BU students' frog shooter shortlisted for national award

A game about a frog fighting off swarms of bugs has put a team of Bournemouth University students on a national shortlist. Don't Croak is one of twelve games in the running for Best Student Game at the 2026 TIGA Games Education Awards, the Bournemouth Echo reported on 24 September.

TIGA, the trade association for the UK video games industry, published the full shortlist on 14 September. Bournemouth University sits in the Best Student Game category alongside entries from Abertay, Birmingham City, Greenwich, Portsmouth, Staffordshire, Surrey and others. The winners are announced on Monday 5 October 2026.

What is Don't Croak?

Don't Croak is a first-person shooter in which the player is a frog holding off waves of enemy bugs. The Echo reports that it has tree-swinging movement, an in-game shop and voice acting by Christopher Ferraris, a lecturer in games development at the university. The team made it as a second-year Game Studio Project on the games design course.

Seven students worked on it under the name Frog Team: Riley McGee, Elliot Ody, Lydia Salmon, Jack Cotterill, Joshua Boxell, Adelia Askerova and Michael Cheng. McGee, the technical designer, told the Echo that working side by side with the group in the campus computer labs was one of the best parts of the course. Askerova, the creative designer, said the project had shaped what she wants to do next.

Dr Charlie Hargood, associate professor in games technology at BU, called it an example of the creativity the course sets out to encourage.

Why does it matter locally?

The shortlist puts BU's games teaching in national company. TIGA's list also names Bournemouth University graduates as finalists in several Outstanding Graduate of the Year categories, and the Echo counts seven former BU students among them. For a town better known for its beaches, that is a steady pipeline of trained people into a creative industry.

Bournemouth University, based at Talbot Campus on the Poole border and in the town centre, welcomes a new intake every September; our report on Welcome Week 2026 covers the start of this term. Creative and digital businesses that recruit from the university are part of the same story, and our piece on relocating to Bournemouth for work looks at the town from a new starter's side.

What it means for visitors and long-stay guests

For most visitors this is simply good local news, but it matters to two groups. Families visiting students, and graduates coming back for interviews or placements, need somewhere near the campus and the town centre; the Bournemouth Guide's neighbourhood guide shows which areas suit which trip. Anyone starting a studio job or a contract in the area can look at long-term stays while they find a flat; the Help Centre explains what counts as a long stay, and the guide's working remotely from Bournemouth covers the practical side.

Curious about design on the doorstep? The Museum of Design in Plastics at Arts University Bournemouth, the town's other university, is open to visitors, and our round-up of museums and galleries in Bournemouth has the rest.