Magination Games announced as winner of Dare Academy 2023

Student game developers scoop the top prize at the annual competition

The winner of Abertay University's Dare Academy 2023 games design competition was crowned at the UK's biggest video games expo, EGX.

Magination Games scooped the Dare trophy and £5,000 in prize money when their game, “Book of Abomination”, was chosen by a panel of top industry judges at the London event.

Book of Abomination is a monster-collecting game centred around an impending apocalypse and is the creation of Alex de la Cour and Jan Huss, both students in Abertay’s School of Design and Informatics. The team also swept up in all the other award categories including Team of the Year.

The awards ceremony at EGX marked the end of the annual summer-long Dare Academy competition that has seen talented teams of students from across the breadth of Abertay's video games degree programmes create a diverse range of prototype games, backed by industry mentors.

Alex and Jan said:

Showcasing our game at EGX was an unforgettable experience, and we’re deeply grateful for the opportunity. The feedback we received was overwhelming and it was great to connect with so many developers, games studios and publishers.

The runner-up prize went to Rocket Raccoon Factory for their game DeliveRodent, a multiplayer arcade kart racing game inspired by all-time favourites such as The Simpsons: Hit & Run, Animal Crossing and Mario Kart. Four other student groups – Rock Flock Studios, Ghost Shark Studios, Keysmash Games and Nervous Knight - made it to the final and had the opportunity to showcase their games at EGX.

Alex and Jan added:

We’ve learned a lot over the last few months through Dare Academy. Being a two-person team was challenging as it meant we had to cover a lot of areas in the development process. However, the valuable lessons we’ve learned make it all worthwhile. Looking ahead, we hope to expand our team in the not-too-distant future, with the ultimate goal of establishing our very own company.

This year’s Dare Academy was sponsored by long-standing partners, Lindsays and Henderson Loggie, along with Epic Games, Fuse Games and Chrome Productions. Visit the Dare Academy pages to find out more about the competition.

Dr Dayna Galloway, Head of the Division of Games and Arts said:

Huge congratulations go to our talented Dare Academy students who have produced first-rate, thoughtful and engaging games to a highly professional standard. We are extremely grateful to all of the partners and sponsors of Dare Academy for their support of the competition this year - the generosity of time, guidance and expertise they share with the teams equips our students with invaluable knowledge they will use throughout their careers within the industry.

Find out more about studying video games at Abertay University.