By Jim Rossignol on March 16th, 2010 at 3:58 pm.
The Intel Troll (pictured) dropped us a line to announce their new Level Up competition, and it’s looking fairly shiny. There’s a couple of tiers to the competition, with pros/hobbyists and students judged separately. The lowdown is that the grand prize for professional/hobbyist level entries is an all-expense paid trip to the Tokyo Game Show. The prize for the student-level competition is a pass to GDC San Francisco 2011, as well as marketing support for their game from Intel and “a marketing firm”. There are also “Best Game For Desktop, Laptop, and Netbook” categories, each with their own $5000-plus-big-fat-PC prizes, and more for “judges choice” awards. Thousands of dollars worth of stuff, basically. So that’s probably worth looking into if you’re in the game-making business. Details on how to get in on it below.
Intel say that the competition works like this:
Developers submit their game demo CONCEPTS (a few sentences and a visual if they have one) to us from now until June 21. Anyone can register more than one. Intel then reviews the submissions and selects finalists, who are then asked to turn their concepts into a fleshy frankenbeast. They will be alerted by July 11. Final code is due by August 31. Final judging takes place September, winners announced in October.
So if you’ve got an idea, and the will to execute it, then the website is here.
Intel say they’ve got a bunch of high-profile judges to take a look at the finalists, and while we can’t announce them here, there are some names that you lot will be very familiar with. It’s good stuff.
Level Up is always an entertaining and productive competition, so it’s great to see it returning for a fourth year. Last year’s stuff can be found here, if you fancy a look at the kind of thing people entered.
And good luck, I suppose.
16/03/2010 at 16:14 Theory says:
The troll is from Project Offset. Whatever happened to that?
16/03/2010 at 16:16 rocketman71 says:
They’re trying to best DNF’s record.
I don’t think they will. GeorgieB is a tough nut to crack.
16/03/2010 at 16:24 rargphlam says:
They were actually bought up by Intel. The rumor was that Project Offset was going to come with whatever graphics solution Intel has been cooking up.
16/03/2010 at 17:01 Heliosicle says:
They released a video recently of project offset, I think they’re just using the engine currently to show cool visuals for what you can do with intels latest hardware etc.
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/blind-giant-project-offset/62097 – video.
16/03/2010 at 18:41 PHeMoX says:
Project Offset died when it got bought up by Intel.
Too bad, as the first serious video looked incredible. Last I heard was they aren’t even making an actual game anymore, but just their engine showcase projects.
16/03/2010 at 22:49 RagingLion says:
That’s really sad. I discovered its existence this time last year and got really excited by what had been shown. I want someone to make that kind of game though.
16/03/2010 at 16:20 GetOutOfHereStalker says:
hi dad
16/03/2010 at 16:27 DMcCool says:
Couldn’t really be less inticing as game making competitions go (looking at last years) but that doesn’t make it any the less lovely. Supporting that old DIY “Get out there and make YOUR OWN shooting game, or driving game, or puzzle game” ideal. Sort of thing I’m glad is happening but doesn’t really effect me much.
16/03/2010 at 16:34 DMJ says:
Isn’t that a picture of the guy responsible for designing the GMA950 display hardware?
16/03/2010 at 16:35 KungFuMassa says:
Erik here writing from the Level Up team. This year we got the ability to award cash prizes again — that easily makes it more enticing than last time ;)
16/03/2010 at 19:01 robrob says:
Hey, a blue badge! *secret Intel handshake*
16/03/2010 at 16:43 Tei says:
Here is my idea:
Superman Deathmatch. Superman enters a clonning space area, and evil superman, angry superman and green superman is generated. You has one of these characters has to kill all others with your god-like powers. Travel back in time, and stop you tryiing to stop you killing you.
Will to execute it: zero.
16/03/2010 at 16:49 AndrewC says:
What does Green Superman do?
16/03/2010 at 17:15 Tei says:
Green Superman is the least interesting of all. He built supersteampunk motorcyles (much like Tron Legacy, only better) and “shot web”.
I don’t think making a challenge about “game ideas” is a good idea, how you know if a idea for a game is good or bad? most ideas that look good on paper, often end unplayable ( Like “lucidity” ). Is like judging a graphic card, based on the draw of such graphic card by a 5 years old.
16/03/2010 at 17:59 KungFuMassa says:
As a reminder, we’re asking for a demo here — a proof of concept. If the game does just one thing, like, it lets you drop sheep from an airplane into trampoline’s with a goal of getting the sheep to hit the airplane it was dropped from, that’s fine. Full-on experience’s aren’t necessary. Don’t be such a downer.
16/03/2010 at 16:49 Sagan says:
Tei, I recommend you at least enter that idea:
16/03/2010 at 17:03 KungFuMassa says:
Thanks for pointing that out. We are really keen on growing the competition and I’m hoping this will help things a bit.
16/03/2010 at 16:52 Andrige says:
Well this was very interesting, thanks for the information!
16/03/2010 at 16:56 SpinalJack says:
I’m not a student any more. does that make me a hobbyist?
16/03/2010 at 17:01 KungFuMassa says:
Yup.
16/03/2010 at 17:51 Resin says:
Funny that they should lump professional and hobbyist together that way. I would think that the average student was a bit more advanced than the average hobbyist. Or at least than me.
16/03/2010 at 18:43 PHeMoX says:
It’s a stupid classification to begin with, as even hobbyists can be very professional about their hobby, without earning money with it.
16/03/2010 at 20:35 KungFuMassa says:
We wanted to create a special track for students, but that left us with a challenge — what do we call the other track? “Everyone else”? Heh.
16/03/2010 at 17:15 Cooper says:
I like the idea of an Intel troll trawling nerdy PC hardware forums and winding up both NVidia and ATI fanboys…
16/03/2010 at 17:18 SanguineAngel says:
He’s very polite though :)
16/03/2010 at 19:51 LionsPhil says:
Good. At least Intel can write working drivers (at least for their internally-developed hardware).
16/03/2010 at 18:17 Spoon says:
All I can think of when looking at that troll picture is:
HEY YOU GUYYYYYYYYYS!
16/03/2010 at 18:52 Resin says:
So they say they want an image and a few sentences – is that really it – or is that in addition to a working playable game? Is just an idea enough or do they want something they can actually play?
16/03/2010 at 19:09 KungFuMassa says:
Phase one: A description and an image if you have one.
Phase two: If we think the idea sounds fun/awesome/etc. we’ll be in touch after the initial entry phase and ask you to submit code. You’ll have until the end of August to do that.
Phase three: You ween! And we give you many prizesssss, yessss.
Did I mention you get to keep all your IP, and all we ask is the right to promote and distribute your game demo? And by distribute, we mean one of the prizes will be getting your demo onto Steam, and we need your permission for that. :)
16/03/2010 at 19:13 KungFuMassa says:
Hey folks, some more infodumps for you:
-We’ll happily accept games you’ve submitted to other competitions.
-If your game is already built, that’s cool, submit away! If you’ve got more than one, send ‘em over. I want to keep our judges busy in September
-If your game is currently a barely working demo…hey, that’s cool! As long as the core of what you’re trying to impart is there, that’s fine.
Okay that’s enough out of me.
16/03/2010 at 19:18 Vitamin Powered says:
I’ve seen competitions like this before that, upon reading the small print, were revealed to accept all copyright and ownership of the idea as a condition of entry.
I’m not saying that’s the case here, but anybody looking to enter would be well advised to look at the entry conditions.
16/03/2010 at 19:56 KungFuMassa says:
Nope, none of that. Don’t forget that Intel isn’t in the business of making or selling games, so your IP remains your own. But I absolutely suggest everyone read the terms and conditions regardless – you should know what you’re signing up for. Anyone who creates content for a living should.
16/03/2010 at 19:25 Devan says:
@KungFuMassa
Do you know what merits the game ideas are judeged on? Is it based on how well it makes use of CPU hardware, how fun it is, how creative it is, how well it would perform in the market, etc? How important are the graphics? Would a social game have a chance?
Any hints you can give in that direction would be helpful.
Thanks!
16/03/2010 at 20:24 KungFuMassa says:
Game ideas (NOT the demos) will be judged on creativity, originality and how well our panel thinks the game would engage the user. With the game idea, any graphic (screen shots, videos, etc.) are optional.
If you want to get a sense of the judging criteria for the demos, check out the rules page at http://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/level-up-2010-terms-and-conditions/?cid=sw:LU2010RHN1
16/03/2010 at 19:32 Jacob says:
Ern, lookout students here’s the official rules:
Apparently there are 5 student blocks, and the submission system allows for unlimited entries. So students will succeed not by creating good game concepts, but by spamming Intel’s system.
That’s a pretty depressing way to run a game competition.
16/03/2010 at 22:23 perfectheat says:
KungFuMassa: What do you mean by submit code? If I enter with some visual concepts and a design document for the June 21st deadline, and end up being qualified, could I then make the game in Epic’s UDK and submit an install? Or do you need the project file?
16/03/2010 at 23:59 KungFuMassa says:
@perfectcheat: We need an executable that can run on Windows. ;) That’s basically it.
16/03/2010 at 22:43 Klaus says:
That troll creature is what I will imagine behind the monitor when I deal with internet trolls.
16/03/2010 at 23:51 HeruFeanor says:
@KungFuMassa – I notice that the contest rules talk a lot about hardware utilization, especially good utilization of multi-core processors. This makes since, given Intel’s business. So what I wonder is, how is impressive hardware utilization weighed against such factors as creativity and gameplay?
17/03/2010 at 17:10 KungFuMassa says:
Odd, I thought I responded to this already. Here goes again:
The hardware utilization will weigh approx. 50% and the creative elements as a group will represent the remaining 50%.
17/03/2010 at 05:50 KungFuMassa says:
@HeruFeanor: The hardware utilization will weigh approx. 50% and the creative elements as a group will represent the remaining 50%.
17/03/2010 at 17:11 KungFuMassa says:
Oh, I see. I did respond to this already. Whoops! Sorry, I suck.
17/03/2010 at 11:45 Dan says:
@KungFuMassa
Possibly not the place, but there’s a mistype in one of the weblinks. On the user homepage:
2. Update your game entries at any time on your My Entries page.
The My Entries link should take you to my_entries.php, but takes you to myentries.php and delivers a blank screen.
17/03/2010 at 17:14 KungFuMassa says:
Thank you for pointing this out kind RPSer, our Web monkeys will be soundly thrashed.
17/03/2010 at 12:07 terry says:
This smacks of Intel’s involvement in sponsoring a demo (ie the arty farty realtime generated codewonk stuff, not 15 minutes of learning how to crawl under objects and use WASD) competition a few years back, with more or less exactly the same sort of dangling carrots. Of course, being Intel they totally misunderstood how demos work and insisted on an arbitrary 30 second length limit, which is frankly like bringing Carl Sagan back from the dead but forcing him to lecture only about breakfast cereal.
Honestly, when these monoliths get involved in “innovation” that usually marks the point at which any form of it flies out the fucking window.
/gets angry about video games
17/03/2010 at 17:13 KungFuMassa says:
This isn’t that. Have a cookie. :)
17/03/2010 at 19:12 SpinalJack says:
If I use UNITY will that rule me out of any prizes?
17/03/2010 at 23:21 RavenKel says:
We need an executable that can run on Windows. Choice of engine, development tools, creation style is all yours
17/03/2010 at 23:04 RavenKel says:
We need an executable that can run on Windows. Choice of engine, development tools, creation style is all yours.
24/03/2010 at 19:03 Rhys Paul Hovey says:
For some reason this year,. I cannot enter my game demo, the software pretends to malfunction and will not display my entry, and no one will respond to any of my messages. The game is SYNTH video game. We’ll see how they respond, and how they will know about me without RADARING me, when I change my IP address, and name, and game name.
07/12/2010 at 03:09 Rhys Paul Hovey says:
SYNTH:Electropix under paul richard and took home 1st prize in best game for a desktop category. Thanks to all at INTEL!! Thanks for having a games demo competition that I did not have to PAY to enter :)
http://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2010/11/30/congratulations-to-the-winners-in-the-professional-category-of-level-up-2010/