Results from the second round of the Imagine Cup were announced in May, and Nebulus – a game designed by four computer science students – was among the finalists.

Although the UH team was not among the top six that will advance to the final round in Paris, they still beat hundreds of other teams from around the world, said Olin Johnson, a computer science professor at UH.

The Imagine Cup is a competition sponsored by Microsoft that draws thousands of the world’s top computer students who vie in several software categories, including game development.

The theme of this year’s competition was creating a sustainable environment, so Jonathan Green, Wesley Barta, Sam Larbi and Richard Gilliam crafted a game in which players compete to close ozone holes and power their space ships with solar energy.

Green and Gilliam received their bachelor’s degrees in computer science in May, and Larbi received a master’s degree.

Nebulus originated as a class project last fall in a new game development course taught by Johnson and Zhigang Deng, assistant professor of computer science.

The course, which teaches game programming and graphics, underscores that gaming is now big business with potential career opportunities, Johnson said.