How are you feeling post-X48?
Dan: Saturday was a bit of a blur to me, and trying to go out on Saturday night to celebrate was a bad shout…

Was it worth the slog?
Dan: Most definitely, one of the best experiences of my life for me so far. Hopefully something will come from it ☺
Jay: Definitely, has to be one of the most stressful and intense things I have done, but the reward for succeeding out weigh the cost.

What did you both gain from the experience, and what do you hope will come from it?
Dan: I guess I got a sort of sense of pride. Winning showed me that my skills as an artist and team-worker must be of some merit otherwise we wouldn’t have won. I think that we are both hoping that this is the first step into the industry for us.
Jay: The past few years I've worked really hard in my degree and my current placement and to win the X48 Game Camp showed me it might all be worth it and that I must be doing something right. We've made a few contacts with Microsoft Games Studio and Dean Calver from SplashDamage so hopefully I might be able to use these contacts to get into the industry straight after graduation.

What kind of placements are you on at the moment?
Dan: We are both currently working at Canalside Studios. It’s a studio set up within the University of Huddersfield. It’s run by a group of 8 students and we are currently working on Xbox Live Arcade games.

What did you learn from X48?
Both: We learned that good teamwork is really essential to making a game. Also, having a sense of time management is vital as from what we saw some teams bit off more than they could chew in the time limit. The game we made was just manageable by a team of 2 in that time.

Would you do it again?
Both: Definitely, maybe with a couple more people this time we could make a far more polished game. We'll have to come back just to defend the title!

What was the thinking behind the type of game you made, and why did you pick the target audience?
Dan: Well I’ve come from a science background - doing Biology, Chemistry and Physics in my A levels - so the science theme was brilliant for me. I remembered just how boring some of the methods of learning at college could be. So we thought “why not make a game to try and make educating people on subjects like DNA interesting and fun?” I think we made something simple and fun in the end. Jay certainly learnt some science stuff he didn’t know before!
Jay: The target audience fell into place when Dan suggested making proteins which is learnt at the end of GCSE and start of college education. I definitely learnt something about I didn't know before we started the event!

What are plans for Develop in July?
Jay: Go down there and hopefully make as many contacts within the industry as possible. We've been asked to take videos of the event and it gives me a chance to try out the Flip Mino camcorder I won haha!