The final 10 weeks of the academic year are our busiest. The campus is alive with students. In teams, they would be hard at work, creating magnificent games. Some of them would be building arcade boxes – the performative nature of the player being central to the game’s experience. Others would be building vertical slices of the games they’ve been burning to make – experiences that are greater than the sum of their parts. Even the third year students, sometimes find time to turn a game in – answering their research questions through game design. And then there are even more games – ones that were made during the year and updated and polished for our show floor.
As part of the Gotland Game Conference, students present these games to a jury of academics, alumni and industry luminaries. They also show it to their toughest audience: their peers and the public. For three days at the end of their spring semester, our students demonstrate, discuss, and present their games, taking feedback on their creations.
This takes them to the end of their academic year, and our conference: the award show where we recognize the hard work and talent that went into all the games.
This year, of course, was different. This year our show floor was at itch.io. This year the floor was open to everyone with an internet connection. 39 student teams choose to participate, and over the past 4 days they have received 524 comments with feedback and well over 1700 ratings of their games!
Big thanks to everyone who submitted games, and who took the time to play and provide feedback! Without further ado, we are proud to present the winners of the GGC 2020:
The Award Winners 2020
- Best Presentation: Chairades by Fat Duck Games, 3rd-year
- Best Audio: KeyRivals by A Minor Production, 1st-year
- Best Art Direction: Urskog by Plantus, 2nd-year
- Excellence in Storytelling: A Letter From Momo by Raven’s Reive, 2nd-year
- The Innovation Award: Chairades by Fat Duck Games, 3rd-year
- Best Level Design: Kitsuninjas by Funsize Bonsais, 2nd-year
- Best Game Feel: Kitsuninjas by Funsize Bonsais, 2nd-year
- Best in Show: Chairades by Fat Duck Games, 3rd-year
All 39 submissions are still available to play on the Itch.io Jam Page! You can also check out this live-stream of the games, hosted by the student union.
Finally: a big congrats to all the third year students who graduates today! We’ll see the rest of you again (on zoom) in September. Keep washing your hands, and have a great summer everybody!