A new state-of the-art facility has been launched at Abertay University to support teaching and research activities for video games design and digital art.
The new Competitive Games Lab and Wacom Cintiq Lab have been added to Abertay’s national Centre for Excellence in Computer Games Education, bringing the latest, industry-standard equipment and facilities onto campus for students and research staff.
Kitted with 20 high-specification gaming PCs, the Competitive Games Lab will provide a space where games can be play-tested by designers and researchers, including a focus on accessibility features for gamers with additional needs.
The lab will be used to lead research across a range of themes relevant to the games industry, including how to defend esports events from cyberattacks and strategies to promote a positive and inclusive culture in what is a traditionally male-dominated sector.
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Academics will also use the space to explore how in-game dynamics can be used to increase the time that online games players interact with others of similar abilities, potentially improving both user experience and profitability.
Dundee and the university have a rich history of the video game sector, as the birthplace of DMA Design, the brains behind Grand Theft Auto.
Teenagers Dave Jones, Russell Kay, Steve Hammond and Mike Dailly met at the old Kingsway Technical College in 1984 and soon began making their own games.
While studying at what was then Dundee College of Technology, now part of Abertay University, Jones developed the game Draconia which he released as Menace in 1988, earning enough to fund the development of further games.
Their 1991 game Lemmings became a megahit, eventually selling more than 20 million copies, and Grand Theft Auto was born from the bones of a cops and robbers game initially titled Race and Chase.
Now part of the Rockstar studio, GTA is regularly touted as the biggest entertainment product on the planet, with the latest edition selling close to 200m copies so far.
Grand Theft Auto VI will be released late next year, with the former DMA design, now based in Edinburgh and called Rockstar North, working on the project.
Principal and Vice Chancellor, Professor Liz Bacon said: “As Europe’s top ranked university for video games design we are committed to investing in the very best laboratories and equipment to support our work in teaching, research and knowledge exchange, and to ensure that our graduates have the skillset that industry needs and expects.
"The video games industry is an important economic driver for Dundee, Scotland and the UK and it’s vital that we keep investing – both at individual institution and government level – if we are to keep pace with the many other competitors in games clusters across the globe.
"Our sincere thanks go to Dundee City Council for supporting the creation of these leading-edge spaces which will be an asset to Abertay and the city.”
Councillor Mark Flynn, Leader of Dundee City Council said: “Abertay University plays a crucial role in Scotland’s video games sector, making an important contribution to the national economy and supporting a significant number of highly skilled jobs.
"The university’s work is fundamental to maintaining and growing the success of Dundee in the digital industries and we are very pleased to have been able to contribute to the development of this first-rate new accommodation for teaching and research.”
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