The students placed second at the Ford Smart Mobility Game Challenge, which attracted 30 teams from across Europe, all of which submitted concepts and designs for games that would help future cities to stay mobile. The final was held as part of the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on February 22.
The prize-winning GCU game was SelfieGo, led by third-year BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design student Cheri Skivington. The game aims to liven up commutes with a GPS-enabled map that shows the optimal route to take selfies at a city’s major attractions, and allows them to be shared on social media.
The rest of the team consisted of students Ricardo Barros, Daniel Prihodko, Irina Kovalova and Hajnalka Szanto. Several members of the team are also part of the GCU group that won Dare to be Digital last year and are shortlisted for a BAFTA next month.
Cheri said: “Placing second is a great achievement for our team. Our lecturer, David Farrell, was a great support as he encouraged us to apply for the competition and helped us through the process. He always encourages the game students to take on these amazing opportunities and, without his motivation, we probably wouldn’t be where we are now.”
The GCU game ECO Saviour was also shortlisted in the Mobility Game Challenge final, led by second-year BSc (Hons) Computer Games Design student Daniel Hauck. The team won €1000 as result. ECO Saviour is a multiplayer game that rewards players for reducing smog levels in a virtual version of their city by awarding “pollution points” based on how they travel in the real world.
Lecturer David Farrell, School of Engineering and Built Environment, said: “It’s amazing to see our students competing at this level. It’s great for the students’ portfolios and for strengthening GCU’s profile.
“Society is becoming more playful and, over time, we are going to need highly skilled creative people to design our apps, our games, and even our cities. It’s wonderful to see our students aiming high and creating such wonderful work that isn’t just really useful and helpful, but also playful and fun.”
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