Game developers through to finals of world contest

A GROUP of computer game developers from the University of South Wales (USW) are through to the world finals of a global competition run by Microsoft.

Team Sapient – made up of Masters students Riccardo Deluca, Ciaran Harty, Michael Harty and Thomas Mahoney – were named the winners of the Games category at the UK Imagine Cup finals, after creating a game called HexWorld.

Imagine Cup is a global student technology programme and competition that provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and integrate solutions that can change the way we live, work and play.

HexWorld is a 3D adventure game that features an open and interactive world in which the player can explore, help natives and uncover mysterious dungeons and locations.

Team Sapient spent months developing the game before travelling to Microsoft UK headquarters in Reading to present it at the national finals.

The team, who are all studying the Masters course in Computer Games Development, are now preparing for the world finals of the competition, which will be held at Microsoft headquarters in Seattle next month (July). The winners will be awarded $50,000 and a mentoring session with Satya Nadella, Chief Executive of Microsoft.

Riccardo, 22, from Cardiff, started working on the game last September before deciding to enter the Imagine Cup. He then drafted in Ciaran, 22 and his brother Michael, 23, both from Swansea, as well as Thomas, 24, from Tonyrefail, to develop HexWorld further.

“We’re all big fans of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series, and particu- larly his character called Twoflower,” said Riccardo.

Thomas added: “It was a shock to find out we’d won out of all the teams from across the UK. To beat them all was absolutely brilliant.”

Paul Angel, Computer Games Development course leader, said: “Riccardo, Thomas, Ciaran and Michael have done an excellent job winning the UK finals of the Imagine Cup.

“This is a great achievement as they worked on this game alongside their normal studies, and shows what can be achieved when you combine technical skill with the personal drive to create something new.”