Changes to the game categories for 2019

Due to the cost associated with using Gamemaker it is no longer a competition category.  It has been replaced by Godot a 2D and 3D cross-platform compatible game engine released as open source software under a license from MIT.  The website has great supporting information and tutorials for those new to GODOT and game development.

https://godotengine.org/

In 2019 Students may enter in one of six (6) categories:

1. Year 5-8: Playable Game developed in Scratch
2. Year 5-8: Playable Game developed in GODOT
3. Year 5-8: Playable Game developed in any other free, or free for education, game development platform.
4. Year 9-12: Playable Game developed in GODOT
5. Year 9-12: Playable Game developed in Unity3D or Unreal Engine
6. Year 9-12: Playable Game developed in any other free, or free for education, game development platform.

Could this be you in 2019?

Check out this inspiring video from Behind the News of the 2018 winners in the Year 5-8 Playable game, Open category, St Anthony's School (WA). Could this be you in 2019?

2018 Winners!

Well done to all our 2018 finalists. The standard of games was very high but there can be only one winner in each category.

The winners of the 2018 Australian STEM Video Game Challenge are announced below. If you do not see your team code and game name here, you have been eliminated from this year’s competition. We thank you for entering and hope that we will see you again in 2019 with even bigger and better games.

Certificates and feedback will be sent out to all mentors throughout November.

Keep your eye out for next year’s theme which will be on our website in the first week of November.

And the winners are...

Round 2 results

Well done to all teams that entered the STEM Challenge this year.  Round 2 was tough for our judges.  It is very clear that so many of you have put a lot of work into your games and GDD’s and you should give yourselves a pat on the back, the competition has been of a high standard this year.

Certificates and a small gift from us will be sent out to all Mentors throughout November.  Don’t forget to keep your eye out for next year’s theme that will be announced at PAX and will be up on our website in the first week of November – maybe you can get planning early for next year’s STEM Challenge!

Show full article for round 2 results

Phase I Judging 2018 is now complete!

Congratulations to all the teams that submitted games this year.  Our Judges have worked very hard over the last few weeks playing your games and checking your GDD's and we can now release the results for Round One.

If you do not find your team code and name below then you have moved on to Round 2 - Congratulations!  

Show full article for round 1 results

2017 winners announced!

The winners of the 2017 STEM Video Game Challenge have been announced.

View 2017 winners

Phase 3 Judging Update

Thank you to all our entrants and mentors for your continued patience. Phase III judging is almost complete. Our judges are working very hard and are nearing the end. Winners will be announced very soon.

Good luck to our Stem 2017 finalists!

Results Update for Unity 9-12 Category

Further to our announcement yesterday, we are pleased to announce the Top 5 for this category are:

7FDEBD7E
3CDE25CC
A44040CA
21C2BDFD
E5637727

Congratulations to the above teams, who are now STEM Finalists and proceed to Phase 3 of the judging.

Well done to all teams who entered - the standard was so high this year!

Best wishes

STEM Project Team

12th October 2017

STEM Category 9-12 Unity - Update

This is the last category to be judged and we are waiting on one final score.  I can confirm that the following teams formed the top four:

3CDE25CC

A44040CA

21C2BDFD

7FDEBD7E

We are just waiting to see which other team joins them as the Top 5!

We will update this ASAP, but congratulations to the teams named above - you will proceed as STEM Finalists into Phase 3!

Best wishes

The STEM Project Team

11th October 2017

Phase 2 Results for Category Scratch 5-8

Hi Everyone

First of all, thank you for your continued patience.  This has been the largest category, and the one which experienced the most complexities with a number of disqualifications, judge illness, etc.  So thanks again.  But the results are now in!

The top 6 teams (there was a tie between 5th and 6th) who will proceed as STEM finalists to Phase 3, in no particular order, are:

• F8591DC0
• 85BDA1DE
• AC009E75
• 6706ABF4
• 299A1A16

• F75B5458

Almost 100 teams competed in the Scratch category within Phase 2 - it was a highly competitive category and we wanted to thank all of you for entering STEM this year.  If you leave the competition at this stage, you can hold your heads high.  You have done yourselves and your school exceedingly proud.  As with the other categories, we will be posting a feedback scoring spreadsheet up, on the website, as a link, so you can download this and see your individual scores and also any textual commentary made by the judges.

For those of you who have been successful in proceeding to Phase 3, bear with us, and we hope to post the results next week, announcing the overall winner in this category!

Well done!

The STEM Project Team

Phase 2 Judging - Results Update

Hello All

Thank you for your patience.  We have Phase 2 results for four of the six categories, and all teams listed below, in no particular order, will be progressing to Phase 3 as STEM finalists:

Category 5-8 Gamemaker:

26CB0F81; 4FE385B3; 6EF16741; 72ED8F0B; 26E8E4F9 & 45CBB88A (six finalists in this category as two scores were tied - this was close!)

Category 5-8 Open:

2FE10CE8; 122FC273; C16E2F03; DE2A54FD & ED743254.

Category 9-12 Gamemaker:

F877A781; F3849427; DB5448CC; 2012B77D; DB6EE86E, & EEB3FE1E (six finalists in this category too!)

Category 9-12 Open:

8BE7DC75; 90FBAFB2; B8064FA1; F47D37B0 & C8BA25BC.

Results for the remaining two categories (5-8 Scratch - waiting on final 6 scores from judges, and 9-12 Unity, waiting on final score) will be posted ASAP.

Congratulations to all Phase 3 finalists on reaching the final round of judging.  And a big well done to all other entrants who are leaving the competition at Phase 2.  The standard of submissions this year was very high, and you have all done so well.

Once all judging scores are in at Phase 2, we will be posting a link to the judging scoresheet, which shows the breakdown of the scores out of the total 500, with any textual commentary that the judges provided at Phase 2, which will hopefully provide some useful feedback to all teams who made it through to Phase 2.

Thank you again for your continued patience.

Best wishes

The STEM Project Team

11th October 2017

Phase 2 Judging Update

Dear Entrants

I'm sure some of you are becoming impatient to know the scores from Phase 2 judging.  We have had a number of issues this week, including several disqualifications that we are currently dealing with, and so we ask you to bear with us, whilst we double check the final scores and make sure everything is right before we announce those who have been successful at Phase 2.

It is hoped that we will be able to update this website later today with some of the categories and then early next week with others. 

Thank you for your continued patience.

Best wishes,

STEM Project Team

06/10/2017

Phase 2 Judging - Update

Dear Participants

We are sure those who have proceeded to Phase II of the judging rounds are waiting impatiently to find out if they've got through to Phase III.

We had hoped to be publishing the results this week of Phase II, but unfortunately we have encountered some delays on the way, and it is now probably going to be early next week before we can publish anything about Phase II, and then we hope to have a quick turnaround for the final round.

The standard of entries within the competition as a whole has been exceedingly high and there has been a lot of stiff competition, particularly in the Scratch Years 5-8 category, where some very high scores, including one of a perfect 500, have been attained!

We will bring you the finalised list of Phase II scores as soon as they become available in a complete list.

Thank you for your continued patience.

The STEM Challenge Team at ACER

Important Notice

Dear Participants

As you are aware, Phase II judging is now progressing and we should be able to release more information around 28th September regarding the final entries across the categories who will progress to Phase III.

However, please ensure that you do not attempt to modify your game (for those who have submitted an online link, i.e. for Scratch entries) since its initial share, which will of been prior to the end of August's submission deadline. 

This is extremely important as it may result in modified entries being removed and disqualified from the competition, which is of course the last thing we would want but we need to keep this fair to all.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Best regards,

The Project Team at ACER Foundation

Phase I Judging is now complete!

First of all, the Project Team do want to thank each and every one of you who has entered this competition.  There have been some fantastic entries, illustrating a high level of technical engagement and storytelling. Without you guys, we would not have a competition, so thank you very much for being part of the journey!

Phase I judging is now complete and entries that have passed this stage can be found on the list here. 

If your team/game name is not on the list, then unfortunately your entry will not be progressing to Phase II but well done on your submission!

We really appreciate that there will be disappointments at this stage.  It is not possible to give individual feedback on Phase I but the following list shows some of the reasons why entries did not proceed to Phase II:

• GDD missing in that a blank and/or other document submitted
• GDD incomplete/insufficient information
• Game file link not working (more common on Scratch entries than other platforms)
• Game file requiring additional software to play
• Game not loading due to missing data file (and so the game couldn't be opened)
• Game not loading in Windows (some files had MAC file extensions for example)
• Game file uploaded with incorrect file extension so unable to open and play
• Game is multiplayer game and so the judge could not play the game on their own

To quantify the above, the technical specifications for the games were very clear as follows, and the games which have not been able to proceed to Phase II have generally fallen down on one or more of the following points:

• All entries must have a complete Games Design Document
• All submitted games must run in a Microsoft Windows operating system
• All submitted games must utilise a keyboard and mouse based control system
• All submitted games must function, first and foremost, as single player games
• All submitted games must function/run independently of a need to download/install specific game development software, or additional software
• Submitted games should refrain from the use of store-bought or purchased assets

Phase II judging will use the Judging Rubric to score each of the elements against an overall mark of 500 (200 for the GDD and 300 for the Game itself).

Phase II Judging will take place between the 14th - 22nd September 2017.

The top 5 entries for each of the six individual categories will proceed to Phase III (so there will be 30 games judged in the final round).

Stop Press!!! Deadline Extended until Monday 28th August, at 12 Noon (AEST)!!!

It has become apparent that quite a few of you are experiencing technical issues when submitting, for example, such as the game file size being too big (you need to compress this to a .zip file), etc.

So we have decided to give you another couple of days until Monday 28th August, at 12 Noon. 

We must however reiterate that any games submitted after this deadline will not be accepted.  This is because Phase I of the Judging starts on Tuesday morning.  If your game is not submitted by Monday's deadline, your entry will be null and void.

With thanks

The Project Team

contact@stemgames.org.au

GOOD LUCK!!

The Project Team would like to wish all teams the very best of luck in the Competition.

The Judging Phases are broken down into the following:

First Phase: 30 August - 8 September - all entries assessed and complete entries proceed to Second Phase.

Second Phase: 13 - 22 September - all entries judged according to Judging Rubric and top five entries in each category proceed to Final Phase.

Third Phase: 27 September - 4 October, the top five entries are re-assessed and scores submitted.

Final results will be collated, with Winners being announced on 9th October 2017.

An Award Ceremony will take place at PAX in Melbourne, 27-29 October 2017!!

How to Submit your Game

Mentors upload the GDD and the game via their Mentor Login on the Portal.

Remember to ensure you've adhered to the Guidelines so your game conforms to requirements.

You will see a table showing team names on the left and a link to upload GDD.  When you click the GDD link, you will see a submission form.  If you are putting an online link to a game, then you can add the URL here.  Once you've completed this step, there is a link to upload the game file in .zip format.  Please note that if you have put an online link within the GDD section, you will not need to upload a game.

Be sure to include everything you want to (including images, appendices, storyboard charts, etc) in the single GDD document, in PDF format, as there is not an option to go back and add further documentation!  Also, if an online link doesn't work for example, the Judges will not be able to put you through to Phase II.  So check everything (including online links) to make sure everything is present and correct.

We were also told that there is a query on whether to include student names within the GDD as there were conflicting instructions.  The answer - either/or.  We will accept the GDD with names, and this will not affect your submission.

Any queries, please email the project team at contact@stemgames.org.au and we will try and respond to your query as quickly as possible.

Good luck!  Phase I judging starts next week!

AIE open day, Saturday 20 May

Considering a career in game development? The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) campuses in Sydney, Melbourne Canberra and Adelaide will open their doors to visitors eager to find out about full-time and part-time courses available for students in 2018. Drop in and learn from AIE teaching staff, industry experts and current students on Saturday 20 May!
Learn about AIE open day

Resource library update

The 'Resources' section of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge website has been updated to include a broader range of resources for students and teachers, and topical filtering to help you locate items of interest quickly and easily. New resources will be added regularly, helping to create an expansive library of tutorials, articles and activities for budding game developers across Australia!
Visit the new 'Resources' section

School holiday courses for budding game developers

Want to enter the 2017 Australian STEM Video Game Challenge but unsure where to start?
Good news! The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) are offering school holiday courses designed to provide an introduction to game development in Unreal or Unity3D. Intended for students aged 12+, AIE school holiday courses are taking place in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra and Adelaide.

Register for AIE School Holiday Courses

PAX 2017: Dates announced

PAX Australia, supporters of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge and home to our annual awards ceremony, have officially released dates for their 2017 exhibition at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre. PAX Australia will run from Friday 27- Sunday 29 October 2017.

Academy of Interactive Entertainment joins STEM VGC as Major Partner

We're excited to announce that specialist educators in games, animation and visual effects, the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) have officially signed on as major partner of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge! AIE have years of experience in producing top quality game designers, developers and digital artists and will bring a large network of resources and support to the students and teachers participating in the competition.

Australian STEM Video Game Challenge to return in May 2017

The Australian STEM Video Game Challenge will run again in 2017, with ongoing support from the Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE). Official dates will be announced soon, with the competition currently scheduled to run between May and September.

Teachers re-evaluate value of video games

The Australian STEM Video Game Challenge is one of the first video game design and development competitions to specifically target an education-based audience here in Australia, and is among a number of technology-focussed initiatives generating a shift in the way video games are percieved by teachers, students and learning communities.
Read article (via The Age)

STEM VGC winners establish scholarship

Inaugural winners of the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge, Josh Caratelli and Liam McLachlan, have generously reinvested their prize money, using their winnings to establish a five year scholarship at Elwood College in Victoria.
Read article (via PC Mag Australia)