UOIT Game Development students win programming award at Ubisoft competition

Proving once again that they have what it takes to make it in the video game industry, fourth-year Game Development and Entrepreneurship students from the University of Ontario Institute of Technology's (UOIT) Faculty of Business and Information Technology (FBIT) received six nominations and one award at the fourth-annual Ubisoft Academia Game Lab competition.

"I'm extremely proud of this group of students," said Dr. Lennart Nacke, Director of the HCI Games Group at FBIT. "They have demonstrated that the hands-on active learning experiences and industry knowledge that our FBIT gaming faculty provides at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology give them a competitive edge. This is a great honour – not only for the students – but for UOIT and FBIT.”

The students' capstone team game, Clan Combat, was one of 11 games showcased at the competition hosted by the internationally renowned game development studio. The team, which took home the Best Programming award, was comprised of:

• Mirza Beig — Audio Technician
• Cesare Cesario — 3D Artist and Animator
• Kevin Gan — Programmer
• Ajanthan Kanagabalan — Programmer
• Naeem Moosajee — Project Co-ordinator and Level Designer
• Rob Shewaga — Producer, Game Designer and Programmer
• Alston Jun Tan — 2D and 3D Artist
• David Yue — Lead Programmer

Ubisoft's competition is open to any graduating students in an accredited institution in Canada. Each team of students must produce a playable game prototype, which is judged by game development experts from Ubisoft Montreal. This year’s winning game, Book Brawl, will be developed into a full game by 25 students selected to take part in Ubisoft Montreal’s Academia Summer School, an eight-week, paid internship.

Moosajee and Yue were among the students chosen to participate in the internship. They will be involved in all steps of the production process, including:

• Concept
• Design
• Pre-production
• Production
• Delivery

The internship will provide the graduates with the experience and production skills they need to succeed in the video game industry.