AI Challenge with Creative Assembly

Y12 and Y13 Computer Science students from North East Futures UTC recently had the amazing opportunity to join forces with Games design company Creative Assembly; the multi-award winning BAFTA UK games studio behind Total War, Alien: Isolation and Halo Wars 2.
A “Games AI Challenge" was the focus of the day.
Students were tasked with writing a simple bot to control a tank in a video game written by Creative Assembly programmer Steven Hutton who led the day’s events with support from fellow programmers, Robert Fey and Nikolaos Grammatikos. 
All their hard work culminated in a bot face off as students challenged each other in a small tournament.
 
On introducing the session Steve commented “It will be quite a difficult programming task but it should give the students a lot more confidence in writing harder code”
Upon completion of the event, the UTC Principal Dan Sydes closed with the following- 
“It has been an absolutely fantastic opportunity for students to get an insight into the opportunities in the gaming industry whilst getting some real-life hands-on experience. We are thankful to colleagues from Creative Assembly for volunteering their time and giving the students this once in a lifetime opportunity”
Providing opportunities like this for our students is exactly why the UTC nurtures working relationships with local and regional businesses.
It is seen as a win-win for both parties involved; it is part of the very ethos and vision of the school that young people are helped to develop the academic and technical skills required for careers in the Healthcare and Digital sectors whilst providing local employers with a digitally savvy work force.
More information about North East Futures can be found here 
More information about Creative Assembly can be found here