Indie studio introduces programme to inspire creative gaming students
Young entrepreneur and CEO of Indie games studio Greenlight Games, Dean Day, has filled us in on his latest ventures for 2016. After becoming winner of the Young Start-up Talent initiative in 2015 and being awarded the Theo Paphitis Small Business Sunday award (#SBS) the studio has taken off in popularity. Since its inception, Greenlight Games has created four mobile app games available on Google and android, with their most popular game, Deul, now reaching over 100’000 downloads.
The studio’s latest endeavour has been established through an exciting new programme being introduced to universities and colleges across the UK. Green Jamwich is an educational game jam, set to be run across establishments that cater to Gaming and Media Students.
Launching the programme in 2015 at the University of Greenwich, the studio saw a number of enthusiastic teams take part in the initial pilot scheme – a 42 hour game jam in which students compete to develop the most promising game. Judges of the programme then scored all participants and announced the winners, with runners up also walking away with prizes. Creators of Run Fox Run and winners of the 2015 scheme, were given three months paid employment with Greenlight Games to develop, complete and publish their game. The success of the pilot scheme has inspired the young entrepreneur to expand the programme across as many universities and colleges as possible, in a bid to encourage, engage, inspire and support creative talent in the gaming industry.
Dean Day – Founder and CEO of Greenlight Games added “After finding out personally how hard it was to get a good position within the games industry with just qualifications and seeing my friends get turned away job after job, I decided that starting my own company was the way to go. I started Greenlight Games whilst still at university and have never doubted its success. The idea behind the studio was to accept students and graduates to fill our roles rather than relying on industry professionals that cost the earth and move on very quickly. A game jam is a common event within the industry, awarding a cash prize or physical items but there isn’t a game jam that offers employment or experience, that’s where the idea for Green Jamwich came in. Green Jamwich will become a recognised employment opportunity that will help students and graduates gain the experience they need and the backing to get the jobs they want within the industry.”
With the belief that students and graduates are the lifeline of the game industry, the Green Jamwich project are looking to work with more gaming companies, universities, students and members over the coming year in order to reach as much talent as possible and provide a much needed platform to showcase talent for the industry.
Please watch our short video clip of our game jam with students from University of Greenwhich – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ELwmwcEX0J4.
To find out more visit: http://www.greenlightgames.co.uk/ or http://greenjamwich.co.uk/