Jason and Nick in Microsoft compo
Former Zululander off to Seattle to take part in the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2015 finals.
JASON Cross (19), whose family has deep roots in Zululand, will be jetting off to Seattle on 26 July to take part in an international competition hosted by Microsoft.
Together with friend and business partner, Nick Jordaan, they have made it into the finals of the Microsoft Imagine Cup 2015, an international competition that promotes game development by getting students from around the world to take part.
Jason and Nick are the first South Africans to make it into the finals of this competition, and needless to say, they are pretty stoked.
Zululand roots
Jason moved to Mtunzini at a young age, where his father Shaun grew up.
He also attended Felixton College for a year before his family moved to Plettenberg Bay.
His grandmother, Yvonne Erasmus, still lives in the area.
He is a second year software development student at the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in Port Elizabeth, with big plans to build a career in game developing.
‘I have always been into computers and gaming, which I spent the majority of my childhood doing,’ said Jason.
‘I knew from an early age I wanted to go into something computer-based.’
He discovered like-minded students who shared his passion for learning how to create games at NMMU.
A team was born, and they pushed themselves to learn new ways of developing.
Imagining up a storm
The project, called ‘PYA Maza of the Gods’, is a 3D labyrinth-style game built to challenge the user’s problem solving skills, reaction time and their ability to overcome obstacles.
Their proudly SA project will be up against teams from China, Malaysia, Nepal, Netherlands, Poland, Korea and Tunisia.
‘We are of course extremely excited,’ said Jason.
‘We have no idea how we will do or how well the other teams have prepared.’
His teammate, Nick (19) is from Port Elizabeth and is the lead programmer for the project.
‘We work really well together, as our skill sets differ quite a lot.’
Their mentor, Professor Johan van Niekerk, has assisted the team with advice and equipment when they needed to record and present their project throughout the contest.
‘We hope to enter the competition every year,’ said Jason.
‘The demand from us will be high yes, but we want to treat this as a company and work every day on our projects.’
