Hey Game Devs! design3 is pumped to announce our first ever game development contest where we'll be offering prizes worth over $5,000 to acquire spaceships and game props for our video game, 51 Run. Prizes include Unity 3.4 + Android Pro, Substance Designer 2, Mixamo 3D animation services, and design3 Memberships, and we'll feature the winners' work in the game.
The Game
51 Run is a 3D side-scrolling game built on the Unity engine and takes place deep underground in a Area 51 test facility. The player controls a quirky, frightened alien who is running to escape his captors, a zealous team of evil scientists. Using an assortment of tubes and ventilation ducts, as well as a zap ray attack, the alien must make his way through the facility to his spaceship for his ultimate escape.
The Alien Protagonist - Specimen D3
The Evil Scientist Adversary
Area 51 Level
The Contest
"Every great game needs great textured prop models, that's why we're hosting this contest" said Casey Noland, design3's CEO. "There's so much talent out there - if you want the best, you have to ask the best!"
The contest is calling for designers to submit art for two modeling and texturing categories:
- Make a spaceship
- Create game props
The winning spaceship model will be used to whisk the alien away to safety and can be anything from a typical circular UFO to an intergalactic space rocket. Game props are tools or furnishings utilized in the game. Examples include laboratory equipment (microscopes and beakers), tools for recapturing and escape (large butterfly nets and gigantic hammers), to ground floor desert props (cactuses and rattlesnakes). Visit the contest page for examples and details.
Entries are being accepted now through September 30th.
Prize Partners
The Training
In addition to being fun to play, 51 Run will be used for the first ever start-to-end video game development training. We're documenting each stage of the development process via video tutorials that will be available on our website, design3.com. At the completion of the project anyone will be able to follow along and make 51 Run themselves.
We are beyond excited about this project and hope you are too. We will be posting updates and look forward to your creative contest submissions!
Best wishes,
design3 Team
I shall make them the best high quality space ship in the entire world.
Interesting
@LordIheanacho - We can't wait to see it!!
I just wonder how i will submit it... I barely have any prior knowledge on the Unity engine what-so-ever (so much for rigging assets and sending them in complete game packages).
Well, this contest doesn't require animation so you don't really need to rig your prop models. Knowledge of Unity isn't necessarily required either because we will be taking the prop models and adding them to the game build ourselves. The main thing is modeling and texturing the prop and then giving us the scene files and FBX exports. Good luck!
Is it really all in just one consistent level? Wouldn't it be wiser to divide them into a few chunks (such as every 3 rows), as I imagine making it all one thing might cause a less optimized performance on low-end comps. This would also seem wise to do with the tutorials, as then you also teach the players how to make multiple levels in a game (unless you have some other plans to do so).
There's not really a limit to how many floors a level can have or which categories those floors fall into (basement, lab, etc.) so splitting them into optimized chunks is a pretty good idea. The problem with that though is that Unity will have to change scenes for each of those chunks so it might break the flow of the game (but definitely still worth looking into). We have actually developed a Level Wizard tool that lets you specify how many floors you want, how high they are, etc. that we will use to create levels. The Unity tutorials will cover aspects of the level design and creation process.
To clarify. The game IS divided into multiple levels each level consisting of a different number of floors and assortments of walls, enemies, tubes/vents, etc.. Finishing a level/stage will progress you to the next. Time will be recorded for how quickly you complete each stage - so get set for some speed runs!
Why not design enemies/decorations/signs instead?
The enemies are already designed and created but decorations and signs could definitely be submitted as prop models.
My submission was sent in last week...I wait feedback.
some of my latest progress for the contest on my page, yet to be submitted.
Indiedb.com
@LordIheanacho: This looks awesome! Great work.
@mcunha98: We will be announcing the winners on October 7th. Thanks for the submission!
We're really looking forward to reviewing everyones submissions. We've received some awesome assets so far - it's going to be tough to pick winners, but we can't wait to give out the prizes!
Our best,
design3 Team
well I have also submitted the first part of my work. Hope part 2 will have the spaceship model. I had a bit of trouble trying to scale meshes to fit model height, i used the base mesh of the specimen to determine height.
The Spaceship and remaining assets have finally been submitted. Narrowly made it too.
Hey Everyone:
It's our pleasure to announce the winners of the '51 Run' Asset Contest! Drum roll please...
Grand Prize: Juha Aalto
Second Place: Jet Quinn
Third Place: David Maimone
Fourth Place: Tim Hobson
Check out all the entries here: Design3.com
A big THANK YOU to everyone who participated. Everyone who submitted an asset will be recognized in the game credits and will get a copy of the game upon release.
Choosing a winner was tough - design3 members are a talented bunch!
Our best,
design3 Team