Students from SETU showcasesd a level of technical depth that stands out in today’s AI‑accelerated development landscape at Games Fleadh 2026, Ireland’s leading student game development event.
SETU’s Interactive Digital Art and Design students brought a distinctive technical edge to the competition. As technical artists, they worked across shader programming, real‑time rendering, asset pipelines, and hardware‑aware art production, ensuring that creative vision and performance remain aligned.
By emphasising foundational engineering and technical artistry, SETU is preparing graduates who can build systems from the ground up. This kind of talent is increasingly valued as AI becomes more integrated into development workflows. These students are not just learning to use tools; they are learning to understand and shape the systems that modern tools rely on.
While AI tools can now generate code, art, and design at unprecedented speed, SETU students work focuses on the fundamentals, building games directly for challenging hardware platforms such as the Nintendo GameCube using IBM Gekko PowerPC 750CXe, ARM‑based systems like the R36S and R36XX handhelds, and Assembly‑level environments. These Rockchip‑powered devices, which use ARM CPUs and Mali GPUs, give students a hands‑on understanding of memory management, CPU architecture, optimisation, and performance
“There is understandable concern about AI replacing software engineers, but what we are seeing is a shift, not a disappearance, of skills. Our students are learning to program at the lowest levels, to understand hardware, memory, and performance in a way that automated tools simply cannot be replaced. These are the engineers who build the foundations that AI systems rely on. That depth of knowledge ensures they remain in demand.
By working with embedded systems, our students are developing resilience, adaptability, and true computational literacy. These are the guardians of system integrity, the professionals who understand what is really happening beneath the interface.”
Nigel Whyte Head of Department of Computing, SETU
“The future digital artist is also a technical artist. Our students are not just creating beautiful visuals; they are writing shaders, optimising assets, and understanding real-time rendering pipelines. They know how art and code intersect.
Philip Bourke Programme Director of Interactive Digital Art and Design, SETU
In a world where AI can generate imagery instantly, authenticity and technical understanding become even more important. Our graduates understand constraints, performance, and collaboration with engineers. That combination of creativity and technical depth is what will define the next generation of interactive media professionals."
SETU was delighted to present the creativity, technical excellence, and authentic engineering talent of its students at Games Fleadh 2026.