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| The Student Game Award is the newest category in the already wide scope of the Game Development World Championships. (Source: GDWC) |
The GDWC, or Game Development World Championships, is a Finnish-based organization founded in 2016. They don’t talk much about themselves, but the organization takes on the mighty task of running an ongoing competition for game developers who can submit their entries throughout the year.
Judging is ongoing with fan favorites highlighted along the way. Check out the site, games are regularly showcased and they feature a wide range of art styles and genres. It’s a great place for inspiration. Thanks to the help of Autodesk, the GDWC have added a Student Game Award and we include information about that category below.
The entire competition has a wealth of sponsors including gold sponsors: Autodesk, VRKiwi, Houdini, 80LV, and Viope; silver sponsors: Transfluent, ExpressVPN, The Chris Alan (sound design), no starch press, Construct3, Valco, 80LV, Marvelous Designer, GameMaker Studio 2, Arcweave, 1Password, and Ludo.
In addition, they have also expanded their VR Awards in conjunction with the VRKiwi. They’ll be honoring the best VR Game of 2021 and also recognize the best VR Prototype of 2021. Prizes include publishing deals, funding support, and hardware. More information about the VR Awards is here.
Student Game Award Launched by Autodesk and GDWC
Autodesk, the software company behind professional 3D animation and modeling tools like Maya and 3ds Max, is collaborating with the Game Development World Championship (GDWC) in bringing a student-focused category as a part of this year’s championship.
The category is called the ‘Student Game Award’ and is now open for entries from students all over the world and in all fields of study. Whether you're studying game development, biology, anthropology, or something else, you can enter this category as long as you have a game to show.
The Student Game Award is focused on highlighting the next generation of talented and innovative game developers and artists for their outstanding game design and development accomplishments from 2D to 3D and anything in between.
“It’s exciting to collaborate with GDWC to launch the competition’s first-ever student category, recognizing the talent of emerging creators, storytellers, and artists in the games industry,” comments Kelly Ng Wan, Games Industry Marketing Specialist at Autodesk. “We hope this will inspire young people to apply, regardless of their area of study, and we look forward to seeing all the creativity and artistry showcased in this year's applications.”
“Working together with Autodesk has allowed us an unprecedented chance to make this category a reality and to bring limelight to student developers and their games. I hope we can also encourage more students to look into game development, whether it’s as a potential career or just for a hobby,” said Olli Mäntylä, GDWC Director.
The best five teams in the Student Game Award category are rewarded with visibility and cool swag directly from Autodesk, with the winning team also earning themselves executive coaching sessions from the career coach extraordinaire, Jean Leggett.
Any student or student team-developed game already submitted to the GDWC 2021 can enroll in the Student Game Award, and participation is completely free. Student Game Award can be found at the GDWC website: https://thegdwc.com/student-game-award.
Why?
The goal of the GDWC is to help games get the recognition they deserve. Categories include Pro Hobby, Mobile, VR, Student, and Game Jam. Games are also eligible for the Fan Favorite award.
The GDWC says, “we believe in new game developers and want to give them the chance to show their games for a large audience. For game developers, this is an easy opportunity to get extra visibility for yourselves, help to motivate yourselves, and most importantly, it doesn't cost a penny.”
What do we think?
The GDWC says the competition takes place on the Internet. As such the site works as a hub for ideas and information for game developers. In addition to contests, sponsors offer a diverse set of tools and services to help gamers on the way. Their site is more than a contest registration; it’s a portal to ideas and information.