<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Six students at\u00A0De Montfort University in the United Kingdom won a video game\u00A0design competition called \"Off the Map\" earlier this month with their 3D, digital recreation of London in the years just before the city's Great Fire.\nUniversity teams that entered the inaugural contest chose between the city before the fire, Stonehenge or the Pyramids of Giza, and the competition was geared toward generating conversation about how video games can explore different facets of culture.\nTeams constructed their realms with CryEngine, a video game development solution built by Crytek. Part of the competition's purpose was to illuminate the ways the platform can be used outside of the video game sphere, such as in architecture.\n\"Crytek brought the technology, the British Library brought the source materials and historical expertise and GameCity brought the festival and connected them all together,\" Iain Simons, director of GameCity, told Mashable in an email. \"Everyone involved did it because they were excited about the possibilities of reaching new audiences, illuminating these amazing documents and inspiring people.\"\nThe winning students, who called themselves Pudding Lane Productions after the street where the Great Fire is believed to have started, are all in their final year studying game art design. \n\"We decided to explore pre-fire 17th Century London because we felt it held the most potential for diversity and detail,\" said Luc Fontenoy, one of the team members.\u00A0\"It also allowed us to think on a very large scale and take liberties with how pre-fire London might exist, as of course most of it was destroyed.\"\nFontenoy said his teammates are eventually want careers in the video game industry. Some want to explore 3D art, while others are more into concept art and design.\nThe competition was sponsored by German video game company Crytek, the British Library and GameCity, a company that hosts an annual festival that displays the importance of video games in the world.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\nImage: YouTube\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2013/11/01/students-london-video-game/>