Four top European studios to mentor teams as they prepare for grand MSUL 2013 finale
The four final teams in the competition are each partnered with a studio which will offer advice and guidance as the contestants continue work on their games using Epic’s Unreal Development Kit, the free edition of Unreal Engine 3, leading up to the face-to-face competition at the Gadget Show Live in April 2013. The finalists were selected from 12 shortlisted teams after a day-long semi-final before a panel of judges.CARY, N.C. – Epic Games, Inc., creator of award-winning games and game technology, is harnessing the services of four leading European development studios to support the finalist teams of itsMake Something Unreal Live (MSUL) 2013 international game development contest. Climax Studios, Lucid Games, Ninja Theory and Splash Damage have all stepped up as MSUL 2013 mentors.
Team Summit, from University of Abertay, Dundee, can call on Lucid Games for help with the progress of “Beings”, its 3D puzzle platformer based on realistic genetic inheritance laws.
Ninja Theory is mentoring Staffordshire University’s Kairos Games, developer of “Polymorph”, a game of exploration and discovery through a beautiful tribal world.
Dead Shark Triplepunch from Sweden’s Blekinge Institute of Technology is developing “Loch Ness”, a fast-paced, arena-based combat game, and they have been matched with Splash Damage.
Climax Studios is guiding Bournemouth University’s Static Games, which is building “Mendel’s Farm”, a strategy management game.
Professional developers from each studio will offer advice on development issues and give general guidance to their student teams – they will not be directly working on the MSUL games themselves. Mentors and contestants will meet for the first time next week, when the finalists will present their games and their plans for bringing projects to fruition in time for April’s grand finale.
“It’s great to have world-class studios giving their time to help ensure that the contestants maximise the potential of their games at Make Something Unreal Live. Our finalists have already achieved a very high standard in their pitches and pre-production work, and we’re all looking forward to see how far they can take their games in the next four months,” said Mike Gamble, European Territory Manager at Epic Games.
MSUL 2013 is supported by the Wellcome Trust, the global charitable foundation which also provided the competition theme, ‘The Mendelian Inheritance – genetics and genomics.’ More than 170 aspiring developers across 21 teams entered the October call for pitches, of which 12 teams were shortlisted and presented to the judging panel during this month’s semifinal. Finalists were selected to develop their games further in readiness for the Gadget Show Live, where they will rapidly evolve their projects live on stage for the five days of the show, before the overall winner is announced on the final day.
The grand prize for the winning team is a full source Unreal Engine 4 licence for PC digital distribution, effectively launching the victors as a commercial games development studio from day one. Over the past decade Epic’s Make Something Unreal game development competitions have awarded millions of dollars’ worth of cash and prizes, enabled the release of numerous commercially successful computer and video games and jumpstarted many careers.
To follow the progress of MSUL 2013, visit http://www.facebook.com/MakeSomethingUnreal. Video footage from the presentation day will also be available on the Unreal Engine channel on YouTube.
About Unreal Engine
Developed by Epic Games, the award-winning Unreal Engine is known for its cutting-edge graphics, best-of-breed toolset and scalability across major platforms. Operating on nine platforms, including PC, consoles and mobile devices, Unreal Engine 3 is designed to accelerate developers’ productivity for creating high-quality games, applications, training simulations, 3D visualizations, digital films and animated entertainment. Powering hundreds of games and integrated with two dozen leading middleware technologies, Unreal Engine 3 holds more than 20 technology awards, including seven Game Developer Front Line Awards and five Develop Industry Excellence Awards. The Unreal Engine also holds a seat in the Front Line Awards Hall of Fame. Epic recently revealed Unreal Engine 4, winner of multiple Best of E3 2012 awards, which offers unprecedented workflow improvements and graphical capabilities that provide unparalleled accessibility for developers building the next generation of games and applications. For additional information, please visit http://www.unrealengine.com.
About Epic Games
Established in 1991, Epic Games, Inc. develops cutting-edge games and cross-platform game engine technology. The company is responsible for the bestselling “Unreal” series of games, the blockbuster “Gears of War” franchise and the groundbreaking “Infinity Blade” line of mobile games. Epic’s award-winning Unreal Engine technology has won dozens of awards and is available for licensing. Epic is continually recruiting top talent for its studios located in North Carolina, Washington, Utah, Maryland, Poland, Korea and Japan. Additional information about Epic can be obtained athttp://www.epicgames.com.
Epic, Epic Games, Gears of War, Infinity Blade, Unreal, Unreal Developer Network, UDN, Unreal Development Kit, UDK, Unreal Engine, UE3, UE4 and Unreal Tournament are trademarks or registered trademarks of Epic Games, Inc. in the United States of America and elsewhere. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. All rights reserved.