Tag Archives: games

BU Computing graduate wins industry award

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BU Computing graduate Ashley Gwinnell has triumphed in the Best New IP category at the prestigious TIGA Game Industry Awards.

Ashley’s company Force of Habit, based in Bristol, won the accolade for their Toast Time game which is available for the Android platform.

The game is described as ‘a throwback to the golden age of video games where old-school homebrew titles fused arcade action with a distinctly British sense of humour’.

Ashley said: “There were many big names and great games nominated at the event, so we’re super proud to have won the award for Best New IP. All of our games are built using the game framework conceived at BU for my final-year dissertation, this has helped our success massively.”

Ashley’s lecturer at BU, Dr Christos Gatzidis said: “”It’s great to see our students being successful.

Ashley has made us very proud and we are certain that he and his company will go on to even greater things in the future.”

Also this month Ashley’s company won the TIGA Game Hack, which challenged participants to develop a game from scratch in just 24 hours.

Centre for Digital Entertainment has funding renewed

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The Centre for Digital Entertainment, jointly run by Bournemouth University and the University of Bath, has received funding for the next eight years.

The multi-million pound grant, from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), was announced today by the Minister for Universities and Science David Willetts.

It will fund another 50 doctoral students at the Centre for Digital Entertainment, which creates innovative funded research and development projects for the games, animation, VFX, simulation and cultural industries.

It embeds doctoral researchers into companies where they work on research and development projects, studying for an Engineering Doctorate while contributing positively to the industry in which they are working.

Professor Jian Jun Zhang, co-founder of The Centre for Digital Entertainment and Professor of Computer Graphics at BU, said: “I am thrilled to learn that our proposal to extend our Centre for Digital Entertainment has been funded by the EPSRC.

“Working with the University of Bath, this multimillion pound grant will allow us to produce another 50 doctoral students for the UK’s creative industry which urgently needs high-skilled people for this fast growing sector.

“We have already taken 50 students and have established strong relationships with more than 30 companies, including many world leading players, such as Sony, Electronic Arts and Double Negative.”

Students at the Centre for Digital Entertainment spend around 75 per cent of their time working in industry, where they are faced by the real problems experienced by professionals in the sector and contribute to the development of solutions.

“We forge a special three-way relationship by bringing together two world-class academic teams, a large number of world-class companies and top-quality doctoral students,” said Professor Zhang.

“Our mission is to develop next generation of technical leaders for the computer animation, games and visual effects industry.”

The funding from the EPSRC is part of £350 million that will be spent on postgraduate learning at Centres for Doctoral Training, focusing on key areas of engineering and the physical sciences that are vital to economic growth.

Science Minister David Willetts said: “I am particularly pleased to see strong partnerships between universities, industry and business among the new centres announced today.

“This type of collaboration is a key element of our industrial strategy and will continue to keep us at the forefront of the global science race.”

Find out more about the Centre for Digital Entertainment