Bizstartup.ie - NewsNUI Galway students win games development competition

XNA is a games development platform from Microsoft, which was co-sponsor of the competition.

The NUI Galway students — Finn Krewer from Tubber, Co Clare, and Padraig Meaney from Cloghan, Co Offaly — won the competition with their updated version of Pac-Man, the 30-year old classic video game where the object is to gobble as many dots as possible while avoiding the roaming ghosts. 

Their game was entitled ‘Pac-Man Unleashed’, and featured four variants on the classic game including a multiplayer version, a limited visibility version, a ‘ghost infection’ version, and a combination of all three.

The winning entry was commended by the judges - representatives from colleges and Irish-based gaming companies including PopCap, Jolt and DemonWare - for “having everything” in terms of coding, design, game play and music.  As well as winning the overall award, the students won the individual award for ‘Best in Game Play’.

“Ireland has a thriving computer games industry, as exemplified by Irish success stories such as DemonWare and Jolt Online from Irish entrepreneurs Sean Blanchfield and Dylan Collins.  There are also various international gaming companies in Ireland such as PopCap Games and Gala Networks.  This industry has huge growth potential in Ireland, and talented students such as Finn and Padraig bode well for its future success,” said John Breslin, lecturer in the School of Engineering and Informatics at NUI Galway.

Photo: NUI Galway students Finn Krewer and Padraig Meaney, overall winners of the XNA Colleges Cup, with Michael Meagher (back left),academic engagement manager, Microsoft and John Breslin, lecturer NUI Galway.