[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_m0fJ2mINDc[/ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dare_to_be_Digitalhttp://daretobedigital.com/
I did this last year and it is a fantastic oppurtunity for anybody trying to get into the industry. The catch is I think at least three of the five on the team has to be still in third level education (I wasn't), and you have to have less than six months experience in the games industry. The team has to be a mix of artists and programmers (obviously). I had an amazing time and met lots of great people there and am actually heading back to Dundee for a little reunion later this month with some of the teams. You get a good bit of money for your ten weeks work (tax free), you get free accomodation (they pile everybody into one big building so the parties are great!
) and Dundee is quite a cool little city really.
Teams came from all over the world last year (Norway, Canada, India, as far away as China even) so everyone is eligible irrespective of where they live.
So if you have a few artist/programmer mates and a great innovative idea for a game, I suggest you apply
Even if you don't, check the dare message board to see if anyone is looking for someone with your skills (or post yourself). I only met the people in my team during preparations for the comp, so it can be done that way too. Personally I can't reccomend the competition enough, it really is a brilliant scheme.
Replies
But where are the youtubes of the games
Thats the first thing they should show!!
Here's some of the games from last year:
Break a Leg
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZinGHFwJU7k[/ame]
Radiant Jade
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujlhNPLA5I4[/ame]
Pollen
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjQeAvf_sIE[/ame]
Quick as Thieves
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=48I8eMgQyUs[/ame]
Shrunk!
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hU_nhQpyaJE[/ame]
Tom's Odd Dreamworld
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXmk1b45m4U[/ame]
Ballistic
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KfCSJp8OnZo[/ame]
Soar (This was actually played with the wiimote and balance board, great fun)
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIl-WpLR_dQ&feature=related[/ame]
And these were made in ten weeks start to finish! Very playable games, and some great art.
As for Dundee being a cool city... errr... its ok lol.
This is key. Innovative ideas are better than normal mapped phong shaded FPS that don't push the gameplay envelope...those kind of games won't get into the comp. Having said that, every Abertay team also had a massive amount of artistic skill.
As for Dundee, for the amount of time you'll be able to spend outside of working hours in the town, it's pretty cool It's got everything you need, and the best steak in the world in Papa Joes! Can't wait to be back there at the end of the month.
do they still do the random foreign team member? We got a random chinese team member assigned to us, some sort of international relations thing.
Papa Joes is good, live right next to it, but unfortunately being a student its a rare occasion thing... lol. Worth checking out Laings (sp??) beer garden too, great bar.
Also worth noting is that you get to go to the BBC center in Glasgow for interviews, very awesome building.
Pixel Pirates (colour coded) looked pretty cute also ^^
For the last couple of years we've thrown a party for all the students at the end with 20 or so us there to talk to them about anything they needed to know.
(One thing that I think would help along the way would be MORE interaction with industry professionals - different disciplines meeting with them a few times a week to answer questions)
More industry folk visits would have been welcome, but there was a fair amount. Pity we only got to see the Rockstar guys once. Someone from Rare came up 3 times I, Sega twice I think, Realtime worlds a bunch of times cause they were 10 minutes away. All depends on how busy studios are at the time I guess.
Anyone know where I can get a deep-fried mars bar in Dundee? Or are they a myth (or a Glasgow thing lol). I searched all summer and failed to acquire one.