Abertay University will celebrate 20 years of industry-leading games design courses with a series of events throughout 2017.
The university will launch their “biggest ever” Global Game Jam in January, to kick-off the commemorations.
As part of a worldwide festival of gaming, “the jam” will see more than 220 students, lecturers and games industry professionals pour in to Dundee, working together to develop prototype games over a 48-hour period.
Abertay was the first university in the world to offer games development courses at degree level, after the launch of their Msc in software engineering in October 1997.
Exhibitions, lectures, trade shows and design sessions are being scheduled over the coming months, bringing together industry professionals and students in celebration of the university’s achievements.
Lynn Parker, computer arts programme leader, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming participants to Abertay for the Global Game Jam to celebrate not only collaborative development of computer games, on site and across the world in one unified weekend, but also to kick off our celebrations of 20 years of computer games at Abertay.
“Game jams allow us to foster creativity, support innovation and to aid our students, graduates, alumni and invited industry guests in the development of their approaches to making computer games for today and for the future.”
She continued: “Not only am I proud to be part of the organising team here at Abertay, but I am also really excited to be participating in the jam, alongside fellow graduates of Abertay and current students.
“We believe that there is more to teaching games than playing and talking about them, so this is a great opportunity for me and my colleagues to spend a weekend making prototypes, collaborating with our students and exploring the potential of the medium.
“We also believe in healthy work/life balances so throughout the jam will be encouraging participants to eat healthily, to rest and to take regular breaks.”
The Global Game Jam will take place in over 100 different countries, and January’s festival will be the fifth time Abertay has hosted Dundee’s event.
Tickets are available for the weekend via the eventbrite website, and a full itinerary of anniversary events will be announced in January.
