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A small team of talented student developers have achieved a huge boost to their careers by being awarded with the prestigious BAFTA Ones to Watch accolade.
The team, called Kind of a Big Deal, was awarded the prize for their months of hard work on mobile game Starcrossed during the Dare to be Digital contest which took place last year.
Starcrossed, already released on the Windows Phone Marketplace and Google Play, challenges players to harness the power of gravity as they fly around planets while also avoiding traps such as black holes to reach their destination.
The team was predominantly made up of four first year students from Finland’s Kajaani University such as Kimi Sulopuisto, Petri Liuska, Minttu Meriläinen and Vili Viitaniemi. Andrew MacLean from Abertay University also joined the group as Scottish ambassador.
“Winning the BAFTA hasn’t really sunk in yet,” said MacLean.
“Honestly, words cannot describe the feeling. When I was standing on stage, I thought I was going to fall, my legs were shaking so much. It all seemed so sudden – I wasn’t expecting the award to be announced so soon, and then all of a sudden we were backstage doing all the press interviews. Obviously, we’re all absolutely delighted and it’s great, but it’ll take a while for it to properly sink in.
"The other guys in the team will progress with the game, and I’m going to finish my degree and progress my career in the games industry. I’m hoping my degree plus the BAFTA will open a lot of doors.
Abertay University head of computer games education Louis Natanson added: ”Starcrossed is a very worthy winner of the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award, and it’s superb that the team has already completed and released a finished version of the game.
“The quality of entries to Dare to be Digital just gets better and better every year – the challenge facing our industry judges to pick three BAFTA nominees from last year’s 15 teams was the hardest yet. We look forward to the entries for Dare 2013 being even better.”
Entries for the next Dare to Be Digital contest are open till April 9th, with the three winners of the competition receiving nominations for next year’s BAFTA Ones to Watch award.
Visit the official website for more information.
