Students studying towards a Masters Degree in Games Design and Development at the UK’s National Film and Television School (NFTS) are currently celebrating having had one their games shortlisted in this year’s Unity Awards.
VR game Into the Black is a third-person, virtual reality adventure which is all about teamwork, instinct, and survival. The game takes places during the catastrophic wildfires which swept through Yellowstone National Park in 1988. Players take on the role of a spirit guide which has been sent to help a red fox and grizzly bear that have become trapped and must find their way to safety.
The director and developer behind the game is MA student Naomi Kotler, who has expressed her pleasure in having her game nominated for such awards:
“It’s an honour to be nominated for such a prestigious award, especially at this stage of our careers and amongst so many other fantastic games.”
Nik Powell, director at NFTS, also showed his support and applauded the success of the courses students:
“All of us at the NFTS are knocked out by our students being nominated for not one but two Unity awards. This is an incredible achievement and we are very proud of all the hard work the students and tutors have put in to make our Games Design and Development MA one of the best.”
The award ceremony, to be held in Los Angeles on November 1st during Unite LA 2016, recognizes developers from all over the Unity community. This year there are 10 categories as well as the Golden Cube award, which is open to all nominations. Into the Black is against 5 other fantastic games in the ‘Best Student Project’ category. The game took this year’s EGX conference, held at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, by storm and proved to be a raging success with those who attended.
