University of Abertay graduates
Three former students listed in Develop as up-and-coming industry stars.
For immediate release: Wednesday 22 December
A much-respected computer games industry ‘who’s who’ of up-and-coming games developers has heralded three graduates of the University of Abertay Dundee as rising stars in the industry.
Develop magazine each year publishes the much-anticipated ’30 under 30’ list, showcasing the artists, designers and programmers with the greatest potential.
Being featured on the list is a big achievement, particularly given how competitive and highly skilled the UK games industry is.
This year Abertay graduates Angela McEwan, motion editor at Lightning Fish Games, Andrew Smith, managing director of Spilt Milk Studios, and Liam Wong, 2D artist at Crytek, all feature as up-and-coming stars of the games industry.
“The standard of the computer games graduates from Abertay University is always exceptional, and the number recruited to work for the very best companies – or successfully setting up by themselves – is a great source of pride for us every year,” said Gregor White, Director of Academic Enterprise at Abertay University’s Institute of Arts, Media and Computer Games.
“It’s great to see Angela, Andrew and Liam featured in Develop’s ’30 under 30’ list of up-and-coming games developers. They were all extremely promising students and we had no doubt they’d each make a big impact on the industry once they graduated from Abertay.”
All three of the graduates studied the BA (Hons) Computer Arts degree, which involves learning how to become a professional digital artist capable of creating animated and still graphics in 2D and 3D, all with the supportive of experienced industry professionals.
Angela said: "Choosing to study at Abertay was one of the best decisions I've ever made. My course offered me something that other universities couldn't: a vast amount of variety within one unique course, access to state-of-the-art technology and equipment, and contact with Abertay's strong industry connections.
“Studying at Abertay gave me a huge head start for working in a creative industry, something I feel wouldn't have been possible otherwise."
Liam said: "I graduated from the Computer Arts course at Abertay this year and I can fully recommend it to those looking to get into the creative industries. Being surrounded by students with different skills made it really easy to form solid teams to work on various small projects.
“After working with numerous teams, I put together a team of five to enter the ten-week computer games development competition Dare to be Digital. The competition gave us unparalleled work experience as students and helped us gain our first jobs within the games industry."
Andrew said: “Studying on the Computer Arts course at Abertay exposed me to a wide and varied range of disciplines – audio, visual art, a little bit of coding too – and was forward-thinking enough to be open and let me indulge my games design urges too.
“This really allowed me to develop in the right way for a designer – an understanding and appreciation of all aspects of the creative process of making games was instilled in me at Abertay.”
As a mark of industry approval, the Computer Arts degree at Abertay has full accreditation from Skillset, the Sector Skills Council for Creative Media.
Only a very few degree courses receive this prestigious award, which is in recognition of a course developing the full range of skills companies need to thrive and succeed.
More information about the Computer Arts degree is available at http://www.abertay.ac.uk/studying/find/ug/comparts/
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For media enquiries, please contact Chris Wilson (Communications Officer) – T: 01382 308935 M: 07837 250284 E: chris.wilson@abertay.ac.uk