Announcing Games Innovation Challenge 2022

Calling all aspiring game developers! We're super excited to announce the second Games Innovation Challenge sponsored by Barclays, a games development competition for university and college students across the UK to test their skills and creativity.

Starting today, 31st January, you have eight weeks to create the most innovative game and for those wanting to get competitive, submissions will be judged by a panel of industry experts with a prize pool of £5,000 for the best entries. 

We want to see the most innovative games you can come up with, but we’ll be judging them on the following categories which are awarded prizes.

• Gameplay: We’re looking for the most original concept, excellent storytelling and enjoyable gameplay
• Design: Design elements will be judged from sound, art style, graphics and technical quality
• Social Impact: With purpose at the game’s heart, we’re looking at games that tackle difficult issues, for example, promoting environmental sustainability or looking at how to make the game more accessible
• Epic Unreal Choice: Games designed using the Unreal engine
• Unity Choice: Games designed using the Unity games engine

Prize breakdown:

• First Place - £2,500
• Gameplay Award - £500
• Design Award - £500
• Social Impact Award - £500
• Epic Unreal Choice - £500
• Unity Choice - £500

Teams can be formed of students from different universities and colleges and also contain non-students. However, to take part in the challenge, the majority of the team and the project lead must be enrolled at a university or college. Any platform and prebuilt assets can be used, provided you have the permission or license to do so. We have a Games Innovation Challenge Discord channel to help you find teammates, which you can join here.

A panel of gaming and esports industry experts will be looking at the following criteria to judge the games:

• Technical Quality: How well does it run and how challenging was it to create? 
• Look and Feel: How do the sound and graphics make you feel?
• Entertainment: How fun is it to play?
• Innovation: Is there a twist? What’s unique about it?
• Social Impact: Does the game tackle a challenging subject?

A full set of rules can be found on the Games Innovation Challenge submissions page or in the participant pack.

Key Dates:

• Submissions open: 31/01/2022
• Submissions close: 24/03/2022
• Judging: 01/04/2022
• Winner announced: 06/04/2022

Any questions please do not hesitate to contact enquiries@nse.gg. Good luck!

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