You may remember that the winners of Epic’s Make Something Unreal 2013 were announced last month. Four games inspired by the theme of “Mendelian Inheritance: genetics and genomics” impressed a panel of judges made up of games industry veterans, including our own Tim.
Now you can watch a video showing highlights of all twelve of the pitches and, in between them, see Tim’s serious face. You can also keep up with the progress of the competition by following the Make Something Unreal Facebook page.
You can see the winning pitches for:
- Loch Ness, by Dead Shark Triplepunch of Blekinge Institute of Technology, Sweden, at 3:25. Loch Ness is a multiplayer FPS sports game where the objective is to score goals by blasting a ball through the opposing team’s goal. It features evolving environments and a force weapon known as a PUFF which pushes other players around.
- Mendel’s Farm, by Static Games of Bournemouth University, at 6:35. A game of agricultural management, Mendel’s Farm is all about making a successful business from breeding mutant chickens. No, really. Static Games describe it as “Theme Hospital meets Farmville.”
- Polymorph, by Team Polymorph of Staffordshire University, at 7:16. This third-person platformer is about stealing evolutionary traits from other creatures and using these to solve problems and take control of your environment. Making use of a rhino’s horn is always useful for butting your way through obstacles.
- Beings, by Team Summit of University of Abertay, Dundee at 8:58. A mixture of puzzles and platform play, Beings is primarily pitched at an audience between 6 and 10 years of age. It challenges players to breed creatures that inherit the characteristics of their parents, characteristics that will help them to overcome obstacles and reach their destination.
The teams were ranked on a range of criteria including scientific
implementation, concept originality and presentation quality. The judging panel
comprised Jo Twist, CEO of UKIE, Stephen Gaffney, CEO of Fireteam, our own editor, Tim Edwards, Darren Logan of the Sanger institute and Mike Gamble of Epic Games.
These four finalists will be mentored by Splash Damage, Ninja Theory, Lucid Games and Climax Studios, before going on to compete in the final at the Gadget Show Live in Birmingham on April 3rd, where they’ll make the last adjustments to their games.
The other teams taking part were:
- Team Fat Totem, University of Abertay.
- Team Diploid, University of Abertay.
- Team DN-ARK, Universite Montpelier 3 Paul Valery.
- Hawkai Games, Staffordshire University.
- Frobot Studios, Staffordshire University.
- Lodurum Studions, Staffordshire University.
- Team Catalyst, Northumbria and Newcastle University.
- Legendary Mufflin, Anglia Ruskin University.