Apart from being great fun, Tipperary's annual Games Fleadh aims to get teenagers interested in a career in coding, writes Karlin Lillington

DRESSING UP as a Space Invader isn’t exactly in his job description as a lecturer in computer science at the Tipperary Institute of Technology, but Dr Phil Bourke gamely – pun intended – did just that at last year’s Games Fleadh (www. gamesfleadh.ie).

Running the annual event at the institution, which draws about 400 students and attracts some of the leading games companies in Ireland and Europe to give talks, act as judges and scout for potential employees, also isn’t in the job description.

But Bourke, and colleague Dr Liam Noonan, say they get their payback for the hard work that goes into the event over the year from the students who compete, learn to programme or polish their creative coding skills, and the teachers who find an exciting way to engage students with programming.

The Games Fleadh, which began seven years ago, now runs over two days (this year, March 11th-12th) and has three parts. The first is the Schoolbots Challenge, in which teams of secondary students design basic virtual robots that do battle with each other.

“This is the first experience in a lot of schools of computer programming,” says Noonan, who runs the Schoolbots programme.

Sadly, few schools teach programming at all, he notes, but Schoolbots is an easy and fun introduction for teachers and students.

On the Schoolbots site (www.schoolbots.ie), he has developed a manual, videos and other instructional materials that teachers can download and use, in the hope that having such support to hand will encourage more of them to get their students dabbling in coding.

The method is easy and students generally only take about an hour to create their initial robot, he says. For competitors, these will then be tinkered with over the weeks leading to an initial elimination round (which took place at the end of last year) and the Schoolbots final, which occurs at the Games Fleadh.

The fleadh also features the Robocode competition for first year programming students, in which teams use the Java coding language to create virtual tanks to compete against each other.

“Robocode a simple language developed by IBM] is a great way to teach object-oriented, event-driven programming,” says Noonan. “Students use trigonometry, co-ordinate geometry and real events but they don’t see it like that – they see it is a strategy game.”

The centrepiece event is the XNA Challenge, in which third-level students design a new computer game based on a classic arcade game from the past. Last year, Bourke got permission from Japan’s Taito corporation to use Space Invaders – and also used the event to celebrate Space Invaders’ 30th anniversary.

This year, he has again received permission to celebrate a 30th birthday of a game and use it as the competition’s main attraction – this time, Atari’s Asteroids game.

“The whole idea behind Games Fleadh is that it’s about innovation,” says Bourke. “The students engage in creating a new version of a classic game and get to meet real professionals from the gaming industry.”

It’s also a portfolio event for the XNA students, he says, as each student now has something concrete to demonstrate at job interviews.

This year, by arrangement, Atari will also have the option to further license and develop any outstanding games that emerge. While Bourke notes such a game would need to be exceptionally good, he also believes the possibility will add an extra inspirational edge to the overall competition.

Last year’s competition produced a “Guitar Hero” multi-player and “Mario” version of Space Invaders, says Bourke, and he expects similar creativity this year with Asteroids.

The competition is judged by people from the games industry, many of whom will also be giving talks on aspects of the industry to the student participants.

Bourke notes that two of last year’s competitors are now working for games companies through contacts from the fleadh. For students, the fleadh “has definitely been of assistance for getting a foot on the rungs of the games industry,” he says.

Lenovo, Google and Microsoft are among the fleadh’s sponsors this year, providing support and prizes.

Though the immediate goal is to have a lot of fun, the organisers hope the competition serves to encourage students to pursue computing.

“That’s a big, big issue for the nation, which wants these higher value industries and jobs,” says Noonan. Software development “is an industry that suits Ireland because you don’t need a big capital investment – but you do need an intellectual investment.”

Bourke hopes that many of the students who get an initial and lively taste of programming through the Games Fleadh will develop a passion for a career in the area.

But the really pressing question is – will he again don a themed costume?

“There will be a costume,” he confirms, but is tight-lipped on the details.