Three well-known figures in Scotland’s videogames sector have been nominated in the Game Dev Heroes 2020 competition.
Korina Abbott (Marketing & Community) , the founder of Neon Hive, Nick Barrett (QA), the founder of Proper QA and Phil Harris (Writing & Narrative Design), the games and narrative designer, have all received nominations, in the competition.
While the games industry is great at bringing attention and accolades to studios and games, Game Dev Heroes focuses on the individuals within the games industry, to recognise their own skills and achievements more widely.
The competition seeks to celebrate everyone, from the brilliant developers and resourceful support staff, to inspiring management and positive role models.
The nominees will be reviewed by a panel of developers & games industry professionals, with the winners announced in October 2020.
Korina, worked in house with some of the industry’s largest publishers, before moving on to work with pioneering indie studios. She founded Neon Hive, a dedicated marketing, brand and PR agency. She told SGN:
Game Dev Heros is a wonderful initiative and it feels amazing to be shortlisted in the Marketing and Community category alongside so many accomplished people!
The development scene is so vibrant in Scotland. To have multiple people nominated across the categories is a testament for the quality of game development that takes place here.
Nick Barret has multiple years of experience and expertise within the QA and testing field. Starting with EA, he moved onto Realtime Worlds before founding Proper QA in 2011. Since then Nick has worked a variety of games across the games and wider digital technology sectors, providing not just testing, but consultancy, mentoring and advice to companies who need to understand the value of testing and how to implement it within their organisations.
Nick told us:
I’m shocked, but quite delighted to be nominated for a Game Dev heroes award. It’s a great competition, which recognises the range and diversity of roles within the ever evolving gamnes industry.
I’m very grateful to whoever nominated me and whatever the result, I’m proud to be part of such a strong and creative range of people who are doing great things in testing and QA.
Phil Harris is a game designer, narrative designer, writer, lecturer, and former journalist and editor. Phil has worked with indie studios and student teams for many years now, before joining some of Europe’s leading game studios as a narrative and senior narrative designer.
Phil said:
It’s an honour to be nominated for Game Dev Heroes and I’d like to thank whoever put me forward.
Recognition of this kind is always appreciated. The work I’ve done with numerous small indie studios, as well as larger games companies, has allowed me to meet and work with some truly extraordinary people from across the globe.
They have and always will make me strive to do better.
You can find the full list of nominees, as well as the 60+ honorable mentions for the competition on the Game Dev Heroes 2020 website. You can also find the competition on Twitter, with links to all of the categories, nominees and the latest updates.
Congratulations to Korina, Nick and Phil. We have our collective fingers crossed for you all.
