The Butterflyers, Gentlemen of Fortune  and Pixel Pirates, were the top three teams as chosen by a panel of gaming industry experts during the three day event. Each team won a £2,500 cash prize as well as becoming the finalists for the BAFTA ‘Ones to Watch’ award.

The Butterflyers, whose game ‘Shrunk!’ sees the player reduced to the size of a salt shaker as they battle against Dr Shockalot to rescue the Kleinoscope – a device which reduces the world around you at will, won the Dare Teams choice award in addition to being named as a BAFTA finalist.

Gentlemen of Fortune were also amongst the winners for their physics based action-stealth game ‘Quick as Thieves’, in which the player is challenged to navigate round their way around a museum at night to steal the valuable ‘Macguffin’.  The more items the player steals the greater their abilities however get greedy and the greater the chance of being caught.

Pixel Pirates offered a 3D platform, puzzle-based game ‘Colour Coded’ which uses Wacom graphics tablets, and were also placed in the top three.

All three teams were from Dundee’s own Abertay University. The industry judging panel comprised some of the top names in the computer gaming industry, including representation from BAFTA, BBC, Blitz Games Studios, Cohort, Denki, Disney, Ninja Theory, Rare, Realtime Worlds, Rockstar North, Sony, and Turner Broadcasting,

Judge Andy Nuttall BAFTA video games judging panel (left) said: "I was impressed with the level of quality at this year's Dare Protoplay, which just keeps on getting better. Each team showed determination to impress both through their games and their pitches, with plenty of originality and technical achievement on show. It was difficult to pick three to go forward, and choosing one for the ultimate ‘Ones to Watch’ award at the BAFTAs will be particularly tough."

Two other teams:(left)  Inertia Interactive (Portsmouth University) and (right) Five Armed Bandits (Abertay University) won the Intel Visual Adrenaline Award and Audience Award respectively.

Dare to be Digital, hailed by BAFTA as the ‘perfect pathway’ for young talent in the games industry, is now in its tenth year. In all, 14 teams of five students each have spent the last 10 weeks at the ‘dare development hothouse’ at the University of Abertay Dundee where they have had access to top of the range equipment provided by an illustrious list of sponsors in addition to receiving mentoring from some of the top names in the computer games industry.  

As well as being invited to provide game ideas at the start of the competition and being invited to judge the games at Dare ProtoPlay, members of the public have been able to follow the teams’ progress online via blog entries and video diaries.

Teams this year came from as far as China, India, Norway and Canada. Abertay’s Principal and Vice-Chancellor Bernard King CBE (left)  said: “Dare to be Digital is recognised as the number one new talent spotting event for the computer games industry.  Students arrive with ideas, boundless energy and enthusiasm, and leave with new confidence and with much-sought-after experience on their CVs.  More than 80% of those who take part go on to employment in the industry.

“Games created during previous Dare to be Digital competitions have gone on to win international awards and be made into games that the public can buy such as ‘VegeMe’ for the i-phone .. previewed at Dare ProtoPlay this weekend.”

Dare ProtoPlay not only celebrates the strengths of the international games business, but also highlights the prominent role of the Scottish computer games sector as a key part of a global multi-million pound industry.