Applied Games students celebrate achievements at Caledonian Creates event

Students from the Applied Games department came together to celebrate their achievements from the academic year, as part of the Caledonian Creates event.

On 18 and 19 May, students, staff, family members and industry guests were invited to toast a successful year of work at the annual celebration.

Students from the Computer Games and Digital Design programmes had the opportunity to showcase their final year projects with family and friends, as well as network with industry professionals.

Alumni also joined the event to share in the success of the students following in their footsteps.

Digital Design student Melissa Robertson even had the opportunity to celebrate her birthday during the Caledonian Creates event, which made the evening even more memorable. She explained: “Caledonian Creates was such a bittersweet experience! Glasgow Caledonian University has definitely been the highlight of my five years studying Graphic Design.

The lecturers and fellow classmates are some of the most supportive, friendly and trustworthy people I’ve ever met and I absolutely would not have completed this journey without them. I have met so many talented people while on this course and it was really nice to reflect on that and the work we have done these past two years.

It was actually my 22nd birthday as well and it felt so rewarding to have spent it with the people who made this journey so memorable. It all feels like a big family towards the end and I’m sure we will absolutely stay in touch.”

Now at the end of her University journey, Melissa wanted to pass on some words of wisdom to students about to start their final year. She said: “I never thought I would be so sad to leave university but I’m so grateful for the experiences I had during my time there. If I had to give a piece of advice to students about to begin their final year, it would be to have confidence both in yourself and in the work you produce - and most of all, enjoy it!

Meet new people, learn new things, go out of your comfort zone! You’ll only experience this once and you’ll only regret the things you didn’t do. The course also offers final year students industry mentors and I could not recommend enough taking the opportunity to talk to them. It seems scary but it’s really beneficial in your final year; it’s so important to make connections and build relationships with the people already in industry. It’s really rewarding to celebrate at Caledonian Creates alongside them and it’s reassuring knowing you’re joining the world with some great connections already made.”

Also attending the event was Computer Games (Software Development) student Wiktor Jędrzej Zborowsk, who especially enjoyed getting to re-connect with students who went through the same online-learning journey. He said: “Showcasing the work was a really fun experience, especially because it was a chance to see what each of us specializes in. Some were focused on characters art, some were focused on emotional level design, and some people were also flexible in variety of works.

We also barely knew each other due to most of our lessons being affected by COVID, so it was a great chance to finally meet all the people who were in the games courses. It was also great to see the industry guests going around the room and looking at all the work. We also got some feedback and insight on how impactful the work is for the entry-level job perspective.”

He added: “This event was also a great way to summarize our whole university experience, as it happened just before the graduation. With all the showcases and discussions, we all got the chance to be excited about our future – we can now go forward and further explore the games development world.”

By Rachael McAlonan

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