Team Vertigo hit the heights at Games Jam

Press release issued: 13 July 2011

Team Vertigo: Mark Green (Sony), Jason Mitchell, Serhan Miah, Robin Burkinshaw and Will Campbell

A team of Anglia Ruskin University students claimed the top prize in the 48-hour Games Jam competition, beating rival teams from across the UK and Europe.

The competition, to produce the best computer game over a single weekend, was part of the Brains Eden games festival, organised by Creative Front and hosted by Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge.

6 awards were issued and Team Vertigo, a group of students from the BA (Hons) in Computer Games and Visual Effects course and the BSc (Hons) Computer Gaming Technology course took 3 of the top honours, including Best Overall Game, a category judged by James Shepherd from Sony Computer Entertainment Europe.

Steve Harris, Pathway Leader for the course, said:

"The Brains Eden festival was a fantastic experience for the students. The chance to develop a fully working game in 48 hours, with help from industry experts, was an intensive and rewarding experience.

"It provided a creative environment for students from a range of backgrounds, such as programming, design, art, and audio, to come together and apply their skills within an intensive, team-based project. It was great to see so many students from all over Europe hard at work on something they feel so passionate about."

The event was held at Ruskin Gallery, Cambridge

Fellow Anglia Ruskin Lecturer Julian Hughes-Watts added: "Creating an engaging interactive game within 48 hours is a Herculean task, but that is just what each of the teams taking part in Brains Eden 2011 managed to achieve."

Brains Eden was supported by a group of companies including Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Ninja Theory, Jagex, Geomerics, Bob & Barn and Skillset, with the Games Jam facilitated by Cambridge software developers Jumped Up Games.

Key industry figures and academics came together for a symposium and careers clinic on Monday 11 July, which provided students with an opportunity to show their work to prospective employers and for companies to identify potential talent.

Brains Eden was organised by Games Eden, the games development special interest group of Creative Front Cambridgeshire which is a newly-established network for creative industries based at Anglia Ruskin University.

You can watch a short video of the event below:

Video courtesy of CreativeFront

Anglia Ruskin University

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Team Vertigo hit the heights at Games Jam