Games industry legend David Braben to open Dare ProtoPlay festival
A living legend of the computer games industry will open the Dare ProtoPlay computer games festival (Friday 12th August) and give a public talk about the creation of his groundbreaking game ÔÇÿElite' and life as an independent games developer.
David Braben, the founder of Frontier Developments, is recognised worldwide as one of the leading innovators in videogame development technology and design. He co-created Elite, the first true 3D game, with Ian Bell in 1982. The space-trading simulator amazed sci-fi fans with its interstellar missions presented with wireframe 3D graphics, eight galaxies to explore, and thousands of procedurally generated planets. At the talk, David will discuss the genesis of the space-trading sim that went on to inspire titles like Eve Online, Freelancer, Wing Commander: Privateer, and many other sci-fi games. Frontier has since created a wide range of successful titles including ÔÇÿKinectimals', ÔÇÿRoller Coaster Tycoon' and ÔÇÿLost Winds.'
As well as an enviable position at the forefront of the computer games industry for almost 30 years, David Braben is also behind the pioneering Raspberry Pi Foundation to bring affordable USB-sized computers to schools across Britain.
This ambitious project is motivated by David's passionate commitment to give school children a chance to learn computer programming in a fun way at a young age - something he believes is essential for the UK to remain a leader in high-tech industries.
David said: "I have always been impressed by the standard of the Dare to be Digital games. I presented the BAFTA Ones To Watch Award to the Dare winning team in 2009. Now I am delighted to have the first chance to look at this year's Dare games and share my experience with other developers at Dare ProtoPlay."
The talk, presented by Dare Protoplay and North Sea screen project takes place at the Caird Hall in Dundee on Friday 12th August 2-3pm. Entry is free and tickets can be booked online at http://www.daretobedigital.com/protoplay/
Dare ProtoPlay, a three-day computer games extravaganza, is Scotland's biggest computer games festival and this year it is coming home to Dundee. Entry is completely free. Other free industry talks are also available. Check out on http://www.daretobedigital.com/protoplay/2011talks.php
Dare ProtoPlay is the climax of the international computer game design competition Dare to be Digital, which is hosted and run by the University of Abertay Dundee. Over just nine weeks student teams from around the world compete to build a new game - and win a BAFTA. The 15 brand new games are open to the public to judge.
The festival is being hosted in Dundee's Caird Hall on Friday 12-Sunday 14 August, 10am-6pm.
There will also be a professional gamer tournament run on high-end Intel machines, game jams with professionals and kids building new games from scratch, games industry talks, and a showcase of the latest games from Crytek, Digital Goldfish, Tag, Cobra Mobile, Outplay Entertainment plus a games fair in the City Square of Dundee.
For more details please visit http://www.dareprotoplay.com