With our New Ventures Center up and running, we’re now accepting applications for development teams interested in setting up in our space for limited time periods. Depending on your pitch and project, we expect to run renewable 30, 60 and 90 day cycles, depending on your pitch, project and progress. Of course, along with the space, successful applicants will receive advising and business assistance services as mutually agreed upon – all at no cost. So, if you have a great idea and just need a little space and support to get it off the ground, drop us a line at infoatmassdigidotorg with your deck and we’ll go from there!
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Fur takes grand prize in seventh annual MassDiGI Game Challenge pitch contest
Worcester, MA – March 6, 2018 – Fur by Grind Games won the Grand Prize in the seventh annual MassDiGI Game Challenge pitch contest this weekend.
Fur, a first person puzzler, where players save cute furballs then nurture and use them to explore and solve problems was created by Grind Games, a team made up of three Becker College students, Tung Vu, Matt Venezia and Jared Braun.
The game, which also won the College & University Beta Category, Best Business Model and Best Audio at the contest, edged entries from student teams representing other institutions such as Champlain College, WPI, Quinsigamond Community College, Northeastern University and Harvard University. Fur will be released on PC later this year.
“We are excited Fur won the Game Challenge,” said Vu, a junior in game design. “If you have a passion for making games then you really must attend this event. You learn so much not only from the judges but the other competitors, too.”
The MassDiGI Game Challenge helps indie and student game developers and entrepreneurs shape their ideas and products for launch. This year 31 teams from across the northeast competed in front of a packed house at the new $7.3 million Colleen C. Barrett Center for Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Becker College in Worcester.
“MassDiGI’s focus on fostering new, business-focused talent is what the local game industry needs. They’re an important part of the regional games community,” said contest judge Oleg Brodskiy, a past Game Challenge competitor and COO of the Boston Festival of Indie Games. “Game Challenge alumni have opened their own studios, found jobs at larger studios, or landed in related careers.”
Since the MassDiGI Game Challenge began seven years ago, over 250 different teams from around New England and beyond have pitched games and taken home prizes valued at over $100,000. Top past winners include titles such as Salad Hunt, Intern Astronaut (VR), PWN, Catlateral Damage, Depression Quest, Wobbles and Starlot Derby.
The annual event is a showcase for the expanding game development cluster in the region. Over the event’s two days, dozens of game industry veterans served as mentors and judges.
As the Grand Prize, College & University Beta Category and Best Business Model winners, the Grind Games team won cash and other prizes valued at about $5,000.
“This year’s contest was the tighter than in any previous year,” said Monty Sharma, managing director of MassDiGI, “Every team was impressive in its own right. The creativity and skills on display improves every year as do the games.”
Other top winners include Burlington, VT-based Micropup from Champlain College which won the People’s Choice Award for its game Keeper as well as the Serious Category.
“Winning the Serious Category and the People’s Choice Award exceeded our expectations in a big way,” said Alex Frey, Micropup’s team captain. “This is our first trip to the Game Challenge and the experience was incredible.”
Keeper is a 3D platformer with gardening mechanics and is focused around raising awareness for declining bee populations. Through an engaging narrative complete with wildlife friends, the game communicates actionable, real-world tactics to aid local pollinators.
Psychoactive Entertainment, another team made up of Becker College students, won the College & University Alpha Category with a game codenamed Project Boynton where you play as a punk witch and obliterate monsters, harvest their guts and use those guts to craft potions to obliterate more monsters.
Garden, an augmented reality (AR) gardening app, by Sunshine Committee won the Indie Category.
The Best Art award went to Fire Frame with Atlas Excel (Pratt Institute), Best Technical Dystrophic with Hexile (Harvard).
Runner-up awards went to:
Indie Category – Runner-up
- ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy
Serious Category – Runner-up
- Dystrophic with Hexile (Harvard)
College & University Alpha Category – Runner-up
- Team RGB with Data Strain (QCC)
College & University Beta Category – Runner-up
- Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch (WPI)
Best Art – Runner-up
- Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch (WPI)
Best Business Model – Runner-up
- ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy
++++
Read the full press release on Gamasutra here.
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Fur takes grand prize in seventh annual MassDiGI Game Challenge pitch contest
Worcester, MA – March 6, 2018 – Fur by Grind Games won the Grand Prize in the seventh annual MassDiGI Game Challenge pitch contest this weekend.
Fur, a first person puzzler, where players save cute furballs then nurture and use them to explore and solve problems was created by Grind Games, a team made up of three Becker College students, Tung Vu, Matt Venezia and Jared Braun.
The game, which also won the College & University Beta Category, Best Business Model and Best Audio at the contest, edged entries from student teams representing other institutions such as Champlain College, WPI, Quinsigamond Community College, Northeastern University and Harvard University. Fur will be released on PC later this year.
“We are excited Fur won the Game Challenge,” said Vu, a junior in game design. “If you have a passion for making games then you really must attend this event. You learn so much not only from the judges but the other competitors, too.”
The MassDiGI Game Challenge helps indie and student game developers and entrepreneurs shape their ideas and products for launch. This year 31 teams from across the northeast competed in front of a packed house at the new $7.3 million Colleen C. Barrett Center for Global Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Becker College in Worcester.
“MassDiGI’s focus on fostering new, business-focused talent is what the local game industry needs. They’re an important part of the regional games community,” said contest judge Oleg Brodskiy, a past Game Challenge competitor and COO of the Boston Festival of Indie Games. “Game Challenge alumni have opened their own studios, found jobs at larger studios, or landed in related careers.”
Since the MassDiGI Game Challenge began seven years ago, over 250 different teams from around New England and beyond have pitched games and taken home prizes valued at over $100,000. Top past winners include titles such as Salad Hunt, Intern Astronaut (VR), PWN, Catlateral Damage, Depression Quest, Wobbles and Starlot Derby.
The annual event is a showcase for the expanding game development cluster in the region. Over the event’s two days, dozens of game industry veterans served as mentors and judges.
As the Grand Prize, College & University Beta Category and Best Business Model winners, the Grind Games team won cash and other prizes valued at about $5,000.
“This year’s contest was the tighter than in any previous year,” said Monty Sharma, managing director of MassDiGI, “Every team was impressive in its own right. The creativity and skills on display improves every year as do the games.”
Other top winners include Burlington, VT-based Micropup from Champlain College which won the People’s Choice Award for its game Keeper as well as the Serious Category.
“Winning the Serious Category and the People’s Choice Award exceeded our expectations in a big way,” said Alex Frey, Micropup’s team captain. “This is our first trip to the Game Challenge and the experience was incredible.”
Keeper is a 3D platformer with gardening mechanics and is focused around raising awareness for declining bee populations. Through an engaging narrative complete with wildlife friends, the game communicates actionable, real-world tactics to aid local pollinators.
Psychoactive Entertainment, another team made up of Becker College students, won the College & University Alpha Category with a game codenamed Project Boynton where you play as a punk witch and obliterate monsters, harvest their guts and use those guts to craft potions to obliterate more monsters.
Garden, an augmented reality (AR) gardening app, by Sunshine Committee won the Indie Category.
The Best Art award went to Fire Frame with Atlas Excel (Pratt Institute), Best Technical Dystrophic with Hexile (Harvard).
Runner-up awards went to:
Indie Category – Runner-up
- ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy
Serious Category – Runner-up
- Dystrophic with Hexile (Harvard)
College & University Alpha Category – Runner-up
- Team RGB with Data Strain (QCC)
College & University Beta Category – Runner-up
- Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch (WPI)
Best Art – Runner-up
- Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch (WPI)
Best Business Model – Runner-up
- ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy
++++
Read the full press release on Gamasutra here.
» Read More
2018 MassDiGI Game Challenge winners!
Best Art
Fire Frame with Atlas Excel – winner (Pratt)
Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch – runner-up
Best Design
No winner
Best Technical
Dystrophic with Hexile – winner (Harvard)
Best Business Model
Grind Games with Fur – winner (Becker)
ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy – runner-up
Best Audio
Grind Games with Fur – winner (Becker)
Serious Category
Micropup with Keeper – winner (Champlain)
Dystrophic with Hexile – runner-up (Harvard)
Indie Category
Sunshine Committee with Garden – winner
ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy – runner-up
College Alpha Category
Psychoactive Entertainment with Project Boynton – winner (Becker)
Team RGB with Data Strain – runner-up (QCC)
College Beta Category
Grind Games with Fur – winner (Becker)
Jinboz with The Palace of Monarch (WPI)
People’s Choice
Micropup with Keeper – winner
Grand Prize
Grind Games with Fur – winner
Stay posted for more information.
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2018 MassDiGI Game Challenge – Finalists
Indies
- Sunshine Committee with Garden
- ML Studios with Mythicast Arcane Academy
- Zen Dragon with Neon Bullet
- Weeping Witch Studios with Ice and Bone
Serious
- Micropup (Champlain) with Keeper
- Dystrophic (Harvard) with Hexile
- Obliti (WPI)
College – Beta
- Grind Games (Becker) with Fur
- Starflight Studios (Becker) with Defenders of Atlantis
- Jinboz (WPI) with The Palace of Monarch
College – Alpha
- Psychoactive Entertainment (Becker) with Project Boynton
- Team RGB (QCC) with Data Strain
- Skerter Industries (Becker) with Exploding Cube
++++
Honorable Mentions
- Ill Teteka (Becker)
- Disco Drop (Becker)
Stay tuned for more updates!
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Batter up! Becker Derby hits the stores
Baseball and softball fans can now take on Becker’s mascot, Hank the Hawk, and his tricky pitches in an attempt to swing their way to stardom in the newly launched video game, Becker Derby. The mobile game features Hank as the pitcher challenging players in their quest to hit as many home runs as possible before striking out. The app, produced by Worcester, MA-based studio Maximum Crash which was founded by Becker alumnus Rejon Taylor-Foster ’17, is now live and free to download for Android and iOS users.
“We wanted to find a way to offer students and fans a true baseball and softball experience that could bring them closer to the teams,” said Matt Tittle, Becker’s Assistant Athletic Director for Communications. “Now, instead of waiting for Spring, our fans can experience the excitement of Becker baseball and softball year-round.”
The full game experience pits players against Hank’s gravity bent pitches, crowds of SEEGull agents, and a dark dimensional force only known as the Void. With some advice from @regalSeagull194, players may stand a chance against the Void’s retro-dimensional universes filled with failed experiments and trapped invaders.
Becker Derby is a collaboration between Maximum Crash studios, the Becker College Athletics Department and the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDiGI) at Becker.
The Becker baseball team starts its season on Saturday, March 3rd at the New England Baseball Complex against Newbury College at 11:00 a.m. Becker softball starts on March 11th against UMass Boston at 4:30 p.m.
For additional images and videos of Becker Derby, please click here.
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Drop by booth #13130 to check out our games or just say hi! This year our booth will feature Leap A Head, Triage, HTR 198X, Takeover Trail, Little Grimm and Raise The Bass as well as 2018 Game Challenge Grand Prize winner Fur and People’s Choice Award winner Keeper. In addition, MassDiGI’s managing director Monty Sharma will be on a panel on Friday at 12:30 entitled “Educate Yourself! What Schools Need to Teach in Game Design” and executive director Tim Loew will be on a panel on Sunday at 11:30 entitled “Esports Meets Academia: How to Build an Esports Program.”
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Please join us for our annual PAX East party at District Hall. Click here for more information and to get a ticket.
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Join us on April 3 at 7:00p at the Barrett Center in Worcester for a talk by Desh Deshpande on the power of entrepreneurship. This talk is part of the Franklin M. Loew Lecture Series at Becker College and is co-hosted by MassDiGI and the Yunus Social Business Centre. Seating is limited. RSVP to lectures(at)becker.edu.
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All are welcome to our annual GDC get together. Click here for more information and to RSVP.
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