TIGA, the trade association representing the UK games industry, and
BlueVia, the global developer platform from Telefonica, today announced the
winners of GameHack which took place over the weekend at Pinewood Studios.
GameHack saw thirty-seven teams of entrants compete to design and
develop an original game within 24 hours. Taking place at Pinewood Studios on
28th and 29th April 2012, the event provided a brilliant
showcase for aspiring or independent game creators.
List of winners:
Adobe Best Flash Game for iOS
Winner:
The Super Flash Bros
Antix Labs Procedural
Generation Challenge
Winner:
Vegitects
BlueVia Best Use of Mobile
Winner:
Lightwood Games
Getty Images/Pinewood
Studios/Centroid 3D Games Trailer Challenge
Winner:
Knightshade
Marmalade Best Cross Platform
Mobile Application
Winner:
Smoking Games
Turbulenz/Mozilla HTML5 Games
Category
Winner:
Hack FM
Papaya Mobile Social Game
Hack
Winner:
Placeholder Games
SCEE Best Game Award
Winner:
The Super Flash Bros
TechHub Most Innovative Idea
Award
Winner:
Lightwood Games
TIGA Most Awesome Game Award
Winner:
Team Coderunner
Thomas Curtis, Developer
Advocate of BlueVia said:
“BlueVia is incredibly proud to have been a
part of GameHack and we could not ask for a better introduction to games
developers. The quality of games produced was nothing short of stunning and a
testament to the talent within the UK games industry, as was the way that attendees
helped each other even if they were aiming for the same category prize. I would
like to thank TIGA for helping to organise the event, Pinewood Studios for
allowing GameHack to be the first ever game event to take place at the site and
to all of the attendees who made the event such a success.”
Dr Richard Wilson, CEO of
TIGA commented:
“The
TIGA-BlueVia GameHack was a tremendous success. Our GameHack gave developers a
chance to create innovative games in new teams at the inspirational setting of
Pinewood Studios; the chance to network with some of the best people in the UK games
development sector; and a chance to win some superb prizes. Above all, the
GameHack brought the development community together for an extremely enjoyable
weekend”.
Patrick O'Luanaigh, CEO of
nDreams and TIGA board member, said:
“TIGA
is the trade association that gives UK content creators the opportunity to
fulfil their potential. I had the privilege of being one of the TIGA-BlueVia
judges and I was highly impressed by the quality of the games created. This
augers well for the future of the UK game development sector which TIGA will be
at the forefront of driving forward”.
Giles Farley,
Managing Director Group Post Production – Content Services, Pinewood Studios
Group, commented:
“It
is fair to say that Pinewood has traditionally been associated more with film
and television production than games, however, the skills and techniques
required to produce commercially successful, creative content are converging.
As a result, we are working more and more with games companies and we were
delighted to have had the opportunity to host this year’s GameHack. The event
demonstrated that collaboration, innovation and commitment can deliver truly
outstanding results in a short space of time. We look forward to the next
GameHack event and developing relationships with colleagues in the games
industry.”
TIGA and BlueVia have compiled all the technology used
at GameHack to provide the following statistical breakdown (please note that
some people entered into multiple categories):
Platform Number
of entries Percentage of entries
Mobile 18 41.86
Web 8 18.60
Cross platform
5 11.63
Flash 5 11.63
Procedural generation 7 16.28
Total 43 100
42 per cent of entries were for BlueVia's mobile category
'Best use of Mobile'. The popularity of this category echoes the shift in the
wider gaming industry towards mobile devices. Thanks to Tubulenz and Mozilla
category, HTML5 had a strong showing with 19 per cent of entries. For
rapid development ‘Cross Platform’ and ‘Flash’ were used in 12 per cent of
entries, respectively. GameHacks attendees were not daunted by Antix’s
challenging hardcore 'Procedural Generation Challenge', with 16 per cent of
entries testing their mettle in this category.
TIGA and BlueVia were impressed at the range and
breadth of ideas at GameHack, from bluetooth enabled lights out, augmented
reality tower defence; while remaking old classics like Reversi to hand coding
multiplayer servers without using any libraries showed that GameHack had
incredibly skilled attendees who love making games.
Ends
NOTES FOR EDITORS
List of all the prizes
Fourteen
prizes are available across eight categories:
1.
Best cross platform application
2.
Best use of mobile
3.
HTML5 games category
4.
Mobile social game hack
5.
Procedural generation challenge
6.
Games trailer challenge
7.
Best flash game for iOS
8.
Best Game Award
Prizes
on offer for winners are:
1.
Made with Marmalade professional license worth $3,499
2.
£500 worth of Arduino vouchers
3.
2 x £500 cash prizes
4.
Potential to receive an additional £2,500 to fund completion and
publishing of the game on Turbulenz
5.
Adobe Creative Suite Premium (worth £1,429 excl.VAT)
6.
2 x top of the range Android smartphones
7.
25,000 downloads of your game guaranteed with Papaya’s Social Game
Engine
8.
Opportunity to mix your next games trailer at Pinewood Post Production
9.
Half a day motion capture studio time with Centroid
10.
One year’s free membership of TIGA
11.
One year’s free membership of TechHub
12.
PlayStation®Vita development kit
GameHack Event Categories
Teams
must enter one of the following challenges and meet the pre-set criteria:
Best cross platform
application
Marmalade is looking for the best cross platform
app or game. Use our SDK to develop games that span more than one platform.
We're looking for apps and games that display the best in originality, utility,
and commercial viability.
Best use of mobile
BlueVia thinks there are creative ways to using
mobile devices to enhance gaming beyond the screen, this category is for those
who want to challenge established gaming conventions. Need ideas to get
you started? Think location-based gaming, linking of different devices
for multiplayer gaming, using mobile to redesign old classics – location and
sound enabled Marco Polo perhaps!
HTML5 games category
Turbulenz is looking for game demo’s that
combine a great first-pass of some classic retro games with some of the
powerful social features of the web today. For example, some classic-style
platformer, arcade or puzzle game mixed with the ability to play with friends,
invite friends to challenge you, or win achievements.
Mobile social game hack
You’ll have the weekend to create the best
possible social freemium game using Papaya’s Social Game Engine. You bring the
imagination and talent, we'll bring over 50 million potential customers
Procedural generation
challenge
Your challenge, from Antix Labs, (should you
decide to accept it) is to generate as many stunningly beautiful game graphics
as possible in as small an executable as possible. The graphics can be 2D or
3D, that’s your choice, but they must not use any hand drawn graphics. Not even
as an input to the generation system. The emphasis will be on graphics
that could be used in a real game, so simply implementing a 2D fractal will not
score as highly as a view of a landscape.
Games trailer challenge
You’ve created your game. Now get people to play
it by creating a video game trailer using Getty Images content. Tell your
game’s story. Take our high res video, stills and music, and turn it into
something new. Put your own spin on it, in a short video of between one and
three minutes.
Best Flash game for iOS
Adobe has
set the challenge of creating an iOS game using flash technology.
More details on each challenge can be found at: www.gamehack.co.uk
About
TIGA
TIGA is the trade association representing the
UK’s games industry. The majority of our members are either independent games
developers or in-house publisher owned developers. We also have games
publishers, outsourcing companies, technology businesses and universities
amongst our membership. TIGA won 10 business awards and was nominated a
finalist for 9 other awards during 2010 and 2011. In 2010 TIGA won two
business awards including ‘Trade Association of the Year’ from the Trade
Association Forum.
In 2011, TIGA won eight business awards including ‘Trade Association of
the Year’ from the Trade Association Forum, ‘Outstanding Organisation’ from the
Chartered Management Institute and two Global Business Excellence Awards,
including ‘Outstanding Marketing Campaign’. Richard Wilson won the
‘Leadership Award’ from the Trade Association Forum and the ‘Outstanding
Leader’ award from the Chartered Management Institute.
TIGA is an Investors in People organisation.
TIGA's vision is to make the UK the best place in the world to do games
business. We focus on three sets of activities: political representation,
generating media coverage and developing services that enhance the
competitiveness of our members. This means that TIGA members are
effectively represented in the corridors of power, their voice is heard in the
media and they receive benefits that make a material difference to their
businesses, including a reduction in costs and improved commercial opportunities.
For further information, please contact Dr
Richard Wilson, TIGA CEO on: 07875 939 643, or email richard.wilson@tiga.org.
About
BlueVia
BlueVia is
the global developer platform from Telefonica that helps developers take apps,
web services, and ideas to market. BlueVia is built on four founding
principles: – Scale – Tools – Business Models – Path to Market BlueVia
offers ground breaking, zero risk, business models for developers, along with
‘mix & match’ models to create multiple revenue streams. For more
information, documentation and video tutorials, go to http://www.bluevia.com/
About
SCEE Developer Relations
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), based
in London, is responsible for the distribution, marketing and sales of
PlayStation®3, PlayStation®Vita, PlayStation®2, PSP™ (PlayStation®Portable) and
PlayStation®Network software and hardware in 109 territories across Europe, the
Middle East, Africa and Oceania. SCEE also develops, publishes, markets and
distributes entertainment software for these formats, and manages the third
party licensing programs for the formats in these territories.
About
Mozilla
Mozilla is a
global community of people creating a better Internet. We build public benefit
into the Internet by creating free, open source products and technologies that
improve the online experience for people everywhere. We work in the open under
the umbrella of the non-profit Mozilla Foundation. Everything we create is a
public asset available for others to use, adapt and improve. For more
information, visit www.mozilla.com.
About Pinewood Studios Group
The Pinewood Studios Group has become a
destination that the world’s film, TV, advertising and videogames companies
have chosen as a base for some of the biggest productions, including the
23rd James Bond film Skyfall (Eon Productions/MGM/Sony
Pictures); Snow White and the Huntsman(Universal); Anna
Karenina (Working Title Films/Universal); Prometheus (Fox); Dark
Shadows(Warner Bros); Dancing on
Ice, The Magicians, Got To Dance and Sing If You Can. Pinewood also
hosted one of 2011’s biggest videogames Driver: San Francisco.
The facilities comprise the best quality sound stages, a globally unique
underwater filming stage, a wealth of specialist production resources, state of
the art TV studios, post production and digital content services.
Pinewood offers the Games Industry the
opportunity to see and hear their work in some of the best theatres in the
world. Pinewood’s award winning Post Production facility can also offer
localization in over 40 languages; project management; custom sound design;
sound editorial; Oscar winning mixers; world class foley recording and editing;
strong ties to the world’s film community as well as PR and brand recognition
opportunities by association with one of the leading names in the business. Visit www.pinewoodgroup.com for
more info.
About Marmalade
Marmalade makes software that lets developers
build and distribute cross-platform applications quickly, easily and without
compromise. Our true cross-platform technology provides the best performance
and the best portability – and all within the industry’s most open and flexible
development environment.
About Turbulenz
Turbulenz is a next generation HTML5 games
platform, bringing social connectivity and community to the heart of games.
With the vision of creating the greatest gaming experience, Turbulenz provides
game developers with a world-leading HTML5 JavaScript SDK and development
tools, as well as access to the Turbulenz network, allowing games to reach over
one billion people on web connected devices. For more information, visit
Turbulenz at www.turbulenz.com or contact Gavin Shields
on 01483 338 720 or email gavinshields@turbulenz.com.
About
Adobe Systems
Incorporated
For more information
about Adobe Gaming, visit http://gaming.adobe.com
About Papaya Mobile
Founded in 2008 by CEO Si Shen and
CTO Qian Wenjie, PapayaMobile provides both tools for game developers and
content for players on its growing social mobile network of over 30 million
users worldwide. With headquarters in Beijing and offices in San
Francisco and London, PapayaMobile offers developers a fast and easy way to
reach millions of users across the globe and improve their return on investment
for Android and iOS game development.
Players can participate in high
quality social mobile gaming experiences with rich community interaction across
Papaya’s rapidly growing network of paid and free iOS and Android games. http://papayamobile.com/developer
About Antix Labs, Ltd
The Antix Game Player (“AGP”) is an
on-device software client for native games services licensed to multiple tier
one device makers. Third party casual, advanced casual and premium games are
distributed in a device-independent format similar in concept to MP3 or PDF.
This format lets consumers access and share games from any of their connected
AGP-powered 'screens', which include mobile phones, TVs, STBs, PMPs, and PCs.
In much the same way as they do already with music, photos and videos,
consumers can distribute trial games virally across networks and off-line to
their friends and family while still protecting the rights and revenues of
operators and publishers.
In addition to AGP itself, Antix provides the
corresponding tools, certification mechanism, optional white-label store, and
optional game warehousing necessary to deploy a complete service offering.
Antix Labs Ltd., headquartered in Reading, England was founded by Francis Charig, a World Economic Forum Technology Pioneer.
About Getty Images
Getty Images is a leading creator and distributor of still imagery, video and multimedia
products, as well as a recognized provider of other
forms of premium digital content, including music.
Getty Images serves business customers in more than 100 countries and is the
first place creative and media professionals turn to discover, purchase and
manage images and other digital content. Its award-winning photographers and
imagery help customers produce inspiring work which appears every day in the
world’s most influential newspapers, magazines, advertising campaigns, films,
television programs, books and Web sites. Visit Getty Images at www.gettyimages.co.uk to
learn more about how the company is advancing the unique role of digital media
in communications and business, and enabling creative ideas to come to life.
About Centroid
Motion
capture and character animation services
to the film, television and video games industry, Centroid delivers motion
capture and 3D pipeline solutions throughout Europe. With a team of thirty
industry professionals, a comprehensive list of facilities and services from
production pre visualisation to finished post production animation and a strict
secure data environment, we deliver on time to the highest standards, quality
and security.
About TechHub
TechHub is the physical hub for the technology
start-up community. It's launching first in London in the Shoreditch/Old St
area and will consist of desk spaces, co-working space, meeting rooms and an
event space. London is the first space, but will be swiftly followed by others
in the TechHub network around the world, so wherever you are, you can connect
@TechHub.
About o2 ThinkBig
Young people are full of ideas, energy and
enthusiasm. But they need the right support to turn their ideas into reality.
That’s where Think Big comes in. We find young
people with great ideas and help them get going by giving them the training and
funding to make their ideas work. www.o2thinkbig.co.uk
About GamesAid
GamesAid is a new UK video games industry based
charity. It distributes funds to a diverse range of charities; it is a means of
giving something back on behalf of the industry. GamesAid acts as a broker of
charitable activity on behalf of the industry, taking advice from all sectors.
It is a non trading body. The charity is administered by Trustees, who operate
on a fixed term basis. It is formally run by a chairman, who is also on a fixed
term. GamesAid is a children and young people's charity. www.gamesaid.org
About Creative KTN
The Creative Industries Knowledge Transfer
Network mission is to accelerate innovation in the Creative Industries in the
UK. We are home to innovators from all sectors of the Creative Industries from
Advertising to Fashion and Design, from Architecture to New Media, TV, Games
and beyond. Membership is free and you can join by clicking on the website link
https://connect.innovateuk.org/web/creativektn
About
Thumbstar Games
Thumbstar is a global mobile entertainment
service provider run by industry veterans who have created, developed,
published and distributed some of the most standout brands in the history of
video games. www.thumbstar.com
About
TechExcel
TechExcel is a leading provider of collaborative
issue management software for various disciplines including software
development, customer service, IT service, and help desk management. www.techexcel.com