Student team Thunder Lime (pictured below) has won this year’s Dare Academy design competition with its adventure game Kinoko.
The annual event sees teams from Dundee-based Abertay University’s game development courses work to design and develop a game over a six-month period.
The winning title, Kinoko, is a third-person adventure focused on relaxation, where players control a forest spirit who ushers in the spring across a forest.
Each of the six teams received mentoring and support from games companies across the UK, including Dundee-based YoYo Games, Tag Games and Ninja Kiwi.
All games were on show at EGX last week, with a panel of industry professionals judging each. As winners, team Thunder Lime will exhibit Kinoko at GDC in San Francisco next March.
Good grades
“We’re absolutely delighted to win,” said Thunder Lime’s Emelie Edholm. “Having worked next to all the teams over the last six months we know how tough it’s been to just get here.
“We’d like to thank the mentors and our Dare Academy sponsors for all their support throughout the competition - it’s been a brilliant experience.”
YoYo Games’ Chris Trewartha, who presented the award on Friday, added: “All of the Dare Academy 2018 finalists have done well to get to this stage, with such a talented field emerging at the start of the competition.
“I’m delighted for Thunder Lime and wish them and their peers every success with taking their games to the next level.”
Dare Academy boasts that its winners enjoy "both commercial success and critical acclaim". Last year's winning title, Phogs, has since been picked up for publishing by Coatsink.
