SIP14 students selected
By Tim Loew, executive director, MassDiGI
Each year applications to our annual Summer Innovation Program (SIP) have grown in terms of quality, quantity and diversity. This year we received applications from 157 undergraduate and graduate students representing 31 colleges and universities from across the country – making it our most competitive year ever.
Needless to say, selecting only 22 was a challenge. After much discussion, the committee chose a great group. This year’s SIP teams will be made up of students from 11 institutions including Becker College, Berklee College of Music, Hampshire College, MIT, Mt. Holyoke College, Northeastern University, Rhode Island School of Design, Smith College, Tufts University, UMass Lowell and WPI.
SIP begins on May 20 and concludes on August 8. Over those 11 weeks or so, with guidance from professional staff and industry mentors, SIP teams will be responsible for all the work required to successfully launch their games in the market. There is no internship program like it in the country.
As in past years, SIP students will receive housing courtesy of Becker College as well as a modest stipend. More importantly they will all receive the greatest game development experience of their lives. Sure, it may be a lot of work – but it’s also a ton of fun. We can’t wait to get started.
Revised on 5/3/14.
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The real video game high school
By Michael Morley and Duncan Elliott, students, Millbury Memorial Jr./Sr. High School
One word to describe the 2014 MassDiGI Game Challenge would be “phenomenal.” That “phenomenal” feeling was experienced by about 20 Millbury Memorial Jr./Sr. High School students during their participation in this year’s Game Challenge competition. With limited game programming or design experience, all the Millbury students, including us, jumped into the Game Challenge with both feet. In addition to fielding six different teams for the competition, the Wasteland Trials team from Millbury took home the first place trophy in the high school category.
Millbury winners
The impetus for the participation of Millbury students in the Game Challenge was created by a school visit from MassDiGI’s Monty Sharma. After learning a bit about game designing and careers in the game design industry, the Millbury students enthusiastically took on the Game Challenge. Millbury teacher Mark Sutphen allocated classrooms and set-up meetings that allowed students to gather and formulate ideas and join teams. As an after-school activity, students were left to form groups on their own, usually dividing teams up into specific tasks. One student played the role of “Creative Director”, and another as the “Lead Sound Manager”. Other students filled vital roles such as, level design, character artists, code-programmers and business manager. These high school teams met weekly, every Wednesday, in Mr. Sutphen’s classroom. Additional time spent on the project had to be found outside of the school setting where meetings were run through social media, e-mail and social gatherings.
On the first day of the two-day competition, the Millbury students boarded a school bus headed down to the Microsoft New England Research and Development building, located near the campus of MIT in Cambridge. Though initially somewhat intimidated by the surroundings, the students quickly adapted and fully participated in a fantastic fun-filled day. From the vendors, food and eventually the competition, the students thoroughly seemed to enjoy what the Game Challenge had to offer.
On day one, each group attended lectures from Monty Sharma, Jason Della Rocca and industry professionals who talked about how to improve game quality, how to market games more effectively, and how to make contacts in the gaming industry. Feedback from professionals and peers was a key to the students’ learning experience. This feedback would then be used by the students to make final adjustments before the day two of the Game Challenge.
During downtime at the competition, students were able to test out some awesome games and game technology from several indie game companies who were displaying their latest design prototypes and ideas. A friendly atmosphere allowed the students to feel comfortable in hobnobbing with college students and professional designers. Students felt right at home exploring the playground known as floor one of the Microsoft N.E.R.D.
Win or lose, every student left the competition with a smile on their face and a full belly. It was obvious that MassDiGI spared no expense to provide a generous banquet of pizza, club sandwiches, salads and desserts. Soda and chips were laid out by the table, and a hot chocolate/coffee machine was left out for almost every Millbury student to indulge upon.
To top it all off, each and every student had the opportunity to learn something new. Not a barrage of dates from history but instead on a topic that draws the attention of teenagers with the same intensity as iron to a magnet: video game design. More importantly, the Game Challenge left students with a lesson on the marketplace – how to create a successful game in terms of generating revenue – making a profit! While it can be seen as beautiful for designers to view their game as a work of art, it is no doubt also important that their game possesses relatable, feasible business concepts that allow for the prospect that the game will actually make it in the market.
As students of Millbury Jr./Sr. High school and Game Challenge competitors ourselves, we can say that Millbury High is already looking forward to competing in the next year’s Game Challenge.
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The Massachusetts Digital Games Institute is pleased to announce that Little Worlds Interactive, a Boston-based independent educational game development studio, has won the overall Grand Prize as well as Serious Game Prototype category honors in the third annual MassDiGI Game Challenge for The Counting Kingdom. The Counting Kingdom is a game for kids aged seven and up that encourages players to practice their math skills in a playful and engaging way.
“We are so excited to be heading home with the Grand Prize and category honors,” said Jenna Hoffstein, founder of Little Worlds Interactive. “MassDiGI did an amazing job organizing the event and bringing so many great developers, mentors and speakers together. The feedback and experience I received during the Game Challenge was extremely valuable, and I’d highly recommend it to anyone who is making a game and wants it to succeed.”
This is the first time a serious or educational game has won the MassDiGI Game Challenge Grand Prize.
Other top Boston-area winners include Chris Chung for Catlateral Damage which won the People’s Choice award and Indie Entertainment Game Prototype category honors. Catlateral Damage is a fun, first-person cat simulator where the goal is to knock as many of your owner’s possessions onto the ground as possible.
Please click here to read the entire official press release about all the winners. Click here to read stories on Game Politics, BetaBoston (1), Gamasutra, BetaBoston (2), WBUR or Boston.com.
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Quick post. Winners!
3/10/14 update: Read the press release here.
Grand prize
People’s choice
College entertainment categories
– College concept
- Spaghetti Flavored Cake – String Theory – winner – (Becker College)
- Double Trouble – Duo – runner-up – (Becker College)
– College prototype
- 80HD Games – Bümbardia – winner – (Becker College)
- Mustachio Games – Red Survivor – runner-up – (Binghamton University and Northeastern University)
– Honorable mention
- Supergeneric – SunBots – (Champlain College)
- K^2 – Mythitarium – (Becker College)
- Subconscious Games – Synaptattack – (Becker College)
Indie entertainment categories
– Indie concept
– Indie prototype
College/indie serious categories
– Serious concept
– Serious prototype
- Little Worlds Interactive – The Counting Kingdom -winner
- PBn’ Games – Zeebi Zoo – runner-up
– Honorable mention
High school category
- Wasteland Trials – Millbury Memorial High School – winner
- Wonderful Nightmares – Newton South High School – runner-up
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Quick post noting Game Challenge finalists (and honorable mentions). Please forgive any spelling errors…
college entertainment
college concept
- spaghetti flavored cake – string theory
- double trouble – duo
college prototype
- 80hd – bumbardia
- mustachio – red survivor
honorable mention
- k^2
- subconscious
- super generic
indie entertainment
indie concept
- renfroe/stimpaq – virtuoso vengeance
indie prototype
- chris chung – catlateral damage
- golden hammer – big mountain snowboarding 2
- now and zen – big bat baseball
college/indie serious
serious concept
- spherical cow games – stickman
- giant otter – bread and roses
serious prototype
- little world interactive- counting kingdom
- pbn games – zeebi zoo
honorable mention
- gone – wpi
- sub altern – no pineapple left behind
high school
- wasteland trials – mmhs
- wonderful nightmares – nshs
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United we win: Lessons learned from collaboration and co-working around the world
When: April 23, 2014, 6:30 p.m.
Where: Becker College, 61 Sever St. Worcester, MA – Weller Academic Center, Lecture Hall 210.
Ichiro Lambe is founder and president of Dejobaan Games, LLC, a Boston-area indie game development studio. He has worked in the industry since 1993, co-founding Worlds Apart Productions (now Sony Online Entertainment Denver) in 1995 and Dejobaan Games (still Dejobaan Games) in 1999. He is graduate of WPI. This talk will be variation of his recent same-titled Steam DevDays presentation.
The Franklin M. Loew Lecture Series at Becker College is free and open to the community. This lecture is sponsored by MassDiGI. RSVP to lectures(at)becker.edu. Seating is limited.
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Visit us in our MassDiGI Made in MA: The State of Play booth #499! We will have drop-in mentoring for aspiring game developers of all ages, awesome game demos from Little Worlds Interactive, gameblyr, Moonshot Games, Catlateral Damage, area college and university students, special international friends in our Swiss Gaming Corner from swissnex Boston and more. Also, back by popular demand is the Made in MA Quest! Visit all the MA exhibitors, score a badge from each and win a prize!
BONUS – Start PAX East off with our awesome panel featuring area college students at 10:00am on April 11 in the Dragonfly Theatre!
Game Devs: The Next Generation
Games: The final frontier. These are the tales of five college students. Their continuing mission: to explore strange new titles, to seek out new genres and new platforms, to boldly go where no one has gone before. More details here.
DOUBLE BONUS – Join MassDiGI and our friends from BlueSnap for a fun, happy hour event at 6:00pm on April 11. Register here. Ping us for a code.
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The annual MassTLC PAX East Made in MA Party at the Microsoft NERD Center is one the great community events of the season. Students are free and for all others there is a nominal charge. Please register here. See you there!
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MassDiGI will be in San Francisco during GDC. Join us for our Made in MA reception on March 19. To register, click here. Email us for a code! Follow us on Twitter for all the latest.
Thank you to our sponsors BlueSnap and Vivox.
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SIP14 now accepting applications
By Tim Loew, executive director, MassDiGI
Looking for an internship? Well, you are in luck – again. MassDiGI is now accepting applications to our annual Summer Innovation Program. SIP is one of the largest game development internship programs in the region. Last year, of the 84 applicants from 24 different colleges and universities, 21 students from 9 were accepted. The students spent 11 weeks working on 5 great games.
The experience gives students a unique opportunity to build games with the support of professionals and mentors, live for free and earn a stipend. SIP also allows students a level of autonomy – and responsibility – that is hard to find anywhere else.
You can find more details about SIP here as well as the program application. Click here for information about SIP ’12 and SIP ’13. Students with additional questions are welcome to drop us a line. May the force be with you.
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Needless to say, selecting only 22 was a challenge. After much discussion, the committee chose a great group. This year’s SIP teams will be made up of students from 11 institutions including Becker College, Berklee College of Music, Hampshire College, MIT, Mt. Holyoke College, Northeastern University, Rhode Island School of Design, Smith College, Tufts University, UMass Lowell and WPI.
