Dare Academy 2021 Mentors
Throughout Dare Academy 2021 our teams will receive guidance from professionals working in the games industry. Let’s go and meet them shall we?
Throughout Dare Academy 2021 our teams will receive guidance from professionals working in the games industry. Let’s go and meet them shall we?
Hiya, I’m Cari, a UI/UX Designer at Puny Astronaut and Abertay Computer Arts graduate. I’ve been working in the games industry for just over two and a half years, but I’m also a two-time Dare alumni. I participated in Dare to be Digital in 2016 with “Pentagrab” which won the Audience Award and a BAFTA nomination, and in Dare Academy 2018 I was a contestant with “Sketchdown Showdown” which exhibited at EGX. Hopefully my experience from the competition means I’ll be able to give valuable feedback and insights – especially when it comes to UX. This year, with the lack of face-to-face interactions, you’ll be especially challenged to create a good first-time user experience!
I became CEO of Tag Games in April 2018, and have been a director and member of the board since 2014. I joined the company in 2010 as Head of Production, and since then have played a pivotal role in all of Tag’s products from pitch to launch, leading development teams, and managing client relationships. During the past 11 years I have led the development of titles for clients including Rovio, Ubisoft, Square Enix, Paramount, Microsoft, and EA, and across a wide range of platforms. I graduated with a degree course in Computer Studies at Teesside University. Before joining Tag, I ran my own game development studio (Halch) for four years, creating products for Wii, DS, PS2, and GBA, on both branded and original IP.
I'm a senior software development consultant at Unity and I've been working in game development since I graduated from Abertay back in 1995. I've worked for companies like Nintendo and Electronic Arts, and also a number of smaller independent studios. The work itself has been varied across many game genres where amongst other things, I've developed systems for physics-based gameplay, designed game engine architecture and carried out performance analysis and optimisation on customer projects. Before joining Unity, I spent 10 years teaching at Abertay across the different programmes and I'm really looking forward to being involved with Dare once again.
Hello! I'm Rachel, an experienced composer and sound designer living in Dundee in Scotland with over 15 years in game development. I've worked across 3 console generations, PC and mobile, on titles such as Guitar Hero, The Sims Social and LEGO VIDIYO. I hold a BMus in pop music from Goldsmiths University, London and a HND diploma in jazz music from Chichester College and this musical background strongly influences my work. I'm also a performing and recording musician; I have recorded on a number of Scottish Album of the Year nominated albums and have performed at many venues and festivals across the UK including Glastonbury and live sessions for BBC 6Music and Quay Sessions.
