Students from SETU have triumphed at the annual Games Fleadh 2025, which took place at Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) on 5 March.
Games Fleadh is Ireland's premier event celebrating game development. It brings together the brightest minds from the country’s higher education institutions to showcase their incredible talent and creativity via their original game projects. This year’s theme was ‘Small World’, with students presenting projects about insect worlds, small planets, and vast galaxies.
SETU students were nominated across a range of categories at this year’s competition, which emphasised the students’ talent and highlighted the calibre of teaching and training provided via the University’s game development and interactive digital art and design courses.
'Starburst’, developed by Gameplay Programmer Ian Perez Bunuel and Digital Artist Riona Kelly, won “Best Game” and was built with raylib and “Best in Game Mechanics”. ‘Ant-topia’, created by Assembly Programmers Adam Noonan and Oliwier Jakubiec, won the “Best Game Trailer” and received the “Highly Commended” award. The award for “Best in Original Art Assets” went to ‘Buzzz vs The Harvesters’, built by a team of six and captained by Rob McGregor.
Meanwhile, ‘Hivebreaker’, built by a team of five and captained by Leo Bolaks, won a “Highly Commended” award. The first win at Games Fleadh 2025 was during Robocode by an outstanding team of Artificial Intelligence Programmers, Kevin Michael, Marie-Elise Ghijsen, and Emma Brennan, studying software development and interactive digital art design in Carlow.
"SETU’s students have truly excelled in digital arts, showcasing their exceptional skills in Visual Effects for Games (VFX). The collaboration between Games Development and Interactive Digital Art and Design students exemplifies the power of cross-disciplinary teamwork. VFX, including advanced 3D shader programming, plays a critical role across numerous industries, from medical diagnosis to film and gaming, proving its immense value in shaping the future of both entertainment and innovation."
Nigel Whyte, Head of the Department of Computing at SETU.
The award-winning student teams, backed by skilled programmers, digital artists, and designers, demonstrated mastery in advanced techniques such as Assembly, C/C++programming, Concept Art, Shader Programming, Texturing and Material Creation and 2D/3D character rigging and game environment modelling. Their mastery resulted in highly immersive and captivating gameplay experiences that left a lasting impression on judges from Electronic Arts and raylib.
Additionally, the teams utilised the raylib game development library, an efficient toolkit for rapid development, ensuring cross-platform support for Linux, Windows, Mac, and web environments. Ramon Santamaria, creator of raylib library, was a guest speaker and judge at the 2025 competition, sharing invaluable insight and expertise with students.
Philip Bourke, Programme Director of SETU’s B.Sc. in Computing in Interactive Digital Art and Design, emphasised the bright future ahead for the students, whose talent and skill prepare them for thriving careers in the broader games and VFX industries.
"Our students' incredible work with shader programming and VFX techniques was outstanding. They have demonstrated great skill in creating immersive, visually stunning environments using shaders for 2D and 3D art and animation. The gaming and VFX industries are rapidly evolving, and our students are well on their way to securing exciting roles in game design, interactive media, and visual effects. Their work at Games Fleadh will undoubtedly open doors for future opportunities in these highly competitive fields."
Philip Bourke, Programme Director of SETU’s B.Sc. in Computing in Interactive Digital Art and Design.
SETU has consistently demonstrated technical excellence, creativity, and teamwork at Games Fleadh. The event demonstrates the University’s longstanding commitment to innovation in course delivery and its dedication to Ireland's next generation of game developers.
