SFAS 2021 | The Finalists
We’ve had another fantastic year for Search For A Star, with 225 games projects created by students from across the UK and Europe. We’re now reaching the final stage of the challenges, and are pleased to reveal our finalists for 2021!
These students have shown high level skills and created exceptional projects over the course of a few weeks, across programming, art, animation and VFX. Many of the students in this list will undoubtedly become future stars of the games industry and we’re eager to help them on that journey.
Later this month, they will all be invited to interview with a panel of games industry professionals, discussing their projects, their skills and their ambitions for the future. The winners of this year’s Search For A Star & d3t Rising Star will then be revealed on the 1st April in a special live presentation as part of Games Careers Week.
We’d like to extend a massive thanks to everyone who has helped these students get this far, including our partners at Aardvark Swift, d3t, Sumo Digital, nDreams, Frontier Developments, NaturalMotion Games, DPS Games, DS Dambuster Studios, Airship Images, Firesprite, Red Kite Games, Tonic Games Group & Steel City Interactive for their support throughout.
Our development teams have been invaluable in the process, and we thank the code test team from Sumo Digital, d3t & DPS Games, and our game project developers Lizi Attwood of Furious Bee and Greg Booker of DPS Games. We also couldn’t have done it without the hard work of our assessment team, with some very appreciated additional support from d3t & Sumo Digital, in reviewing all of the projects received.
Search For A Star 2021
Students graduating from university in 2021.
d3t Rising Star 2021
Undergraduate & college-level students, graduating 2022 or later.
The Finalists
Games Programming Finalists 2021
Heather Cochrane
Abertay University
Francisco Nicolau
University of Lisbon, Instituto Superior Técnico
David Taylor
Staffordshire University
Kevin de Temmerman
Howest DAE
Nat Waterworth
University of Huddersfield
Alejandro Balea
Digipen Europe
Kian Bennett
University of Portsmouth
Emma O’Reilly
University of Central Lancashire
Tim Rademaker
Breda University of Applied Sciences
Cameron Sim
City University of London
Congratulations to Joshua Pritchard of the University of Huddersfield & Sascha Brunner of the University of Central Lancashire who also both qualified as finalists for Search For A Star 2021
Games VFX Finalists 2021
(combined category, both Search For A Star & d3t Rising Star)
Anouk Donkers
Howest DAE
Laura Higgins
Escape Studios
Sam Mayson
University of Hertfordshire
Xaver Rauscher
Abertay University
Elie Van Ravels
Howest DAE
Games Animation Finalists 2021
(combined category, both Search For A Star & d3t Rising Star)
Iva Kasapova
University of the Arts London
Amir Mansaray
Staffordshire University
Alannah Meek
University of South Wales
Sankalp Sharma
Staffordshire University
William Sheen
Staffordshire University
Environment Art Finalists 2021
Adam Fautley
University of Huddersfield
Elliot Griffiths
Falmouth University
Antonia Hardy
University of South Wales
Alice Hughes
Escape Studios
Chris Rhodes
University of Huddersfield
Phillip Baker
University of Portsmouth
Gia Bao Lam
Howest DAE
Elmo La Mantia
Falmouth University
Shay Palmer
De Montfort University
Martin Pech
University of South Wales
Character Art Finalists 2021
Petar Cakic
University of Derby
Oliver Fayers
University of Huddersfield
Luke Marchese
Staffordshire University
Tristan McGuire
Solent University
Tadas Sadauskas
Escape Studios
Yano Claeys
Howest DAE
Ethan Gangotra
University of Huddersfield
Gia-Han Lam
Howest DAE
Grzegorz Szargot
Sheffield Hallam University
Eti Udosen
University of Huddersfield
Congratulations to everyone who has made it to the final stage of the challenge. Reaching this point is an exceptional achievement and one to be very proud of!
Join us on the 1st April as we reveal the winners of this year’s Search For A Star & d3t Rising Star student gamedev challenges!
