Game Jam win for David

David Dillon and his daughter Isobel

A Newcastle dad has levelled-up after his game came top with judges at an annual gaming competition.

David Dillon, a Gateshead College games design student,won Best Video Game at the University of Cumbria's annual Game Jam event.

It was the third-year in a row that Gateshead College has entered the competition and was the third-time a student or student team has won this category. Competitors have four days to create an original game concept and playable demo or paper based game.

David, a 34-year-old HND student from Walker, developed a game called Bojo’s Battle Bus. Based on Brexit, the aim of the game was to drive the Brexit bus and deliver leaflets while avoiding traffic. David’s game was very well thought-out and also featured a BBC style news feed with humorous anecdotes along the bottom.

The Game Jam event is open nationally to students and professionals and takes place at the university’s Brampton Road Campus in Carlisle.

All of Gateshead College’s games design students across levels 2 and 3 and the HND programme get to take part in Game Jam. It’s a great way to test and practice specific games skills and to develop employability skills like organisation, team work and communication.

The competition was judged by representatives from the University of Cumbria plus guest judges from industry which included Meg Rouncefield, game developer at TT Games and Matt Philips, director at Big Evil Corporation.

David said: “I’m so happy to have won Best Video Game – that’s great recognition from the professional judges that what I’m creating is ticking their boxes in terms of design and playability.

“I’ve got to give credit to my nine year-old daughter Isobel who actually came up with the idea for the game.”