FXP Festival, the East Anglian computer game concept and development competition for school and college students, has partnered with the V&A to offer this year’s competition winners a series of prizes, including: tickets to the V&A’s upcoming exhibition ‘Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt’ and copies of a tie-in book.
In addition, five students and their teacher will receive an exclusive invitation to the V&A’s VIP exhibition preview event, attended by big noises in the art, design and gaming industries.
FXP Festival takes place at Cambridge Regional College, 7–9 July, and delivers a hands-on game development experience. Participating students have a wide range of abilities, from those experienced in coding to individuals more interested in the creative concept and artistry of game design. Over the course of the weekend teams of students, aged 13-19, will be tasked with designing an original computer game concept, based on a surprise theme. By engaging local students with computer science, art and design, FXP Festival aims to “both drive social mobility in the region and help close the technology skills gap”.
The V&A’s Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt exhibition will open on 8 September, and is claimed to be the first exhibition of its kind to explore the design and culture of contemporary video games. By following the creation of groundbreaking blockbuster titles and independent works from the mid-2000’s onwards, the exhibition uncovers how a new generation of designers, players and critics are pushing boundaries in radical and innovative ways. Rare glimpses from the creative process of developing games – including original prototypes, early character designs and notebooks – will be shown alongside cultural inspiration, from a René Magritte painting to a viral cat video.
“The Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt exhibition is a valuable opportunity for our concept teams in particular to grow their knowledge of games art, and we hope it will help to further engage their interest in careers in the creative digital sector.”
Alison Taylor, Co-founder of FXP Festival and Managing Director of Conscious Communications, said: “Every year FXP Festival is made possible by the support provided by major companies in the technology and creative digital sectors, which provide expertise, mentoring and coaching to students and their teachers, as well as explaining more about what a career in the industry might look like. We hope that the V&A museum’s involvement with this year’s Festival will help us to broaden participating students’ insights into the art and design side of games development.
“Students can enter into two different categories for FXP Festival: Development teams build and code an original game, and students entering the Concept category explore their artistic talents as they design and map out the creative concept for an original game. The Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt exhibition is a valuable opportunity for our concept teams in particular to grow their knowledge of games art, and we hope it will help to further engage their interest in careers in the creative digital sector.”
Alongside the opportunity to experience V&A’s new exhibition, students participating in the Festival will be given a chance to win an afternoon at Jagex; a mentoring session with Table Flip Games; free game downloads from the same company; an experience day at Anglia Ruskin University; and tickets to EGX in Birmingham.
FXP Festival takes place at Cambridge Regional College, 7–9 July. If your business, school or college is interested in getting involved, please contact Joanna Colley .
To find out more about the V&A’s Videogames: Design/ Play/ Disrupt exhibition please visit: www.vam.ac.uk/videogames
Pic credit: Arcade Backpack. UCLA Games Lab (photo by Robin Baumgarten)
