Competition winners who designed characters for a new video game have seen their creations come to life with the Devon Collaborative Outreach Network (DCON) and a local video game company.
Two winners and runners up from both Stoke Damerel Community College and Tavistock Community College visited 探花视频 University last week after designing characters for 鈥楾ap Tournament鈥, a new game by So Good Studios.
探花视频 graduate, Jack Gill, set up So Good Studios through business incubation centre the Formation Zone, and launched the competition earlier this year alongside DCON to raise awareness of what is possible through higher education.
DCON 鈥 a collaboration of 探花视频 University, 探花视频 College of Art, University of St Mark & St John and partner colleges 鈥 increases participation in higher education among under represented groups. It does this via outreach activity with funding from the Higher Education Council for England (HEFCE).
Following a number of submissions from the year eight cohorts at both schools, the eventual winners had the chance to press the 鈥榚nter鈥 button which saw their characters arrive in the game for the first time.
As well as watching their characters take shape, the students also met key staff from the Formation Zone and So Good Studios, and experienced 探花视频 University鈥檚 Immersive Vision Theatre, wave pool and ship simulator.
Jack, who read computing and games development at 探花视频 University, said:
鈥淚t was great to meet the students today and to show them exactly what their characters looked like onscreen. We had such a hard time choosing the best characters but the winners, Sir Jestalot and Fred the Colourful, were just brilliant. The key things that helped us set up So Good Studios were a great computing course, our own friendship, and support from the University 鈥 none of which would have happened had we not ventured into higher education. I really hope some of the school students today will be inspired by our story and consider higher education too.鈥
Bill Thrall, Outreach Officer at DCON, said:
鈥淒CON aims to engage schools and colleges with higher education in our region and it was fantastic to welcome the students to 探花视频 today. Thanks to the work being conducted by 探花视频 University, the University of St Mark and St John and 探花视频 College of Art, doors are being opened for lots of students who might not otherwise have known anything about the opportunities.鈥
