Forum Nokia arranged a global competition in which students were invited to design, prototype and showcase their ideas for future mobile games. A total of 44 entries were received, and the two winners have just been announced.
Parsons The New School for Design from the US submitted Weekness, a concept in which friends share their SMS activity, resulting in social interactions that reflect individual communication styles, extending the functionality of text messaging into a game. Weekness was developed for Adobes Flash Lite 3.0 platform.
This competition reveals how the next generation of game designers will help redefine the very essence of gaming by emphasizing the crucial role of social communication, said David Carroll, assistant professor of Media Design at Parsons The New School for Design.
It signals a new era of socially intertwined games where the distinction between the producer and player are completely blurred.
The second winner was from the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, with MooLan - a space shuttle pilot manoeuvring game, similar to the classic Moon Lander, which utilises handset accelerometer and proximity sensors as well as the camera.
We're thrilled to have been picked as a winner, said Bernhard Aufreiter. We really wanted to maximise our use of handset features like sensors and camera technology - there are so many exciting innovations that can be applied to mobile games now.
"It has been great to have the opportunity to work with Nokia and be rewarded for our efforts. We're looking forward to being able to network with other like-minded developers at GDC and pick up some real industry insights.
Both teams will be invited to attend this years GDC as Nokias guests.
We were really impressed by the standard of entries we received, especially seeing as the students had to develop these concepts in just a few weeks, said Dr Mark Ollila, director of technology at Nokia.
Games were judged on criteria including entertainment value, creativity and usability. This kind of competition really showcases the raw talent of our next-generation of mobile games developers and provides an insight into the potential of our industry.
Top Stories
News
Jun 9th, 2024
PocketGamer.biz Podcast Week in Mobile Games E15 - Star Wars: Hunters finally launches, the West's MOBA problem, and Xbox handheld rumours
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Week in Views - The hunt for the new Star Wars game, Xbox goes handheld, and cats versus monsters…
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Week in Views - The hunt for the new Star Wars game, Xbox goes handheld, and cats versus monsters…
News
Jun 7th, 2024
Metacore's Teppo Soininen: “Anybody who has put a game into soft launch knows there’s still plenty of space for f*ck ups.”
Events
Tribeca Games Festival 2024 | North America | Jun 5th |
Steam Next Fest: June 2024 Edition | Jun 10th | |
GamesForum Hamburg 2024 | Europe | Jun 11th |
WN Conference Istanbul 2024 | Jun 11th | |
ESI London 2024 | Europe | Jun 13th |
DevGAMM Vilnius 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |
Game Con Canada (GCC) 2024 | North America | Jun 14th |
Indie Dev Play 2024 | Europe | Jun 14th |