Epic have announced the finalists of their Make Something Unreal Live 2013 competition, culling the 12 shortlisted teams down to four potential winners. Make Something Unreal challenges student teams from across Europe to develop a game around a particular theme. This year the theme is "Mendelian Inheritance," which is the theory of how hereditary characteristics are carried between generations (thanks Wikipedia!)
Here are the finalists, selected by the crack judging team of Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE, Stephen Gaffney, CEO of Fireteam, Tim Edwards, editor of PCGamesN (and former boss man of PC Gamer), as well as a selection of folks from Epic Games and the Wellcome Trust.
- Loch Ness by Dead Shark Triplepunch, Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden
- Polymorph by Team Polymorph, Staffordshire University
- Mendel's Farm by Static Games, Bournemouth University
- Beings by Team Summit, University of Abertay, Dundee
The teams now have four months to turn their prototypes into fully fledged games for the final, hosted at the Gadget Show Live. The winners, who will be announced at the event, get their hands on a shiny new Unreal 4 commercial licence. That may not sound as exciting as a round the world cruise, but for a team of student indie devs, it's a potentially amazing opportunity.
