With two weeks to go, the Games Innovation Challenge is well underway! UK university and college students have been tasked with creating the most innovative games with the hopes of getting a chunk of the £5,000 prize pool. The deadline for entries is on Thursday 24th March and then it will be down to our panel of industry experts from the gaming world to decide on which games will take the crown.
Want to make a game of your own and join the challenge? You can still enter! Visit the Games Innovation Challenge page here.
Those joining the 2022 Games Innovation Challenge panel are...
Amy Nanto - Sr. Game Developer Relations Manager - Intel
Amy has nearly 20 years of extensive experience working in the games industry. She is based in Seattle, WA surrounded by all the wonderful games and tech companies. Amy currently plays a key role within the Developer Relations Team at Intel focusing on building strategic partnerships with leading ISVs to inspire their development ecosystem with Intel Architectures. Amy also lives in a gaming household married to a game fanatic and retro console collector.
Ben Tucker - Game Scout - Team17
Ben has been working in the video game industry since 2017, initially, he was part of the QA team of Team17 working on projects such as Hell Let Loose, Moving Out, and the Survivalists but changed roles in 2021 to become part of the Game Scout team. In the Scout team, he is always on the lookout for games and loves listening to exciting pitches from developers.
Elaine Dowman - VP Games & Esports Strategy - Barclays
Elaine leads Barclays Games and Esports strategy and has worked with the Games and Esports industries, both in the UK and globally, for a number of years. Her focus is on identifying opportunities where Barclays can better support the industries, not just with banking, but much more. Elaine runs a number of initiatives that support the growth of the games industry, including The Games Demo Day series, in partnership with Ukie, which gives indie studios an opportunity to demo their game to a wide audience of potential industry investors. She enjoys playing unique games, with great narratives.
Prince Yeboah - Project Manager - PlayStation
Prince works as a PlayStation Store Project Manager for Sony Interactive Entertainment. His gaming career started in logistics, managing Capcom’s distribution supply chain. He contributed to major releases from the Street Fighter, Dead Rising and Resident Evil Franchise. After that his career took a digital turn with various job roles focusing on digital eCommerce. After 7+ years in the gaming industry his current role focuses on Change Management, supporting teams through major system projects.
Steve Isaacs - Education Program Manager - Epic Games
Steve Isaacs is the Education Program Manager at Epic Games. His mission in this role is to support educators and students in exploring career opportunities that leverage interactive 3d skills. Prior to his role at Epic, Steve was a public school teacher for 28 years, teaching game design and development as well as other courses related to creative uses of technology. Steve enjoys spending time with family and friends. His hobbies include video games, biking, snorkelling, hiking and live music.
Vicky Clark - Software Engineer - Unity
Vicky is a Software Engineer at Unity, the world’s most popular Game Engine. She works on the Optimization team, making low level performance improvements to the Core Engine. She joined Unity as a graduate 3 years ago, and is passionate about encouraging more women into technical roles in the Games and Tech industries. Vicky’s favourite games combine beautiful graphics and smooth performance, and in her spare time she especially loves open world RPGs.
Visit the Games Innovation Challenge game jam page here and remember to enter your game before Thursday 24th March!
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