Students from around the world have converged on Dundee for an internationally renowned computer-games competition.
The annual Dare to be Digital conference brings teams of young games developers from across the globe to the city, offering them the chance to showcase their work to industry professionals and the public.
Abertay University will host over 80 students from countries including India, USA, Brazil and Belgium, offering them expert advice and help with the finishing touches on games they have spent the past seven months developing.
The games will then go on display to the general public from Thursday August 4 to Sunday August 7.
Dr William Huber, head of the centre for excellence in computer games education at Abertay University, said: “We are pleased to be able to welcome some of the world’s most promising young games designers and developers to Abertay University and Dundee.
“The teams who have participated in Dare to be Digital in the past describe it as a transformational experience and event veterans are now important players in the game and interactive industry worldwide.
“Each of these teams comes from schools which have their own approaches to game-making, and by coming to Dundee they enrich what is already an internationally recognised hub for game development.
”In the past few years we have seen more innovation and diversity in game design, from games for education and games which celebrate cultural heritage to ones which bring people together in the spirit of fun and play.
“Dare to be Digital continues to be recognised as a place where we can glimpse the future of game design and development, and Abertay University is proud to host it.”
Hermit Games made the journey from India, and comprise of Anumeha Jain, 22, Mukund Madhav Gupta, 23 and Siddhardh Rajendran, 22.
The team are based at Srishti Institute of art, design and technology in Bangalore, India and were pleased to meet like-minded students from Dundee and elsewhere.
Anumeha said: “We are the only three students at our university who study games development, so it has been nice to meet lots of other enthusiastic games developers.
“Games development is quite neglected in India, so to see so many positive, young developers is an eye-opening experience.”
Five of the teams taking part are based in Scotland, and Wee Door are a group of games designers from Abertay and Edinburgh University.
Their game has been designed to be played on the iPhone and has been developed using stop-motion animation techniques.
Simon Messer, team producer at Wee Door, said: “It has been interesting to meet games designers from around the world.”
James Cox has come to Dundee with his team Our Own Storm, from the University of South California.
They are hoping to do well in the competition with their game which hopes to bring “compassion” back in to computer games.
James said: “A lot of games at the moment focus on killing hoards of unknown monsters. Our game is all about compassion, rather than focusing on an ‘us versus them’ theme.
“We have spoken to a lot of Scottish designers since arriving, it has been good to see how the industry works across the world.”
