Advanced Media Entertainment Society

2023 High School Video Game Design Showcase

Overview

Advanced Media Entertainment Society is pleased to offer the opportunity for high school students in comprehensive or skill center programs to compete against each other in a video game design competition. Scholarships may, pending funding, be offered to top ranked team(s).

Dates

Defined dates being used for rules are: 

Starting Date: 3/13/2023

Final Team Selection Date: 5/11/2023

Showcase Date: 6/3/2023

Requirements

Students wishing to participate in this contest must meet the following conditions:

• Students must be current High School students who have taken (or are currently taking) at least one Video Game Design, Animation, or Computer Science Course (or locally authorized equivalent). Students who have taken a Skills Center or other 540-hour program may NOT participate in the Comprehensive (90-180 hour) contest. Students who have taken multiple years of a Comprehensive program above 540 hours MAY compete at Comprehensive level if they have not also taken a Skills Center or other 540-hour program.
• Students may work in teams of up to five students who meet the above standards.
• Students must have an Instructor/Advisor who has registered to participate in the Showcase.

Application Materials

Applicants must submit all of the following items to their instructors before the local due date, which must be no later than Final Team Selection Date:

1.   A project for review by the Video Game Design Advisory Committee as detailed below.

2.   Endorsement from the program instructor that indicates that, in the teacher's best good-faith judgment, the student produced the project by themselves with no direct assistance from the instructor or outside assistance (reference books, websites, videos, etc. ARE acceptable) and that the work was performed during the 2 months of the competition. All competitors entered into the competition by their instructor are assumed to meet this criterion.

Showcase Project

Applicants must submit a game they have personally produced without direct assistance by their instructors or others.  All work is to be completed between the Starting Date and Showcase Date.  Because this is a competitive event, the expectations for this project are also very high: the game should not be merely functional but must be well designed, entertaining, and complete.  In all respects this project is expected to reflect the high professional standards of the industry.

For the project, applicants are required to provide the following:

1. Compiled EXE
2. Source code for an approved environment and language
   1. Approved environments: Unity, MonoGame, XNA, Lumberyard, Unreal Engine, ProjectFUN Editor 1.5, ProjectFUN Editor 2.1, Godot, Zero Engine, and Construct (Comprehensives only)
   2. Approved languages: C, C#, C++, Python, Java/Javascript
3. Other programming tools may only be used with prior approval of the Advisory Committee, when requested by the instructor.
4. A short gameplay video with any project commentary. Video may be no more than 10 minutes long (5 mins is preferred).
   1. High-Quality, polished video production is NOT an expectation of the project. It is recommended that participants use a free screen capture program such as OBS and narrate over gameplay.
   2. The intent of this portion is to give judges understanding of the gameplay and student process while they're evaluating games. This is not an explicit "graded for points" component, but is used to contextualize things in their game. "Raw" voiced-over footage is more than adequate for this requirement.
5. An itch.io page for the game, submitted to the Showcase "game jam" site. 
   1. Page should include, at a minimum:
      1. Downloadable copy of game (or browser-playable version)
      2. Video (link or stream)
      3. Gameplay instructions
   2. It is recommended that teams create, at a minimum, a placeholder page submitted to the jam as early as possible. 

Applicants have the flexibility to define many details of the game, within the broad requirements of the prompt.

Each project will be evaluated according to the judging criteria rubric (separate document)

Method of Submission

Game should be downloadable OR playable online via the project's itch.io page along with video no later than Final Team Selection Date. Source code should also be turned in to team's instructor. Incomplete submissions will not be evaluated.

Presentation

The winners of the local contests will be determined at the local level no later than Final Team Selection Date. Advisory Panel ("Judges") will screen videos and play games prior to the Showcase Event. During Event, Judges will provide feedback and/or Q&A with individual teams before "locking in" their final scores. Once Judges have finalized their results, competition winners will be announced. Prize announcements may be delayed as much as one week.

Advisory Panel will make the final decisions on the contest winners (and resultant scholarships, if available, including the right not to award any scholarships if no qualifying games are shown).

For More Information

If you have further questions about the 2023 Showcase, please contact Nellie Hughes at nelliemhughes@gmail.com

Rules Addendum I: Preapproved tools

To streamline approvals, the following tools/plugins are considered pre-approved for use in the Showcase Contest.

• Any built-in Unity tool delivered through the Package Manager
• Unity First Person and Third Person controllers (Unity Standard Assets) may be used by Comprehensive program students. Skills Center participants should be generating their own controller systems.
• Unity Water related assets in the Unity Standard Assets. *
• Mixamo (Adobe) tool for generating Animations
• Sound Files (both SFX and Music) and Fonts may be sourced pursuant to applicable copyrights but must be cited. For example, Creative Commons music may be used, but using a song from a CD may not. Note that even if the license allows non-cited use, that use must still be cited for the contest (Either in documentation or “credits” screen(s) )
• GameLab (code.org) may be used by Comprehensive teams. It is the committee’s recommendation that this be used for first year teams only, although that is not a “rule”.
• "2d Extras" Unity-managed asset package 
• Unity A* Pathfinding Package

Ed. Note: Unity Standard Assets in general are a very large “mixed bag”. Committee will attempt to make an Approved/Denied list at the earliest opportunity. In the short term, advisors may give a preliminary evaluation of standard assets pending formal approval to streamline the process. Benchmarks used by the Committee are “Should the students reasonably be expected to create this on their own?” and “Is the asset complementing student work or overshadowing it?” Things like basic texture packs, standard models, basic particle systems, standard controls, etc should be created by students. Advanced tech that augments visuals but doesn’t “replace” them – water system is a good example – are acceptable.

Rules Addendum II: Non-Team Asset Work Contrubution

If other students who are not directly on the team want to contribute an asset, but do not want to contribute on the team itself..

• Out of team assets from students are allowed as long as the total non-direct team member additions to the project are less than 10% of the total project itself. This includes all aspects of the game, and everyone who has worked on it must be credited, along with their contribution.