More than 50 IT students showcased their creative skills and talent in the second Gamezing competition, which had a focus on digital games playable on browsers.

Judges were particularly appreciative of the students’ creativity

Building on the previous year’s success, participation in Gamezing 2011 increased to a total of 13 games submitted by teams from various educational institutions, with “Super Pibbit” emerging as the overall winner.

Developed by Minjaware from St Martin’s Institute of IT, Super Pibbit is a humorous, fast-paced action game, starring a small rabbit embarked on a tireless run, with the player having to time the rabbit’s jumping to get bonus vegetables and avoid pitfalls.

Gamezing is one of the initiatives forming part of the strategy aimed at stimulating the growth of the digital gaming production industry in Malta, which also includes new teaching and research initiatives, close collaboration with the business sector, and attraction of foreign investment.

All entries were praised by the judges, who consisted of industry professionals Georgios Yannakakis, IT professor at the University of Copenhagen, Vince Briffa, head of department of digital art at the University of Malta and Christos Iosifidis, game designer at Digital Chocolate, Finland.

Judges were particularly appreciative of the students’ creativity in producing games with various styles, genres and targeted at different audiences. They confirmed the potential of the digital gaming industry in Malta as an offshoot of the ICT industry.

Kalvin Morrow, who was special guest speaker at the award ceremony, spoke about the potential of this creative industry while referring to the opportunities being generated in Malta.

Mr Morrow recently moved to Malta to lead the game design for TRC Family Entertainment Ltd, after having worked for The Walt Disney Company on the most successful children’s online world Club Penguin.

The competition was organised by a multi-disciplinary team from the University of Malta with the support of the Ministry for Finance, Economy and Investment, Malta Enterprise, the Malta Council of Science and Technology, and St Martin’s Institute of IT. Malta Enterprise is working in close collaboration with the University and MCST as well as other stakeholders in the industry to facilitate the growth in Malta of the digital gaming industry, also leading to the generation of more employment opportunities. Initiatives are also aimed at ensuring the country has the skilled human resources required by encouraging more students to engage themselves in this sector.