Peking University, May 12, 2011: A Peking University student team "Yummy Tummy" triumphed as the champion in China Division of the 2011 international video games competition “Dare to be Digital.” Liu Yongcheng and his three teammates will be sponsored by the Scottish Government to compete for the final awards on June 9.

The PKU team "Yummy Tummy" comes from the School of Software and Microelectronics and the School of Electronics Engineering and Computer Science. Specifically, the School of Software and Microelectronics where Liu comes from has nurtured winners of previous “Dare to be Digital” awards twice.

Yummy Tummy’s "who is the lucky ghost" demonstrates remarkable creativity and advanced technique in its design, and the game also enables multiple players to compete in a game, using their cellphones as gamepads.

Dare to be Digital is a top video games design competition targeted for university students and it was created by University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland in 2000. Every year between June and August, the northern British town Dundee welcomes talented students at universities and colleges to participate in the 9-week competition. The designed games will be shown on the “Dare ProtoPlay” exhibition and are reviewed by experts and the public, competing for the nominations of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) Video Games Awards “Ones to Watch Award.” 

Extended Reading:

Dare to be Digital was established by partners Scottish Enterprise Tayside, Dundee City Council and the University of Abertay Dundee in 2000, when the competition was piloted to students at Abertay. The following year, Dare opened its doors to all students in Scottish Universities and Colleges of Art. It remained so until Dare 2005, when the competition became international.

Teams of five students, usually a mix of artists, programmers and audio, assemble at Abertay University for nine weeks during June to August to develop a prototype video game, receiving mentoring from industry. The main objective is to help students gain real life working experience. With mentoring support from games companies, a link is built between the students and the potential employers.

To enter the Dare to be Digital competition, teams need to meet the three main criteria set out by the organizer: “be creative, to have market potential and be technology smart.”

Written by: Wang Yimian

Edited by: Li Xiaomeng

Source: PKU News (Chinese)