A group of game development students from Sheffield Hallam University 

have become the first student studio in the UK to publish a game for 

Sony's PlayStation Network.

The Steel Minions studio at Sheffield Hallam is proud to announce the 

release of its first product for PlayStation minis. BounceBack is a 

charming puzzle/platform game for PlayStation minis which can be 

downloaded for PlayStation®Portable (PSP?), PlayStation®Vita and 

PlayStation®3 via the PSN Store.

The game won three top awards at the 2012 Game Republic student 

showcase and the team have since gone on to take up various industry 

opportunities.

The aim of Bounceback is to return Lanos home by getting him to 

?bounce back? all the way to the moon. In order to achieve this he 

will need to use the unique abilities of four other characters in 

order to help him overcome the obstacles in his path. Puff the 

balloon, Boom the explosive, Splash the water bomb and a race of alien 

robots called the ?Tri-hards? all join Lanos on this enjoyably 

puzzling adventure.

The team are the first group of students from a UK University to 

publish a game for PlayStation consoles, with the game and engine 

being written from scratch by the students. Tom Sampson, the 

technology lead on the project and now a Programmer at Sumo Digital 

said: ?It?s been fantastic to have the opportunity to work on a 

project to completion even before we graduate and I?ve gained masses 

of experience which I will take with me into my future career. It 

would really be the icing on the cake to get some positive feedback on 

the game now?.

Nick Abbott, the game?s designer said: ?BounceBack is the culmination 

of four years of work and study for us, and the whole team have put a 

massive amount of energy and dedication into creating this game. We 

really hope players will enjoy playing the game as much as we enjoyed 

making it.?

The game will be available from the PSN store in UK and Ireland from 

September 12th 2012, priced at 3 Euros or£2.50 in the UK and a press 

pack for the game is available from 

http://www.bounceback.steelminions.com

Notes for Editors:

Formed in 2010, Steel Minions provides workplace simulation to 

students from Sheffield Hallam?s game development degrees, through 

access to a commercial studio environment based in the University?s 

Science Park. Sheffield Hallam University is part of the PlayStation 

Academic Partnership programme.

Press Contact: studio@steelminions.com