Following teams of computer developers in a contest of their lives.
Programme Details
Friday 14 & 21 Dec 2007
Anthony Baxter follows teams of young developers over ten weeks as they compete to produce a working computer game that will dazzle the public at the Edinburgh Festival.
You can download and play the games that the Game Academy contestants have made by going to the official websites.
Teams of young computer game developers are in the contest of their lives: they have only ten weeks to produce a working computer game that will dazzle the public at the Edinburgh Festival, convince the judges, win a BAFTA, and launch them on a dream career in one of the world’s fastest growing industries.
Programme One of Game Academy is set in the city of Dundee, which has quietly become the Hollywood and Harvard of the UK games industry all rolled into one. At the University of Abertay, presenter Anthony Baxter takes us to the hot house atmosphere of the Game Academy, where entrants from China and India match their talents with the best Britain has to offer.
We’ll follow the emotional roller coaster as they work all hours to merge sound, artwork, animation and interactivity in a way that will capture the imagination of the public – and the judges. One of them is David Jones - creator of smash hit games such as Grand Theft Auto, and in a rare interview, Jones takes us behind the scenes of his new company based in a converted Jute Mill, as teams of designers work on the blockbuster games of tomorrow.
Programme Two
Friday 21 December 2007
Having arrived in Edinburgh, the Game Academy teams put the final desperate touches to their games before showcasing them as a major interactive event as part of the world's biggest arts festival. Any flaws are laid bare as festival goers of all ages put the games through their paces. The public votes help cut the roster in half. The six survivors pitch their game Dragon’s Den style in a private session to the heavyweights of the game industry – senior executives from the likes of Microsoft and Sony, and to David Jones himself.
The game has to be spectacular, but they also need a business plan to go with it. It’s thumbs up or thumbs down, and now there are only three. It takes one more nerve-wracking, if glamorous night, at the computer games BAFTAs in London hosted by Vic Reeves, to learn which team has won the Game Academy, and made it to the big time.
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