Sophia George is a British game designer who was the Victoria and Albert Museum's first video game designer-in-residence.

Career

In 2011, George received a bachelor's degree in Games Art and Design from the Norwich University of the Arts. As a student, George worked on the game ''Tick Tock Toys'', along with other students from Abertay University and the Norwich University of the Arts. The game won the 2011

Dare to Be Digital Dare to be Digital is a video games design competition targeted at university students and recent graduates, started by and held at Abertay University, Scotland since 2000. Teams (typically of 5 university undergraduates or fresh graduates) work t ...

contest and, in 2012, the BAFTA Ones to Watch Award. George then received a Professional Masters in Game Development from Abertay University in

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. She went on to establish a company, Swallowtail Games, with her collaborators on ''Tick Tock Toys'', where they developed the game into a full game released in February 2013. In 2013, George was named one of BAFTA's Breakthrough Brits. In October 2013, George was named the first ever video game designer-in-residence at the Victoria and Albert Museum, a position she held until March 2014. In April 2014, she returned to Scotland in order to complete her proposed game with Abertay University student collaborators. While a resident, George was tasked with creating a game that was inspired by a piece from the 1500-1900 Britain galleries. She also had to participate in activities involving games, including workshops and ongoing displays of her work. She spent months selecting the subject for her game, and finally decided on the works of William Morris. She specifically selected his 1883 Strawberry Thief pattern as her subject. In 2014, she released the ''Strawberry Thief'' for the iPad. In the game, players control a flying bird around a screen, while the bird colours the pattern. The game was praised by ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...

'' for its "charming mix of reaction-based tinkering and logic-teasing action". George previously worked in

with primary schools, researching creative ideas for games and introducing game design to the children. She later shifted to a career in marketing, and worked as a

marketing manager Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation, techniques and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and ac ...

for game developer

Frontier Developments Frontier Developments is a British video game developer founded by David Braben in January 1994 and based at the Cambridge Science Park in Cambridge, England. Frontier is known for developing amusement park Construction and management simulation ...

References

External links

BBC: Meet the V&A's first games designer in residence
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Sophia Year of birth missing (living people) Living people British video game designers Women video game designers People associated with the Victoria and Albert Museum British marketing people