Long Road students announced winners of the FXP festival 2 years running!

This year's festival theme, "Minecraft with Story," challenged participants to blend the game's iconic block-building mechanics with compelling narrative elements.

The festival's structure mirrored a professional game development cycle, compressed into a single day. It began with conceptualisation, where students developed game design concepts within the "Minecraft with Story" theme, creating mood boards and initial sketches. The design phase followed, with students mapping out game progression flows and defining core gameplay loops that balanced mechanics with storytelling elements.

This led to the production phase where students used pen and paper to represent game worlds and story elements, created a final mood board for the game concept, and developed screen mock-ups that showcased the unique narrative focus. The day concluded with a testing and pitching phase, where students presented their ideas to judges, emphasising how their games fulfilled the "Minecraft with Story" brief and incorporating feedback on both gameplay and narrative aspects.

Aidan Weston, Course Team Leader for IT Applied Level 3 said:

“Games Development has always been popular in our Level 3 Computing course, but time for practical work is limited. To address this, I started the Games Development society in September 2022, giving students extra time to create games and build team skills for events like the FXP Festival. Last year, in a virtual format, our students won the FE category for best game. This year's return to a physical event was even better, allowing students to meet industry professionals and peers from other colleges face-to-face. These experiences go beyond the classroom. Students get to interact with game developers who judge their work, receive industry guidance, and network with peers. It's invaluable for those eyeing a career in game development.

Winning for the second year in a row was incredibly rewarding. It shows our students' dedication and the success of our Games Development society. We're already looking forward to FXP 2025, excited about the new opportunities as the festival grows. Seeing its positive impact on their skills, confidence, and career aspirations is very positive.

This experience at the FXP Festival not only showcases our students' talents but also provides them with invaluable insights into the game development process, preparing them for potential futures in games industry."