Looking for information on the 2023 Challenge? Find it here.
Congratulations to all 2021 Participants! See the results here.
GameSalad Presents:
The 2020-21 Video Game Creator Challenge
Join thousands of students all over the United States as they build awesome video games and compete for prizes and bragging rights!
The GameSalad 2020-21 Video Game Creator Challenge aims to engage students in Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math (“STEAM”) skills by challenging them to create original video games.
Submissions will be accepted through April 2, 2021 (deadline extended)!
Eligibility
This contest is open to all students who:
- Attend school in the United States, one of it’s territories or districts, or an American Armed Forces School Abroad,
- Are no younger than 10 years of age and no older than 19 years of age as of the end of the Contest Period (April 2, 2021).
- Are in grades 5 – 12 attending pubic, private, religious, or charter schools or are enrolled in a GED or correspondence school program, or are attending a home school program.
- Have their parent’s / legal guardian’s permission to participate in the Challenge.
Judging Criteria
A panel of judges designated by the contest sponsors will review and score all submissions based on the following criteria:
- Functionality – is the game largely free of bugs
- Innovation / Creative Vision – uniqueness of the game concept
- Engaging game play – the extent to which games keep players fully engaged
- Well balanced game play – clarity of game play goals, balance of challenges and rewards, feedback to the player
Education Game Criteria
For the education game category, games much teach one or more of the following learning objectives:
- 3.OA.D.9: Use Arithmetic Patterns: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/OA/#CCSS.Math.Content.3.OA.D.9
- 3.MD.C.5.a: Understand Area is Measured in Unit Squares: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/MD/#CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.5
- 3.MD.C.7.c: Using Tiling to Prove Area = LxW: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/3/MD/#CCSS.Math.Content.3.MD.C.7
- 4.MD.C.5.a: Measure Angles in Reference to Circles: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/4/MD/#CCSS.Math.Content.4.MD.C.5
- 5.OA.B.3: Terms and Rules in Numerical Patterns: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/5/OA/#CCSS.Math.Content.5.OA.B.3
- 5.NF.B.5.a: Relative Size of a Product and its Factors: http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Content/5/NF/#CCSS.Math.Content.5.NF.B.5
Prizes
The prizes awarded to each of the winners will consist of a one year GameSalad Pro subscription, the option to have GameSalad publish their game on to the iOS and Android app stores, in addition to the following prizes for winners of a given category:
Best Overall in Age Level Group: A laptop computer whose retail value is not more than $600.
Best Educational Game: A laptop or tablet computer whose retail value is not more than $300. Consideration for inclusion on the Legends of Learning arcade.
Full rules and guidelines available at https://gamesalad.com/education/2020-game-creator-challenge/rules/
