Judging and Awards

2020 WPI FIRST Game Jam Award Winners

  • Overall Winner: Initiative One (Massachusetts)
  • Innovative Game Play: Bump ‘em (Rhode Island)
  • Collaboration and Documentation: Asteroid Apocalypse (Arizona)
  • Creative Use of Prompt: Spacy Crafts (Turkey)
  • STEM Inspiration: Mission Mars (Florida)
  • Visual Art: Mixed Up (United Kingdom)
  • Music & Sound: Windows 9 (New York)
  • Storytelling: Tech Haven (California)
  • User Experience: Help a Robot (Massachusetts)
  • Programming: Tank Game (Idaho)
  • Judges Award for Educational Game: Mountain Cleanup (Canada)
  • Judges Award for Entertainment: Escape STEM (New York)
  • Judges Award for Original Concept: Mirrors in Time (Michigan)

At the conclusion of the Game Jam, the judging sessions will begin.  Pairs of judges with experience and knowledge in FIRST and game design will review submissions based on a published rubric.

JUDGING DIVISIONS

Depending on the number of submissions, we will divide the entries into smaller subsets based on a variety of criteria that may include number of team members, experience level of team members, tools used to develop game concept, level of completion, etc.

We expect our judge pairs to review a maximum of 24 games so that will be the planned maximum number of entries per division.  From those divisions, judges will advance award-worthy submissions onto the next phase of the judging process to determine final awards allocation.

AWARDS

The final number of places for each award (1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc) will also be determined by the number of complete entries received.

To be eligible for awards, all teams must complete the Game Description Document (link coming soon) and each member of the team must complete a registration form.  Without those items, you entry will not be considered.

The rubric will be used to help determine the winners for the following awards:

  • Overall Winner – this award celebrates the best overall entry received.  The winning entry will have a compelling, engaging, bug-free game along with clear ideas for how the game could be developed further and impressive documentation of their process.
  • Innovative Gameplay Award – this award celebrates creative game concepts and depth of play.  Winning entries will showcase unique concepts not found in existing games and have a clear path for future enhancements. 
  • Collaboration and Documentation Award – this award celebrates teams that chronicle the great collaboration on their team.  Winning teams will document the important steps in their development process and share them in a cohesive manner.
  • Creative Use of Prompt Award  – this awards celebrates entries which embrace and fully incorporate the game jam prompt.  Winning entries will showcase a complete understanding and representation of the vision of FIRST and the selected prompt in a way that leaves a lasting impact on players.
  • STEM Inspiration Award – this award celebrates the incorporation of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, or Math) into the team’s entry.  Winning entries will feature STEM throughout story, gameplay, and characters they develop.
  • Visual Art Award – this award celebrates effective and creative 2D/3D art within the team’s entry.  Winning entries will feature an art style and tone that is appealing and appropriate, and showcase skill in the mediums used.
  • Music and Sound Award – this award celebrates effective implementation and quality of in-game sound.  Winning entries will use sound, music, or voice overs to enhance gameplay and improve the overall experience of the game.
  • Storytelling Award – this award celebrates an engaging and effective narrative for the team’s entry.  Winning entries will feature thoughtful inclusion of characters, setting, and story which allow the game to progress in a meaningful way.
  • User Experience Award – this award celebrates thoughtful attention to detail to improve the in-game user experience.  Winning entries will include effective screens, menus, and other ways to display information as well as considering accessibility issues to make the game more inclusive and playable for wider audiences.
  • Programming Award – this award celebrates quality game execution.  Winning entries will include custom code that is effectively implemented, and will be mostly free of crashes and bugs.
  • Judges’ Award – this award celebrates unique teams or entries that the judges wish to acknowledge but do not fit clearly into the above categories.  

In addition to awards, judges will be looking for games with the potential for further development.