Fairy tale victory for videogame developer

Nov 15 2007 by Iain Laing, The Journal

A STUDENT has won a Dragons’ Den-style contest to find the most talented up-and-coming videogame developers in the North-East.

The “Game Academy” competition, run by leading games industry business network Codeworks Game Horizon at the Centre for Enterprise, Teesside University, saw local companies and graduates practice pitching their videogame concepts in a live situation and gain feedback from industry experts.

Philip Pardoe, 21, a final year 3D games design student at Teesside University, won first prize after impressing judges with his concept for Pop Fiction an action/puzzle game where players battle through worlds inspired by famous fairytales such as Little Red Riding Hood and Snow White. Philip beat five other contestants to win the prize.

The panel consisted of Mark Morris, director of award-winning game developer Introversion, Caspar Gray, product acquisition coordinator for Eidos Inc; Mark James, technical director at Vivendi Games and Mark Sample, design manager at Eutechnyx, the Gateshead-based studio.

Mark Morris, who set up Introversion with two university friends in 2002, says: “When we first started Introversion it took us two years and two trips to E3 to get Uplink – our first game – in front of any real publishers. I cannot attach enough value to the opportunity to expose a game idea to a real group of acquisition guys in such a safe environment.

“Pop Fiction covers the major bases required for successful development of their concept and it would be a real waste if this game doesn’t find its way into the marketplace.”

Philip’s idea was picked out by judges for being an original, strong and commercially viable proposition, winning him the first prize of a training and mentoring package worth more than £1,000 and free Game Horizon membership. Philip said: “Winning Game Academy is a huge step for me. It was extremely useful to get feedback on my ideas from such respected industry figures, but to win the competition is an even bigger boost.

“I plan to finish university and then start my own company. I have a small team already and would really want to move to the next level.”

The runner’s-up prize was won by Chris McQuillan for his ‘Pen Cap Chew’ game idea. Chris is studying animation and design at Sunderland University. This latest Game Academy was the third in a series that Game Horizon has run over the past 18 months.