Game development lecturer Jeremy Cameron, right, with friend and game studio co-owner, Jude Rodgers-Rowe.
Toi Rauwhārangi College of Creative Arts (CoCA) Lecturer Jeremy Cameron won the te maunga kai kapua (teina) unsung hero prize for his teaching, mentoring and industry support at the awards in May.
The judges praised Mr Cameron for helping dozens of emerging Aotearoa New Zealand game developers find their footing.
“He goes far beyond the classroom, supporting student projects, bringing in industry professionals, creating pathways into tutoring and academic roles and helping students access opportunities. For many students, Jeremy has not only taught game development but helped them believe they could belong in it.”
Mr Cameron leads the game development major within the Bachelor of Screen Arts (BSA), where students blend animation, storytelling and technology to develop a playable game project. In their third year, students form teams and work in a simulated studio environment, moving on to develop focused research projects in their final year.
“We’re trying to move students beyond thinking of these as assignments, more as building something that could become a studio, a product, a business.”
One of Mr Cameron's recent graduates, Kira Almquist, was recently awarded grants of up to $50,000 from the Centre of Digital Excellence (CODE) grant funding to further develop their games and studios.
Kira used the funding to start a studio and develop their game Cooking for Ma! which was featured in the Australian and New Zealand section of Summer Game Fest, which showcases upcoming global indie game releases.
Two other groups have received funding from Massey Ventures to help convert their graduate projects into a sustainable commercial project post university
Wellington based Patriam Studios was founded by Massey graduates Alexander Donnelly and Sean Pharo at the end of 2024 and has already caught the attention of global gaming and esport entertainment group Momentum.
2025 graduate Abby Holdaway developed her game Fledgling during her BSA and is now using the grant funding to prepare to show it to studios, publishers and investors at the New Zealand Game Developers Conference (NZGDC) in September.
Massey University Enterprise Programme Lead Brad Booysen is now working alongside Mr Cameron and his third-year students to develop their third-year projects into viable commercial projects and potential candidates for funding and grants.
“The depth of thinking that goes into building these games, the different scenarios, creative work and collaboration with people all over the world in the background is very impressive,” Mr Booysen says.
Meanwhile, Mr Cameron’s own game, Unhomely, which he is developing with Massey alumni Jude Rodgers-Rowe, Juno Buglass-Clapham and Zenith Nelson, was awarded the prize for Excellence in Narrative at the New Zealand Games Festival Awards.
Unhomely is a psychological horror where players act in the role of a journalist trying to uncover the story behind a billionaire reclusive tech giant holed up in an estate in the back country of the South Island.
It was also recently picked up by international publisher Black Lantern Collective, which will fund its translation into 10 different languages and adaptation for X-box and PlayStation.
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