The University of Bradford played host to the biggest Game Republic Student Showcase on 6th June 2023. Displays, demos, designs and even cupcakes appeared in a fantastic array of 35 projects in the stands at the Atrium on the day. Final-year teams from Staffordshire University, University Centre Leeds, Leeds City College, University of Huddersfield, University of Hull, York St John University, Sheffield Hallam University, the University of Bradford and the University of Sunderland competed in seven categories: game art and animation; narrative design; game technology; level design; game design; game audio and best team. The event was featured in the Yorkshire Post in advance of the event here and on BBC Radio Leeds thanks to its significant impact on employability with 81% of winners going on to work within companies in Yorkshire and The North and 90% gaining employment in the games industry.
Graeme Allarton (photo below, last on the right), one of the judges from Sumo Digital said at the event: “It’s hard every year to judge the categories, and this year I have been amazed by the quality.”
Simon Iwaniszak from Red Kite Games praised the quality of entrants and added that the Sheffield Hallam University entrants had highlighted “what we look for in a technical award by having programmed and designed the game to be playable on a console, in this case, PlayStation 4.”
Tim Beadle from event sponsoring company PitStop Productions and Award sponsor of Game Audio – who had also previously won the Student Showcase – said “it has been a great event, and I remember it all well competing as a student, encountering scope creep and all of those challenges. You have all done an incredible job.”
Charles Cecil from Revolution Software said, “this is a brilliant games event and a great calling card for you all. There was great intelligence in the designs, especially with some completed as solo projects. The winning Narrative Design team, Quicksave Games, produced a game that was clever and intriguing.”
Also at this year’s Showcase to celebrate Game Republic’s 20th year, previous winners and participants of the awards joined this year’s cohort to view the games (with much less stress this time round) and to meet the judges once again. An insightful industry panel with alumni Casey Kenny (Tanglewood Games), Ben Hinchcliffe (Just Add Water), Pete Bush (Red Kite Games) and also studio boss Simon Iwaniszak (Red Kite Games), shared their insights into how to get a job in the games industry.
Casey Kenny highlighted the importance of networking and taking time outside studies to learn about other software that might be useful for task tracking and source control. Ben Hinchcliffe urged participants to decide if they wanted to wear many hats or drill down on what they loved to do as larger studios might have people specifically focused on weapon design for example. Simon Iwaniszak urged those wishing to get into the industry to not give up and to be determined, enhancing their craft all the time. He also believed that having an appreciation of other disciplines and how they work within projects was critical.
Pete Bush emphasised that the transition from study to real world working would be a big change and that the roles would involve far more cross-disciplined work than they might imagine. The panel session ended by Jamie Sefton, MD of Game Republic, asking the panel what they thought was the best thing about working in the games industry. Casey believed working in games was “more than a job, it was a community”. Ben loved the fact that teams would have to navigate challenges in new tech using examples of his work in VR innovation explaining “it is the sense of exploration and trying to nail it” that was the big attraction. Pete shared that it was simply a dream job for anyone that had played games from a young age where it would just never get old adding “It’s the wider community too, everyone working together and being part of it and respecting each other.” Simon explained that he had made lifelong friends in the industry sharing that you will likely spend more time with people you work with than your own family adding “At Red Kite Games we always say don’t come and work here, if you don’t want to make friends.”
Networking followed into the evening as students got to meet games companies in the Game Republic network including Tanglewood Games, Fat Kraken Studios, Radical Forge and all our games company sponsors and judges. A huge thanks to the University of Bradford for hosting the event, Robin Pither at the University of Bradford for designing our 2023 mascot, to the student team who registered and managed the event Alex, Jayden and Cory and finally to Game Republic’s Official Partners Red Kite Games, Barclays and Escape Technology.
Here are this year’s winners of the Game Republic Student Showcase:
Game Republic Student Showcase 2023 Winners
The Sumo Digital Award for Game Design
1st Prize SPLI/T by Morgan Piercy (University of Hull)
Morgan Piercy
2nd Prize
Book of Bhanu by Snowglobe Interactive (University of Huddersfield)
Jacob Blanchard, Ewan Miller, Louis Mills, Bailey Pellegrina, Daniel Powell, Janet Rebecca
3rd Prize
My Lost Blue Jay by Olivia Cross (Staffordshire University)
Olivia Cross
Thanks to Graeme Allarton, Barry Soilleux and Oli Knight from Sumo Digital for judging and presenting the award.
The Rebellion North Award for Game Art & Animation
1st Prize
Bite Club by Waterfront Bandits (University of Huddersfield)
Ethan Gangotra, Cameron Greenway, Joseph Hughes, James Pawson, Elijah Powell, Reinaldo Ramirez
2nd Prize
Book of Bhanu by Snowglobe Interactive (University of Huddersfield)
Jacob Blanchard, Ewan Miller, Louis Mills, Bailey Pellegrina, Daniel Powell, Janet Rebecca
3rd Prize
Dragan’s Showreel by Dragan Mihai Adrian (Sheffield Hallam University)
Dragan Mihai Adrian
Thanks to Akshat Singh, Sujeet Kumar and Pablo Sedano from Rebellion North for judging and presenting the award.
The Distinctive Games Award for Game Level Design
1st Prize
Auntie Gravity by James Kilduff (York St. John University)
James Kilduff
2nd Prize
Book of Bhanu by Snowglobe Interactive (University of Huddersfield)
Jacob Blanchard, Ewan Miller, Louis Mills, Bailey Pellegrina, Daniel Powell, Janet Rebecca
3rd Prize
My Lost Blue Jay by Olivia Cross (Staffordshire University)
Olivia Cross
Thanks to Nigel Little and Tom Savage from Distinctive Games for judging and presenting the award.
The Red Kite Games Award for Game Technology
1st Prize
GOVision: Real-Time Insights into Virtual Worlds by Szymon Mach (University of Hull)
Szymon Mach
2nd Prize
Candy Kingdom Tower Defence by Mary Cookies (Sheffield Hallam University)
Javier Benito Abolafio, Jose Luis García-Morales Santamaría, Tyler Towers, Tom Hockenhull, Dragan Mihai Adrian, Laia Parcet Riu
3rd Prize
Companion Plus by Tori Miller (Staffordshire University)
Tori Miller
Thanks to Simon Iwaniszak and the Red Kite Games team for judging and presenting.
The PitStop Productions Award for Game Audio
1st Prize
Amber’s Tale by Thomas Lawrence (Sheffield Hallam University)
Thomas Lawrence
2nd Prize
Bite Club by Waterfront Bandits (University of Huddersfield)
Ethan Gangotra, Cameron Greenway, Joseph Hughes, James Pawson, Elijah Powell, Reinaldo Ramirez
3rd Prize
Love, Grandma by Quicksave Games (University of Huddersfield)
Connor Treherne, Andrew Jackson, Liam Hall, Henry Kirk-Pennington, Umar Ahmed, Reece Gillott
Thanks to Tim Beedall from PitStop Productions for judging and presenting.
The Revolution Software Award for Game Narrative Design
1st Prize
Love, Grandma by Quicksave Games (University of Huddersfield)
Connor Treherne, Andrew Jackson, Liam Hall, Henry Kirk-Pennington, Umar Ahmed, Reece Gillott
2nd Prize
Nighttime City by Mara Solomon (University of Bradford)
Mara Solomon
3rd Prize
My Lost Blue Jay by Olivia Cross (Staffordshire University)
Olivia Cross
The Award for Best Team
1st Prize
Book of Bhanu by Snowglobe Interactive (University of Huddersfield)
Jacob Blanchard, Ewan Miller, Louis Mills, Bailey Pellegrina, Daniel Powell, Janet Rebecca
2nd Prize
Cheftopus by Cool Tea (University of Huddersfield)
Konrad Marcjanowicz, Valentino Worstenholme, Jack Colton, Reece Fenton, Maria Koukoulitsa, Daniel Munteanu
3rd Prize
Deaths Rebuke (Sheffield Hallam University)
Benjamin Kimberly, Jamie Daines, Aaron Smith
If you like this post, please help us by sharing it!