Digital Games Malta (DGM) is launching Gamezing 2011, a digital game development competition for students, sponsored by the University, the Malta Council of Science and Technology, Malta Enterprise and St Martin’s Institute of IT.
The aim of Gamezing is to raise the profile of digital game development among students, teaching institutions and parents, and to promote the potential of this field for future employment.
The competition entails the development of a digital game that can be played on a web browser, and is open to individual students or groups of students.
Participants must be registered students currently enrolled at a secondary, post-secondary or tertiary level educational institution, or attending a certificate programme.
The games should be developed using a game development platform such as XNA or Unity, and must be suitable for a general audience or players aged 12 and over (PEGI 12 rating according to the Pan European Game Information guidelines).
Assessment will be in the hands of a panel of independent judges. The game will be evaluated based upon four criteria: innovation, fun factor, production quality and presentation.
Registration for Gamezing 2011 will open this month, and teams will have until November to complete their game. A registration fee of €10 will be charged per participa-ting team. An information session is planned for July 20, during which interested participants will receive further details about the competition.
The award ceremony will be held in January 2012. The winning teams will receive awards worth €1,000 for first place, €600 for second place and €400 for third place. Other teams deserving special mention for some aspect or other of their game may also be awarded a prize.
Digital Games Malta is a joint initiative between Malta Enterprise, the Malta Council for Science and Technology, the University, and the Creative Economy Working Group within the Ministry of Finance, the Economy and Investment.
Its mission is to guide national policy in the setting up of a Digital Games industry in Malta through competence and capacity building, raising of public awareness, en-gagement of stakeholders, and investment promotion and support.