ITU students and alumni win awards at Copenhagen Gaming Week

ITU was represented with games developed by both students and alumni from the university at Copenhagen Gaming Week and ‘Spilprisen’ that took place last week. Students from the MSc Games won the award for ’Best Student Game’, while alumni from the same study programme won for ‘Best Debut’.

About ITU awards computer games Hanna Elina Wirman

Written 21 February, 2025 11:54 by Mette Strange Mortensen

If you were at Copenhagen Gaming Week last week, you probably met an ITU student or alumni or at least saw one of the games, they have developed. Games Denmark had the Tomorrow’s Awesome Games Showcase (TAGS), which featured nothing less than twelve games from ITU students or teams including ITU students. One of the games, Xibalba, went on to win the TAGS’ award for ‘Best Student Game’:

“Winning this award proves that with enough blood, sweat, and caffeine, anything is possible. The fact that we competed against teams with three times the size and more than double the development time and still came out on top, shows that a strong idea and relentless drive can beat the odds,” says Emil Zarrinfar, Tech Lead on the development team, and is supplemented by Game Design Lead, Attila Puzder: “We set out to create an experience that brings together many different elements, and seeing how players have connected with our vision is an incredible feeling. Winning Best Student Game also shows that professionals recognized something unique in our project, which gives me a huge drive to pursue a career in the gaming industry.”

Xibalba is a first-person horror-exploration game set in the terrifying underworld of ancient Mayan mythology wherein Players must navigate oppressive darkness, overcome devious challenges, and make moral choices. The game blends nostalgic graphics, modern audio, ancient Mayan dialogue, engaging puzzles, and tense moments of survival to create a fresh and rewarding experience for fans of atmospheric horror, dark fantasy, and mythology-based narratives. The group consists of Attila Puzder (Game Design Lead), David Wright-Spaner (Producer), Emil Zarrinfar (Tech Lead), Ida Hellqvist (Programmer), Katarzyna Maciol (UX Lead) and Lukas Rasmussen (Programmer).

Play Xibalba

At Tomorrow’s Awesome Games Showcase, both students and creators upcoming ‘indie games’ get the opportunity to showcase, what they have created. Many of the showcased games were made partly or fully by students or alumni from ITU.

“It is a pleasure to see our students getting recognition for their work. The games industry is growing in Denmark, and I am happy that we, at ITU, can educate and develop so many talented people,” says Hanna Wirman, Associate Professor at ITU and the head of the 'MSc in Games' study programme, “the course where the students made Xibalba is a first semester course and co-taught with an active practitioner from the industry. It is a great example of collaboration between professors and experts from the industry in teaching.”

If you want to know more about the MSc Games, you can find the information at the IT-University’s website.

Alumni win ‘Best debut’

It was not only current students, who received recognition for their work. At the main award ‘Spilprisen’, the game “ONE BTN BOSSES” won the award for ‘Best debut’. The game is produced by ITU alumni Brin Žvan, Fernando Rodríguez Álvarez and Jonas Gohn, who are all graduates from MSc Games. ‘Spilprisen’ is a tribute to the best Danish-developed games and is the gaming industry's own award.

Play ONE BTN BOSSES

Games developed by students and alumni from ITU were nominated for several awards at ‘Spilprisen’, and researchers from ITU participated in talks on stage. Copenhagen Gaming Week was held on 13-15 February 2025 and had more than 23,000 people visiting.

Further information

Theis Duelund Jensen, Press Officer, phone +45 2555 0447, email

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