Dare to be Digital is a video games design competition targeted at university students and recent graduates, started by and held at Abertay University, Scotland since 2000.
Teams (typically of 5 university undergraduates or fresh graduates) work together in a microcosm of a games development company at their home or within their home university to develop a prototype of a new video game. Teams have 9 weeks from the start of the competition to finish their game although it can be in production for up to a year prior to starting.
The main objective is to help students gain real life working experience as a multi-disciplinary group. Mentoring support is provided by game industry professionals. The competition culminates at Dare Protoplay, an indie games festival in which the games made by Dare Contestants are the main event and can be voted on by the public. Entrants are provided free accommodation for the duration of Dare Protoplay by Abertay University.
Entrance to the competition is based upon each team's ability and the nature of the game concept. This is measured against three criteria: creativity, market potential, and use of technology. Applications for Dare to be Digital are assessed by members of Dare to be Digital's "Developer Accord", consisting entirely of representatives from the games industry. These representatives will also interview the teams before making a decision on which teams will take part that year.
These criteria are also used to decide the three winning teams, who go through to be nominated for the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award in association with Dare to Be Digital (or simply the BAFTA Ones to Watch) award. Additional awards are given by sponsors, such as Channel 4, Design in Action and Intel, as well as an audience and team choice awards based on public and team votes respectively.
BAFTA Ones To Watch Award
The three winning teams of Dare to be Digital form the sole nominees of a BAFTA Ones To Watch Award as of 2007. + BAFTA Ones to Watch Previous Winners Year Team name Game Name Sponsoring University/College 2007 Voodoo Boogy Ragnarawk Abertay University 2009 DarkMatter Designs Boro Toro University of Wolverhampton 2010 The Butterflyers Shrunk! Abertay University 2011 That Game Studio Twang! University of Skövde 2012 Swallowtail Tick Tock Toys Norwich University College of the Arts and Abertay University 2013 Kind of a Big Deal Starcrossed Kajaani University of Applied Sciences and Abertay University 2014 DOS Studios Size DOES Matter Norwegian School of Information Technology 2015 Overly Kinetic (Team OK) Chambara University of Southern California and University of Colorado2016Mild Beast GamesSundownUniversity of Southern California and Berklee College of Music2017Bluedoor GamesAmong the StonesAbertay University There was no BAFTA Video Games Awards Ceremony in 2008. According to the BAFTA award database, the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award was no longer awarded after 2017.
Dare ProtoPlay Building on the final phase of Dare to be Digital, Dare ProtoPlay, a video game and consumer event, takes place over 3 days in August every year. After the competition ends the teams demonstrate their titles at Dare ProtoPlay, formerly held at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival until 2010 but now at the Caird Hall in Dundee. This free event is open to the general public.
13,000 visitors visited Dare ProtoPlay 2013. Dare 2014 was held on 7–10 August in Dundee City Square and Caird Hall.
History In 1999, an idea was developed within the University of Abertay Dundee, who were one of the global pioneers in academic courses for video games development. In 2000, it was opened to all university students across Scotland.
Different development models were tested with involvement from international teams who came from Japan, Canada, China, India and Malaysia, where a trial host centre model was carried out.
With industry and government support, the contest opened parallel host centres across the UK as of 2007, in Belfast and Electronic Arts office in Guildford. It has since been opened up to all UK and Irish universities and selected international partners, with all teams now being hosted in the University of Abertay Dundee.
Awards and recognitions
+ Year Award Program Awards Presenter 2008 New Talent Award Develop Edu. Develop Awards 2011 Recommendation for Universities, Colleges and Vocational education Next Gen NESTA 2014 Talent Investment Develop Awards 2014 MCV/Develop
Support Scottish Enterprise Tayside and Dundee City Council have been supporters of the development of the competition since its beginning, along with local technology company NCR Corporation and game developers such as Rare, Blitz Games Studios, Electronic Arts and Rockstar North.
Dare 2007 12 teams took part in Dare 2007, including BAFTA Ones to Watch Award nominees Care Box for their game 'Climbactic' (Edinburgh University), Phoenix Seed for 'Bear Go Home' (Peking University and the University of Abertay Dundee) and Voodoo Boogy for 'Ragnarawk' who ultimately won the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award.
Dare 2008 There were 17 teams taking part in Dare 2008, including BAFTA Ones to Watch Award nominees Blue Skies for their game ‘Origamee’ (Abertay University), Ctrl_D for ‘VegeMe’(Peking University) and DarkMatter Designs for ‘Boro-Toro’, with the latter team winning. That year, Contrived Studios won the Audience Award sponsored by Microsoft.
Dare 2009 14 teams took part in 2009. The competition went more international with students coming from Canada, England, India, China, Northern Ireland, The Irish Republic, Norway, Scotland and Wales. The BAFTA Ones to Watch Award nominees were Colour-coded by PixelPirates (University of Abertay Dundee), Quick as Thieves by Gentlemen of Fortune (University of Abertay Dundee) and Shrunk by The Butterflyers (University of Abertay Dundee) who won the award.
Dare 2010 15 teams took part in 2010, coming from China, England, India, Ireland, Sweden, Scotland, USA and Wales. The three BAFTA Ones to Watch Award nominees were Angry Mango for their game 'Mush' (University of Wales, Newport), Team Tickle for 'Sculpty' (Abertay University) and That Game Studio for 'Twang', who ultimately won the award.
Awards Prize winners were 'Bears with Jetpacks' for their game 'Grrr!' who won the "Adult Swim" sponsored award for innovation and creativity.
The Teams-Choice award went to Bazooka Duck, who also won the Intel Visual Adrenaline Award, and That Games Studio won the public choice award.
Media coverage Dare 2010 was the focus of a 3 part documentary series filmed for, and screened by Channel 4 in the UK. Named 'Crunchtime' the series featured several teams during the development of their games and the Protoplay exhibition.
Team Game Format Country Abnormal Creations The Inkwell Chronicles Wii UK Angry Mango Mush Windows Mobile Wales Bazooka Duck Epoch Defence PC UK Bears with Jetpacks Grrr! Wii UK Creative Genius Silent Symphony PC UK eleMENTAL Weatherman Xbox 360 Scotland Gazhab Chayya Xbox 360 India Grimnir Games Death Inc. PSP UK King of Dice Dice Rolling PC China Nevermind Games WiiKick Wii Ireland Ramblin' Wreckage Hella Umbrella Android USA Shark on a Bike Dyed World Xbox 360 Scotland Team Tickle Sculpty iPad Scotland That Games Studio Twang Xbox 360 Sweden Various Artists Legendary Crusaders PC UK
Dare 2011 Dare 2011 had 15 participating teams from England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Northern Ireland, India, Denmark and China.
Team Game Format Country A Necessary Evil Carne Carne PC UK Ape-y Eyes Paper Quest Kinect UK Crispy Nugget Studios Galaxy Guardians Kinect UK Digital Hazards Shadow Light PC UK Digital Knights Joust it Out! Kinect Denmark Evolved Ape Dreamweaver PC UK Faraway Games Aida iPad UK Fatdog Games The Tale of Yog iPad UK FunBox Ants the Lost Memories PC India Furnace Games Scorcher Kinect UK Rebel Donut Plunder in the Jungle Windows Phone 7 UK Swallowtail Tick Tock Toys iPad UK Tea and Techno Full English Fusion Windows Phone 7 UK The Weather Factory The Balloonist iPad Ireland Yummy Tummy Who is the Lucky Ghost? iPhone China
Dare 2012
Dare 2012 had 15 participating teams from England, Scotland, Ireland, India, Finland, Israel, Spain and China.
Team Game Format Country Caracol Games Slick! PC UK CLOCKinROCK Liminal Magibrawl Kinect Ireland Fortified Castle Crusade iPad UK Dapper Hat Games Mr. Montgomery's Debonair Facial Hair iPad UK Gastank Games Interstate Outlaws Kinect UK Ideer Colour Captain iPad China Kind of a Big deal Starcrossed Windows Phone 7 Finland LazzyBrains What A Day: The Story of a fisher-worm iPad India Loan Wolf Games Pixel Story PC UK Mad Rocket Games Ready, Steady, Roll! Android Tablet UK Must Make Games Badgers vs. Turtles iPad/iPhone UK Raptor Games Project Thanatos PC/Sensics zSight Headset UK Team Faceplant GravTech PC UK Team-Iso IsoChronous PC Spain The Nuclear Duck Marcelo Kinect Israel
Awards 2012 BAFTA "Ones to Watch Award" Nominations - Starcrossed, for Windows Phone 7 by Kind of a Big Deal
- Pixel Story, for PC by Loan Wolf Games
- Project Thanatos, for PC and virtual reality headset by Raptor Games
Channel 4 prize Loan Wolf Games
Intel Visual Computing Tools Audience Award Raptor Games
Developers Choice Award Team-Iso
Dare 2014 Dare 2014 had 15 participating teams from Scotland, England, Ireland, USA, China, India and Malta.
Team Game Format Country A Fox Wot I Drew Baum Android Tablet UK & Ireland AM Sunny Rainy Snowy iPad China Desk Jockeys Reshuffle Tablet UK & Malta Five Pixels Seek Android Tablet UK Good Day Games Lapin iPad UK & Ireland Insert Imagination Kuria PlayStation Vita UK Overly Kinetic Chambara PC USA Straight Ahead Straight Ahead iPad China Taleforge Studios World Eater iPad UK TCN Soul Seeker Android Tablet UK Team Pugstar Pug Pug Pirates iPad UK & Ireland The Pillowettes D-Bug iPad USA Too Mainstream Sagittarius PC & Oculus Rift India Torque Don't Walk: RUN PC/Tablet UK Unorthobox Ally PC with Controllers UK
Awards 2014
BAFTA "Ones to Watch Award" Nominations
- Chambara, for PC by Overly Kinetic
- Don't Walk: RUN, for PC and Tablet by Torque
- Sagittarius, for PC and Oculus Rift by Too Mainstream
Channel 4 prize Don't Walk: RUN by Torque
The Foundry Artistic Achievement Award Seek by Five Pixels
Dare Team's Choice Award D-Bug by The Pillowettes
Dare Protoplay Audience Award World Eater by Taleforge
Dare Commercial Potential Award Baum by A Fox Wot I Drew Design in Action Business Profile "A Fox Wot I drew - Baum Design in Action", November 12, 2015, Accessed July 28, 2021.
Dare 2015 Dare 2015 had 16 participating teams from Scotland, England, USA, Wales, Netherlands and Ireland. TeamGameCountry7th Beat GamesA Dance of Fire and IceUK & US8 Bit GuardiansAcquisitionUKFuture PixelsSquish FitsScotlandGreen Bean ConspiracySteal EverythingEnglandHello SausageDeep Space MineEnglandIntimate SystemsYou and the GardenUSAMandlebarImpulse RevolutionNorthern Ireland & the Republic of IrelandMild Beast GamesSundownUSAPathos StudiosPathosEngland & WalesPictrailSelfienationScotlandPixel TailorsThe Wall Shall StandUKPolyhedronCode MonkeysScotlandPrullariaSnowDownNetherlandsSandyPogo MadFinlandSun BearFrom The Verge To The VoidIrelandYeah Yeah GamesEctoPlazaUSA
Awards 2015
BAFTA "Ones to Watch Award" Nominations - The Wall Shall Stand by Pixel Tailors
- Sundown by Mild Beast Games
- Selfienation by Pictrail
References
External links
Dare ProtoPlay