Unique deal creates virtual incubator for next generation games designers
NEWS RELEASE
19 July 2007
The University of Abertay Dundee and Instinct Technology have signed a deal to create what will effectively be a virtual incubator mechanism for training the next generation of games programmers.
Under the terms of the deal, Abertay will develop a training programme to be marketed along with Instinct's state-of-the-art virtual games development studio as a package available for licensing by universities and colleges teaching games design.
This product will offer games design educators a fully integrated package of industry-standard games development tools and university-level training courses. It will be the only package of its kind available on the market today.
This new product package will be future-proofed through a unique "source code vaulting" feature of the deal between the two organisations, ensuring the product is always supported and evolved.
The new offering will also complement the first fully-functional, commercial release of Instinct Studio, due to be unveiled at the forthcoming Develop Conference in Brighton (24-26 July).
The educational product will be a fully functional varsity licence of the commercial product which will incorporate the custom-designed training programme and will be priced at educational licence rates.
"This agreement is exciting on a number of levels. Not only are we partnering with the UK's premier provider of game development education, but we are also helping to create a situation where tomorrow's game developers will arrive in the workplace with invaluable experience of Instinct Studio under their belts," says Instinct Technology's Business Development Director, Mike Gamble. "We have believed for some time that this has been something of a gap within the industry and look forward to playing our part in helping Abertay create innovative game development courses based on the Instinct Studio technology."
"We are delighted to have concluded this deal with Instinct Technology, Abertay can now not only provide a "best in class" commercial game middleware platform for our own students, but also, we take on the welcome role of a centre of excellence and guarantor of longevity for these technologies," commented Abertay's Professor of Video Games Technology, Paul Fullwood. "In the coming years Abertay will disseminate these technologies and its training programme to other universities and colleges. We see this as a pivotal role for universities in support of the creative industries."
Instinct Studio is a 'one-stop-shop' game development suite which provides its users with a variety of WYSIWYG tools, including project-based resource management, fully-integrated run-time editable components, hot loading and real-time previewing. The suite is backed up by world-class technology, tools, documentation and support and has been designed to integrate seamlessly with existing 'best in class' middleware solutions for specialist functionality.
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Note to editors
About Abertay University
Abertay University is the UK's leading academic centre for students of video game creation. Through its School of Computing and Creative Technologies (CCT) Abertay offers two degree courses in computer and video game development; a BA (Hons) course in Game Production Management and a BSc (Hons) course in Computer Games Technology. Abertay is also the driving force behind the annual 'Dare To Be Digital' game design competition, which sees hundreds of students from all over the world compete to produce the best game prototype within a ten-week period. Further information is available online at http://www.abertay.ac.uk.
About Instinct Technology
Instinct Technology is a world-leading technology development company situated in the north-west of Ireland. The company's main area of interest is the video game development market, for which it has created 'Instinct Studio' - a suite of software tools designed to allow game creators to produce state-of-the-art interactive products. Founded in 1999, Instinct Technology currently employs a total of 25 computer scientists and support staff at its headquarters in Muff, Co. Donegal. Further information is available online at www.instinct-tech.com.
For further information, please contact:
Kevin Coe, for Abertay
mailto:k.coe@abertay.ac.uk
+44 1382 308452
+44 7850 904110
Ciarán Brennan, for Instinct
ciaran@eyecubed.co.uk
+ 44 20 8371 9422