a long way in the last five years.  From a small, local competition, it has grown into a global event which is only now becoming recognised as a truly significant opportunity to find, encourage and recognise new talent within the interactive world.

The 2008 Dare competition and Protoplay event was the biggest ever, with more teams, more development centres, more games, more people and more attention than the competition has ever received.

Running alongside the Protoplay event, which gave members of the public a chance to play and enjoy the games created by this year's finalists, ran alongside the consumer side of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival - within the same venue.

The crowds were very definitely there.  Every opportunity we had to stick our heads into the EICC's Cromdale Hall, it was packed - and we had to queue to actually play anything.

From speaking to a number of the judges, the standard this year was even higher than they've come to expect from Dare over recent years.  A couple of projects were mentioned numerous times as not only being of 'commercial quality', but hugely playable and enjoyable.

Trust us when we say that when you see someone from a development company, grinning like a ten year old, while describing a game, it normally means there's something special about it.

The final, glittering - and we do mean glittering - award ceremony took place yesterday with not only Abertay Principal Bernard King, but Scotland's Culture Minister Linda Fabiani in attendance.

Readers, it was slick.  Very slick.  Completely professional host/MC (Michelle Watt, who pretended not to remember us at all...) an appreciative audience and a fantastic range of entries.

The now infamous Dare development diaries made their annual appearance, though how they'll continue to feature everyone as the competition grows (17 teams this year), we're not sure.  The SG suggestion is a 'big brother' style live feed from White Space, which can be edited down to the highlights (fights over the efficiency of rendering engines and who used the last of the sugar...)

The eventual winners were:

Blue Skies - ORIGAMEE (Abertay University)
CRTL_D - VEGEME (Peking University)
Dark Matter Designs - BORO-TORO (Wolverhampton University)

All three teams are now automatically entered into the newly created BAFTA Ones To Watch award, which is will be chosen and presented in March 2009.

In addition GRAV by Contrived (Edinburgh University) won the audience award, receiving the greatest number of votes from the Protoplay audience over the three days of the show.

You can read the full official release after the link.

Holy Hell! Dare Proves Rockstar North Actually Exists

We're impressed - very impressed - with this one:

The creators of the phenomenally successful Grand Theft Auto IV computer game are throwing their weight behind Dare to be Digital 2008.

Edinburgh-based Rockstar North is to sponsor the Dare to be Digital 2008 awards ceremony, which this year will for the first time take place in Edinburgh. 

Dare to be Digital is the world’s leading games design competition for students, organized and promoted by the University of Abertay Dundee. About 100 teams applied to enter this year’s competition, from which 17 teams of five programmers and artists were selected to compete in five locations across Britain and Ireland.

The 2008 awards ceremony is scheduled to take place on 13 August at Edinburgh International Conference Centre, not far from Rockstar North’s custom-built headquarters in the heart of Edinburgh.

The company is well aware of Dare to be Digital’s value in encouraging and fostering new talent for the computer games industry. 

A Rockstar representative commented: “We have watched the growth of Dare to be Digital over the years, and we have always been impressed with the quality of talent the competition attracts and helps to nurture.” 

“In fact, we ourselves have made several successful hires from among previous contestants, who have all contributed to our thriving creative community of developers from a variety of backgrounds and nationalities.”

Paul Durrant of Abertay University, which promotes and organizes Dare to be Digital, welcomed the announcement, saying:  “We are very pleased that Rockstar North is supporting Dare to be Digital 2008.  The quality of their work is recognised throughout the worldwide computer games industry, and I am sure that our contestants will be thrilled to take part in a competition endorsed by such a well-respected developer.

“Just like Rockstar, everyone involved with Dare to be Digital is eagerly anticipating an even higher standard of work from this year’s contestants, and now with Rockstar North’s support we will be able to celebrate that talent and achievement with a truly spectacular awards ceremony.”

Dare to be Digital is also planning to give the general public a chance to get involved:  each team’s progress can be followed on the competition website – www.daretobedigital.com <http://www.daretobedigital.com> and members of the public can vote online for their favourite team.

Just ahead of the awards ceremony, visitors to the Edinburgh Fringe and the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, as well as the general public, will get the chance to try out all the games for free in the special ‘Dare ProtoPlay’ showcase event at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre (10-12 August).

Congratulations Dare.  We'll be rooting out the secret of your success (blackmail, extortion, etc.) with Rockstar in the very near future...

Dare to be Digital Application Date Extended

Following the recent announcements from the Dare to be Digital camp, the competition has extended the application deadline for students in Scotland and Northern Ireland to the 6th of May and the 22nd of April respectively.

Check out the news here.

Dare to be Digital Partners With Channel 4

The Dare to be Digital competition has grown hugely in the last several years, but in the last few months, the team behind the event have pushed things to incredible new levels.

Not only have they created a successful consumer side with the ProtoPlay showcase, attracted major media sponsors and partnered with BAFTA, but they've started pulling in major media organisations as sponsors and pushing Dare into the forefront of the interactive world.

The most recent announcement came late last week, with the news that Dare to be Digital is partnering with Channel 4. 

C4 will sponsor the regional development centres across the UK, as well as the ProtoPlay events in both Edinburgh and London.  This year's competition promises development centres in Brighton, London, Cardiff, Dublin, Dundee, Birmingham and Frankfurt.  Teams from India and China will also be competing in Dundee.

The teams taking part have the option of tailoring their entry to a brief, set by Channel 4.  The brief is focused on the more casual and innovative end of the gaming market and with appeal to the younger (9-14 yer old) end of the consumer audience.

The full press release announcing the partnership can be read here.

The detailed Channel 4 brief can be found here (.doc file.  Requires MS Word/OpenOffice).

Dare to be Digital Partners With Turner Broadcasting

News just in from Dare to be Digital.  Turner Broadcasting, part of the colossal Time/Warner group has signed up as the first major sponsor of the 2008 competition. 

This is a real coup for Dare, as it puts one of the world's biggest media companies right at the heart of the event.  If it provides greater exposure or a route to market for the teams taking part, then it will be a huge boost for Dare to be Digital moving forward.

Here's the official press release:

Dare to be Digital 2008 has secured sponsorship from one of the world’s biggest media giants, Turner Broadcasting System Inc.

Dare is the UK’s premier competition for young computer games designers, attracting students and recent graduates from all over the world in 2007.

Turner Broadcasting System Inc, owners of major news network CNN and part of the Time Warner group, is the first new sponsor to be announced for Dare 2008.

The company’s sponsorship comes soon after confirmation that the University of Abertay Dundee, originators and promoters of Dare, would continue and increase its support for the competition this year.

Paul Durrant, Director of Dare to be Digital, welcomed Turner Broadcasting System Inc. as the first new sponsor for 2008, saying:  “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with TBS this year. 

“Their support is a huge boost to our plans to raise £1 million to support Dare to be Digital for the next two years, and a measure of how seriously the contest is now regarded by major creative and media businesses around the planet.

“We plan to greatly increase the scope of this year’s competition, with almost twice as many students as in 2007, taking part in several host centres across the UK and perhaps even overseas as well.”

Dare to be Digital Receives £1M Funding - Announces Expansion and Larger ProtoPlay Event For 2008

Dare to be Digital announced this morning that it has secured additional funding from The University of Abertay (where the competition originated), totaling around £1 million, which will allow the event to expand greatly over the next couple of years.

The team behind Dare to be Digital is already looking at several areas for expansion in 2008, including more teams in the final stage of the competition, new host centres across the UK and the rest of the world and an expanded ProtoPlay event in mid-2008.

This is fantastic news as Dare is a unique event and deserves far more recognition - in Scotland and worldwide as a remarkable way for people to gain experience of the games industry and learn more about the process of game development.

Here's the whole Dare press release:

Dare to be Digital, the UK’s premier computer games design competition for students, received an early Christmas present today when its promoters Abertay University confirmed that it will increase its financial support for 2008.

The decision means that Dare to be Digital’s full-time organising team can now begin to source external contributions to a total budget of £1 million over the next two years.

The organisers are planning to almost double the number of student teams in 2008, and also increase the number of host centres across the UK and possibly overseas as well.

In 2007, a total of 12 teams containing 60 students competed in Dare to be Digital, at host centres in Dundee, Belfast and Guildford.

Abertay University also announced today that Dare ProtoPlay, the highly successful public showcase included for the first in the 2007 competition, will be repeated next year.  The organising team are already looking for potential venues for an expanded ProtoPlay in 2008.

Paul Durrant, Dare to be Digital Director, highlighted three factors which have encouraged the organisers to think bigger and better for 2008:  “Dare to be Digital teamed with up the British Academy of Film and Television Arts for the first time this year with the winners eligible for the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award.

“Secondly, indie documentary production company Wantok were commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to track the competition from start to finish. Their documentary, Game Academy, will be broadcast in prime morning slots in December.

“Finally, Dare to be Digital is also featured as a best practice example in the UKTI / BERR / TIGA report Playing for Keeps.

“These exciting achievements show that Dare to be Digital has come of age and is now attracting serious attention from throughout the industry and beyond.  There has also been a very high level of interest in all of the teams from 2007 and in the IP they created, with several commercial negotiations underway.

“In addition, key hires of individual contestants have also been made by Free Radical, Codemasters, Rare, Microsoft China, Disney, Rockstar North, Realtime Worlds, Google London, TT Games, Her Majesty's Government Communications Centre, Natural Motion, Stainless Games, and FXLabs (India).  One team has even set up its own new company – Threshold Interactive.

“That so many individuals are winning exciting jobs in the industry within days or weeks of the end of the competition speaks volumes for the calibre of the students and the value that employers place on the Dare experience.

“We now working on transferring the model into other sectors of the creative industries, and we are poised to scale up not only the contest itself but also Dare ProtoPlay into the definitive independent IP and talent showcase to consumers and industry as we reach critical mass over the next couple of years.”

(ends)

NOTE TO EDITORS

Dare to be Digital was first piloted among computer games students at Abertay in 1999.  Since 2000, the competition has been run by a partnership of the University of Abertay Dundee, Scottish Enterprise Tayside and Dundee City.  In 2007, Abertay decided to double the number of teams taking part and to run the competition in host centres in Belfast and Guildford as well as the original host centre in Dundee.

A total of 60 students in 12 teams took part in the 2007 contest, which  also featured two other major innovations:
1) Dare ProtoPlay – a unique three-day public showcase staged as part of the Edinburgh Festival at which all 12 teams presented their  games to an audience totalling 2,500;

2) an agreement with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts to establish the BAFTA “Ones to Watch” Award
Dare to be Digital has established an enviable reputation for producing high-grade talent, which in turn attracts huge industry support.  In 2007, the competition was sponsored by AMD, EA, London Development Agency, Scottish Executive, Scottish Enterprise Tayside, NCR, University of Abertay Dundee, Nesta, Channel 4, XNA, Xbox 360, Realtime Worlds, Scottish Enterprise, Dundee City Council, Digital Hub, Belfast City Council with the Northern Ireland Department of Enterprise, Trade and Investment’s Building Sustainable Prosperity Programme, Intertrade, Queen’s University, Disney Interactive Studios, Mirai, BBC Scotland and TIGA.

Dare ProtoPlay was also sponsored by AMD, Realtime Worlds and Scottish Enterprise.

 

Dare Games To Appear At London Games Week

You may have come across the London Game Week before.  It's a little like the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, but more spread out and not nearly as much fun.  It is, however, based in London.

Happily, this year's event is getting a little more Scotch content.  This year's Dare entries will be showcased:

The exhibition features concept art, finished characters, games trailers, playable demos and a documentary film plus some games will be available for free download on a first come first served basis – bring a laptop.

So if you're anywhere near the Old Truman Brewery in Brick Lane (which we will admit is a fantastically cool place) on the 22nd - 24th October, go and give them some support.  Remember your laptop.

You can read the full release by following the link.

Dare To Be Digital Showcase - Download The Games

One of the few problems with Dare to be Digital competition in the past was the fact that unless you went to the awards ceremony and hung around the teams, it was often very difficult to see the actual games in action.  This was a real shame, since there were often a number of titles which deserved far more attention than they got and should have seen by a much wider audience.

This year's Dare has gone a long, long way towards addressing this.  The ProtoPlay event in central Edinburgh in August gave members of the public a chance to see the games running and even get their hands on them.

Now the Dare team has gone even further and made all of this year's entries available online for you to download and enjoy.

The Dare 2007 showcase can be found here.  Of course, the games are all prototypes, not finished products, so there *may* be problems with certain machine configurations, however, it's well worth checking out.

We're planning to download and play all of the games over the next few weeks and give you some idea of the range and scope of the entries in this year's competition.

Plus it will let us pretend we're real games journalists for a while, indulged and favoured, getting free games, foreign press trips and expensive branded tat in return for our expert and in-depth opinion.

Based on screenshots and descriptions alone, Bear Go Home is the first game which caught our (professional) eye.  More detailed, err, details will follow however...

In the meantime, check out the games yourself.  Go on, you know you should (registration required).