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Student game developers win BAFTA after taking part in a games design contest at Abertay University

14 Mar 2014

Student game developers DOS Studios won a BAFTA Ones to Watch Award last night at the British Academy Games Awards, having been nominated through Dare to be Digital.

The only route to BAFTA’s annual new talent prize is through Dare to be Digital, the eight-week student game design contest for undergraduates at universities and colleges of art, run each summer in Dundee by Abertay University.

The three winning teams from Dare to be Digital each year become the sole nominees for the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award.

Independent games industry professionals pick 15 teams of five students from the hundreds of entries, to then travel to Dundee to build brand new games in just eight weeks.

The winning game, Size DOES Matter, was created by team leader Mattis Delerud, Nick La Rooy, Trond Fasteraune, Silje Dahl and Lars Andersen. The game is a fast-paced side-scrollling action game for iOS and Android, where the player has to match different sized blocks to a continuous series of gaps, all timed to high-speed music.

Mattis Delerud from DOS Studios said at the ceremony last night: “We feel amazing for winning the award and could not be here without the help of a lot of people. We would really like to thank the team at Abertay University – keep doing what you are doing. You guys rock!”

Professor Louis Natanson, who leads computer games education at Abertay University, said: “Size DOES Matter is a very worth winner of the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award. The team behind it showed a great deal of promise right from the start of Dare to be Digital, and put a superb game on display for the judges at Dare ProtoPlay last August in Dundee.

“They deserve particular congratulations for winning in the most competitive, most creative year of Dare to be Digital we’ve ever seen. Each year it gets harder and harder for our independent industry judges to pick the 15 teams to take part, and to select just three winners to go forward for the BAFTA Awards.

“The talent that travels to Dundee each summer shows that the next generation of professional game developers are already a force to be reckoned with.”

Applications for Dare to be Digital 2014 are now open and close at 9am on Monday 21 April.

To find out more about the games contest and to apply, click here.