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ADGS returns to Abertay University from Thursday 15 May - Saturday 17 May
The Abertay Digital Graduate Show (ADGS) is back for another exciting year, celebrating the creativity and innovation of final-year students from the Faculty of Design, Informatics and Business.
ADGS 2025 is our biggest ever show to date, with over 140 original honours projects on display. Visitors can discover an impressive range of work, including concept art, animation, games design, virtual and augmented reality, character design, motion capture, UI/UX, 3D modelling, and more.
Running from Thursday 15 May to Saturday 17 May (12pm to 4pm each day), the show will take place over two levels of the Kydd Building – the home of our National Centre for Excellence in Games Education. Whether you're an industry professional, a fellow student, or just curious to see the future of digital creativity, there’s something for everyone to explore, play and experience.
Supported by Ninja Kiwi Europe, Team Terrible and Playground Games, this flagship event is a key date in Dundee’s creative calendar, offering hands-on experiences and inspiration for all ages and backgrounds.
Curator and lecturer in visual arts practice, Clare Brennan said:
We're really looking forward to this year's Abertay Digital Graduate Show, which is set to showcase some of the most impressive work our students have ever created. They’ve produced an incredible variety of projects that reflect the wide range of technical, artistic, and creative skills taught across our degree programmes. From playful projects perfect for children and families, to innovative pieces that speak directly to the games industry and wider creative sector, there’s something for everyone. I can’t wait to welcome the public in and celebrate the dedication, originality and talent our students have poured into their final work.
Take a look at some of the exciting work you’ll find at this year’s Abertay Digital Graduate Show...
Stuart Mackay (Computer Arts) – Gormflaith: A Reimagined Irish Queen
Stuart drew upon Irish folklore and mythology for his project - a high-fidelity 3D character model inspired by Shauna Lawless's Gael Song historical fantasy series. The final result is a professionally modelled, textured and rendered 3D character suitable for use in games. His research for the project explored the technical processes involved in high-fidelity character creation, including modern modelling, texturing and rendering techniques, alongside core design skills such as anatomy and material representation. The project also investigated design principles and 2D concept development to ensure the final character was both visually compelling and reflective of the historical time period and mythological influences in the source material.
Torin Pellegrini (Computer Game Application Development) – Comparing VR and Analogue TTRPGs in terms of player presence and preference
Presence is a psychological concept related to feeling present in an environment when you are not physically there. This project created a virtual reality version of the popular tabletop role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons to compare to its traditionally analogue counterpart in terms of player's presence and preference. The VR version immerses players in the tabletop world as their miniature, with the game master being scaled up to match.
Thomas Pickford (Computer Arts) – Raymake
Raymake is a modern recreation of Thomas’s personal childhood favourite: the 1995 video game Rayman. His work presents a 3D interactive vertical slice of a reimagined level, capturing key moments and visual elements from the original game. With a clear focus on preserving the distinctive graphical charm of the original while also showcasing how it could be reinterpreted using modern visuals, the project allows users to switch between retro and contemporary graphic styles. The scene is fully explorable through a controllable camera, giving users the freedom to immerse themselves in a nostalgic yet forward-looking experience.
Sofia Maior (Games Design and Production) – The Balancing Act
Overwhelmed and burnt out? Need a little break? Tough luck - the to do list won't check itself off. "The Balancing Act" explores the life of an adult, and it’s nothing like we imagined. Survive a whole week and you might get your well-deserved rest... or not. This chaotic game asks you to conserve your time and energy, because you’ll definitely need it. From going to your job to shopping for groceries, and even calling your parents, "The Balancing Act" is fast paced, strategic and a little bit silly.
Jeremy Wong (Computer Arts) – 給我至愛的嫲嫲 - Forget Me Not
Jeremy Wong’s Forget Me Not is a deeply personal project created as a tribute to his grandmother, who lives in Hong Kong. After spending time with her over the summer, Jeremy was struck by how quickly time passes and the impact it can have on loved ones, particularly those living with Alzheimer’s Disease. This environment piece reflects his grandmother’s experiences and aims to tell her story through the space she inhabits. Using symbolism and metaphors, Jeremy explores themes of memory, identity and loss, while celebrating both the life she leads now and the one she once lived, all represented through the setting of her flat.
Alice Kerr (Game Design and Production) – Designing for the creation of satirical intent
The piece presents different political issues and scandals through a series of satirical vignette mini-games. It aims to explore the interaction between narrative and gameplay, and the opportunities this produces for the creation of satire. Through practice-based research and theory, it will explore different approaches to comedy, examine the roles of narrative and gameplay, how to address comedic timing when considering player agency, and bridge the gap between narrative and gameplay.
Alex Birrell (Computer Arts) – The Ever-Elusive Ely
An illustrated experience consisting of thirteen different perspectives that make up Ely Ark — the weariest, dreariest, eeriest town you've never known. Visitors are encouraged to make their way through town with point-and-click style navigation, taking in its distinct visual style and keeping an eye out for the various narrative elements embedded in the detailed surroundings. Despite the lack of dialogue, this is an introduction to a quaint fishing town brimming with character and, with any luck, one that visitors just won't be able to leave...
George Fyles (Computer Games Technology) – Rendering Meshless 3D Fluids with SDFs
This project explores how to make 3D fluid animations, like water or smoke, more realistic and efficient to render. Normally, these effects are created by breaking the fluid into lots of tiny particles and tracking how each one moves. To turn that data into a visible shape, a mesh (or surface) is usually placed around the particles — but there are more accurate ways to do it. One method involves tracing light rays against an invisible surface that’s mathematically defined in 3D space. This project looks at ways to speed up that process by using a smart grid system to quickly find the particles that make up the surface, along with newer techniques for searching nearby particles more efficiently.
Holly Agnew (Computer Arts) – Mini Mages: The Legend of The Water Spirit
A game that blends traditional media, including soft and oil pastels, watercolour, needle felting, ink, and block printing, to create an illustrated storybook aesthetic and demonstrate how games can serve as a platform for traditional art and storytelling. The narrative follows a Mage on a quest to defeat a Kelpie, a monster from Scottish folklore, reimagining this tale within a modern-day storytelling format inspired by traditional Scottish folktales.
Will McDonald (Game Design and Production) – Breakout
Breakout is a short, first-person, narrative-driven game set inside a prison where the player must use all their tools to solve puzzles and overcome obstacles to escape. The main mechanic in the game is the baseball. The ball can be thrown (and recalled) at buttons to open doors, dropped near enemies to distract them, or even electrified to kill drone guards. The game features short platforming parts along with stealth sections where the player must evade ominous patrolling robots.
