The final judging for the Iowa State Video Game Design Competition and Exhibition was held yesterday in the Great Hall of the Memorial Union.

The two semester-long competition, which was open to students in business, design, communications and technology, challenged students to work as a startup game development company to design and build a functional video game.

Video game entries were accepted in three categories: PC/console, mobile/browser, and serious, which included educational and training games.

Games were judged by three main criteria: art and aesthetics, technical merit, and the team’s business plan for marketing the game. Three prizes were awarded in each category based on the judges’ evaluations. In addition to the judges’ awards, two prizes were awarded for the most popular games based on public vote.

Voting for the final two awards was conducted both online and in-person. Votes could be cast by “liking” any of the nominees’ videos on YouTube, shot and posted specifically for the competition. Paper ballots were also cast at the Veishea showcase on April 16th, as well as yesterday afternoon during the public showcase at the Memorial Union.

The judges for the event were Nathan Sumsion, senior game designer at Avalanche-Disney Interactive Studio, as well as Andres Reinot, 8Monkey Labs, and Brian Mennecke, ISU associate professor of supply chain and information systems.

Sumsion culminated the evening with a lecture addressing communication roles within video game design

Entries ranged anywhere from “Robotic Warfare,” a first-person shooter game, to “That 1 Science Game,” an educational point-and-click puzzle game. One of the more unique entries, tentatively named “Digit,” used motion-sensing gloves worn by the player to interact with music and on-screen graphics.

Teams receiving first place in any division were awarded $10,000. Teams placing second and third were awarded $2,500 and $1,000, respectively. The teams receieving the most public ballots recieved $2,000 for first place and $1,000 for second place. This money was awarded in addition to any of the division awards the teams had receieved.

Winners were as follows:

PC/console division:

1. Broken Lightbulb – “Titus”

2. Positive Thread – “RoboRotate”

3. Drew and Steve Labs – “Project Transploration”

Mobile/browser division:

1. Mammalsoft – “Colony Commander”

2. Motion Ink Studios – “iRain”

3. Vesuvi Studios – “Meteor Madness”

Serious division:

1. Knathos – “That 1 Science Game”

2. Code-Blooded – “EcoMan”

3. Digit – “Digit”

Fan vote:

1. Mammalsoft – “Colony Commander”

2. Drew and Steve Labs – “Project Transploration”

The competition was funded by a $50,000 grant from the Motorola Foundation.