BBC Radio 4 - games design competition for students

2005 winners
Dare to be Digital Radio Stars set the scene for 2008

Dare to be Digital, the UK’s premier computer games design competition for students, will feature in a documentary on primetime BBC Radio 4 next Friday (14 December).

The University of Abertay Dundee, which organises the annual contest, confirmed today that “Game Academy”, a two-part documentary series revealing the challenges and achievements of the 60 students who took part in the 2007 competition, will be aired in prime morning slots on 14 and 21 December at 11am.

Indie documentary production company Wantok were commissioned by BBC Radio 4 to track the competition from start to finish, and spent more than 10 weeks shadowing the 12 teams competing in three host centres across the UK.

Part one of the documentary focuses on the host centre at Abertay in Dundee, which the producers describe as having “quietly become the Hollywood and Harvard of the UK games industry all rolled into one.” The programme will trace Dundee’s “incredible transition from jute and jam to digital dynamo”, and will feature a rare interview with David Jones, the Dundee genius behind global blockbusters like Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto.

Part two of the documentary looks at the tense round-the-clock work in the final weeks of the competition as the 12 teams prepared to show their games to the public in the Dare ProtoPlay event at the Edinburgh Festival, followed by the final ‘Dragon’s Den’ style judging by a panel of industry experts. The three winning teams are then followed as they prepare to compete for a BAFTA in late October.

Paul Durrant, Dare to be Digital Director, commented “We are delighted that the programme will be broadcast in such a prestigious slot following Women’s Hour and are certain it will open up the games industry to a whole new audience.”