Game on for new course's graduates

Graduation day will definitely not mean '˜game over' for the first cohort of masters of computer games development students from the University of Central Lancashire.
Senior lecturer Dr Nick Mitchell, MComp Computer Games Development students Krzysztof Rogozinski, Daniel Blackburn and James Hutchinson with course leader Dr Gareth Bellaby.Senior lecturer Dr Nick Mitchell, MComp Computer Games Development students Krzysztof Rogozinski, Daniel Blackburn and James Hutchinson with course leader Dr Gareth Bellaby.
Senior lecturer Dr Nick Mitchell, MComp Computer Games Development students Krzysztof Rogozinski, Daniel Blackburn and James Hutchinson with course leader Dr Gareth Bellaby.

For they are all hoping to become key players in the computing world.

The university launched the MComp degree four years ago and the five trailblazers have now set the benchmark for high achievement on the course.

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Four of the five have graduated with a first class honours degree while three of the five were finalists in the national Search for a Star competition, which discovers the best undergraduate games programmer in Europe.

Kyle Hobdey (pictured left) went on to win the competition with his Star Wrangler Arena game, which he built in just four weeks.

The graduates are now putting their skills to use as two of them have landed graduate entry roles with big developers while the other three have set up their their own company.

James Hutchinson, from London, has landed a job as a games programmer for Sumo Digital, based in Sheffield.

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The 22-year-old, who took to the stage of Preston’s Guild Hall to 
receive his degree, said: “The course was very different to what other universities were offering and that was 
really good.

“It was a practical course and it meant we were learning a wide range of skills and covering a variety of topics which helped make us ready to enter the world of work straightaway.”

Dr Gareth Bellaby, UCLan’s course leader for the MComp Computer Games Development, said: “This first cohort has been a small group but they have been very close knit and very successful.

“For three of them to have been finalists and for Kyle to win Europe’s largest games development student competition was tremendous.”

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