UNT 2003 GAME CONTEST WRAP-UP

For the second year in a row, a couple of GIGnews editors, along with several others, were invited to judge a game contest presented by Ian Parberry’s Game Programming and Max Kazemzadeh’s Game Art classes at the University of North Texas.

With no prior game development experience, and in the span of only fourteen weeks, more than a dozen teams of programming and art students worked together to design, create the art and write the code for a simple sprite-based full-screen real-time game.

Without the support of a school publicity machine like many other game programs, Parberry’s Laboratory for Recreational Computing (LARC) has been quietly and consistently turning out excellent game programmers. The program’s alumni can be now be found with some of the most well-known and respected development teams in the industry.

Not only are the students talented but almost without exception they are among the most personable and determined students you’re ever likely to meet. Perhaps it’s Parberry’s English charm rubbing off, along with the task of creating games in the somewhat off-the-beaten-glamorous-game-path of Denton, Texas, that keeps the students focused. Whatever the secret, these games made us laugh out loud (Zombie Beer Run), charmed even the most cynical (The Lost Child), and rather impressed even the most experienced of the judges (Panzer auf Deutsch). Some of the game demos are available for download online from the LARC website. Click here to check out a few.

Finally, before the contest, several of us put the call out for contest prizes and the industry came through in spades. Thank you to the following companies who graciously contributed games, books, t-shirts, and more: