It’s that time of the year once again – Sumo Digital Rising Star and Search for a Star 2018 is open for registration!

We’re on the search for talented student programmers, animators and character, environment and VFX artists who are looking to show off their skills. Top UK studios including Sumo Digital, Playground Games, nDreams and BossAlien have all partnered up with Aardvark Swift to bring the game development challenge to 2018 and help more students make the leap to professional developers.

Awards and prizes for the top performers across Search For A Star & Sumo Digital Rising Star include exclusive interviews for jobs and internships with our partner studios, as well as a whole host of games, software, tech and goodies from all of our partners.

Designed to mimic a standard industry recruitment process, Search for a Star tests students in their final year or Masters courses, while the Sumo Digital Rising Star challenge caters to students who have not yet reached their final year.

It’s not just the finalists who gain places at studios either. As the briefs you’ll be working on are designed by panels of industry experts in your area, studios recognise applicants who have taken part in Search for a Star have experience creating the kind of games and assets that they want to see. Students from 2017 have since gone on to work at studios such as Sumo Digital, nDreams, Playground Games, BossAlien Frontier Developments, Skymoons Interactive, Sony Interactive Entertainment & Coatsink!

The first round of the competition, which opens on the 11^th September 2017, involves a HackerRank C++ test or portfolio piece review by industry professionals who will provide tailored feedback on your submission. For the round two project challenge, students will create their very own game or game-ready assets & animations. Again, students will receive personalised industry feedback on their work which they wouldn’t find anywhere else.

To open up the competition even more this year, we’re happy to announce that the first two rounds of the challenge will be accessible to all students who register to compete! Due to the large industry backing that Search for a Star has received, every student who enters Search for a Star will now be able to compete in both round one and two, and receive industry tailored feedback on their work. We want to help as many students as possible, and with the help of our studio partners, we’re now in a better position to do that.

Students will have until January to complete the two rounds of the challenge, after which the top performers will be invited to our Finals Day Showcase Event to demonstrate their skills and knowledge with a panel of industry professionals. Award winners will then go on to secure an interview with a leading UK studio!

You can check out what our previous Search for a Star winners got up to here.

So, what are you waiting for? Search for a Star and Sumo Digital Rising Star registration is now open!

Want to see what last year’s students had to say about Search for a Star? Check out the video below from our 2017 Finals Day Showcase Event.