Congratulations to everyone who completed the second round of Search for a Star & Rising Star – we hope that you enjoyed creating your pieces as much as we enjoyed looking at them!

This year has been both our largest and most exciting yet, plus the first year that we’ve hosted an art competition alongside our coding one.

We’ve had many impressive entries this year for both code and art, and we will be showcasing the finished games and art assets throughout the next couple of weeks!

The finalists for 2016 are….

ART – Search for a Star

Sam Bang
University of Hertfordshire – Games Art – Character Specialization

Shivam Devani
University of Huddersfield – Computer Games Design (BA)

William Hobden
Futureworks, The Manchester School of Media – BA(Hons) Games Design

Aaron Humphreys
Abertay University – Computer Arts (BA)

Joel Phelps
De Montfort University  –  Game Art Design

Amelie Talarmain
University of Hertfordshire –  3D Animation

Aron Visicglia
University of Hertfordshire – BA Animation

ART – Rising Star

Jordy Boot
NHTV University of Applied Sciences – International Game Architecture and Design: Visual Arts

Marian Dumitru Toma
University of Cumbria – FdA The Art of Games Design

Daniel Gutierrez Anaya
NHTV University of Applied Sciences – International Game Architecture and Design (Visual Art)

Nicolas Pirot
DAE – Howest Kortrijk – Game Graphics

Anthea van Leeuwen
NHTV University of Applied Sciences  –  International Game Architecture and Design

Josiah Ward
University of Hertfordshire – BA Games Art

CODE – Search for a Star

Sam Cipolat
University of Hull –  Computer Science with Games Development

Jean-Pascal Evette
Goldsmiths, University of London -MSc Computer Game & Entertainment

Yan Knoop
NHTV University of Applied Sciences – International Game Architecture and Design

Lewis Nicholson
Northumbria University – Computer Games Programming

Andreea-Tamara Tanasescu
Heriot-Watt University – BSc Computer Science

CODE – Rising Star

Rachel Cabot
University of Bath – Computer Science

Nick Pearson
University of Bristol  – Computer Science

Aaron Smith
Staffordshire University  – Computer Games Programming

Jack Spink
Sheffield Hallam University – MComp Games Software Development

Robin van Nunen
NHTV University of Applied Sciences – Creative Media and Game Technologies

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the competition, and helped us make it the best one yet. And a massive thank you to our team of Round 2 judges  for all of their hard work:

Microsoft UK

Lee Stott (Tech Evangelist)
Alex Bubb (Business Development, Games and Ecosystem)

Microsoft Student Partners

Khalid Khattak
Liam Sorta
Taiwo Kareem
Cosmin Bresug
Jayant Shivarajan
Robert Collcott
Eduard Sutulov

Boss Alien  

Thad Frogley (Lead Programmer)
Richard Bangs (Lead Programmer)

Sumo Digital

Peter Harrap (Technical Director)

Epic Games

Scott Homer (Environment Artist)

Furious Bee

Lizi Attwood (Technical Director)

Red Kite Games

Simon Iwaniszak (Managing Director)

Edge Case Games

Greg Booker (Principal Engineer)

Exient

Tim Page (Lead Programmer)

Rare Ltd

Lee Piper (Lead Environment Artist)

Paul Cartwright (Principal Concept Artist)

GaaSworks

Jason Fielder (CEO & Co-founder)

Our finalists are now getting ready for the Finals and Conference days, where they will be interviewed by a panel of industry-expert judges.
The art finals day takes place on Thursday 31^st March at Staffordshire University and features talks from Unity, Cloud Imperium and Epic Games.
The code finals day takes place on Monday 4^th April at the Microsoft Campus in Reading and will feature talks from Sumo Digital, Boss Alien and Frontier’s CEO and co-founder David Braben.