IGDA Scotland was well represented at this year’s Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco. Current Abertay undergraduates Jess Hider and 2014 graduate Zoe Sams were both selected as winners of the new IGDA Foundation Intel Scholarships, which gave just thirty women a once in a lifetime experience to attend the conference, offering invaluable networking and mentoring. The initiative with Intel was launched this year in association with the IGDA Foundation to help promote and support diversity in the industry.
Jess Hider is an undergraduate Computer Arts student at Abertay University specialising in animation. Her recent project, Seek – created with Team Five Pixels – not only won the Artistic Achievement Award at last year’s Dare to be Digital, but went on to win the TIGA’s Best Student Game award in 2014 and BAFTA Scotland’s New Talent Award in Games. Seek is available in beta on Android and soon to be fully released on iOS.
Zoë Sams is an aspiring programmer and technical artist, currently studying for an MSc in Computer Animation and Visual Effects at Bournemouth University. She graduated from Abertay University with an honours degree in Computer Games Technology in 2014. Currently, Zoë is volunteering with the Bournemouth University Games Development Society, organising workshops and talks.
Congratulations to Jess, Zoë and all the other 2015 scholars. For more information about upcoming IGDA Scholarships, please check here.
Jess and Zoë weren’t the only ones touching shoulders with the gaming elite in San Francisco this year. Our very own board member, Brian McDonald, was awarded a full access pass to GDC as a Global Game Jam VIP. Brian has been regional organiser for UK & Ireland for the last 2 years, before that he was one of the organisers for the Glasgow site.