Hands-on with the four Fighting Fantasy games of Make Something Unreal Live
Turning the page
As someone who has been on-and-off involved with game-making competitions over the years, the big switch happened with the arrival of the App Store.
Previously, the only outlet to players such competitions had was via PC.
Sure, there were plenty of games prototyped on XBLA, PSP, even the odd Java and Game Boy project, but not only did PC games offer modding tools, the platform's openess meant games could be released online.
Apple trumped all that, however, with simple development tools and an even simpler route to commercialisation; and it's that which is now being harnessed in competitions such as Make Something Unreal Live.
Everyone a winnerFunded by Epic Games and using its Unreal Development Kit (UDK), it's a regular event to encourage talented students and prosumers to understand more about the process of making games.
This year, the competition was run in the UK, alongside training agency Train2Games. Teams were selected via a 48 hour game jam, and each given a different book title from the Fighting Fantasy interactive franchise to work with.
Working in their spare time for five months, the climax of the competition came when the teams turned up at the NEC in Birmingham, UK, to spend five days trying to get their games as completed as possible during The Gadget Show Live event.
Industry luminaries such as Epic's Cliffy B, Peter Molyneux and John Hare (Speedball, Sensible Soccer) where on hand to give advice.
The final judging was held on Sunday, with Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson, the co-authors of the Fighting Fantasy series choosing the winner.
Winner: Commando KiwiThe Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters
Its reworking of the first Fighting Fantasy book is a third person action adventure.
Using a point-and-click mechanic, you tap on the screen to move your hero around. Of course, in such environments, you have to be careful to avoid traps, while also collecting gems and other precious objects.
When you come across enemies, the game switches into a turn-based battle arena (see above), where you trade attack moves, magic spells and dodges with goblins and other nasties.
Runner up: Indigo JamDeathtrap Dungeon
One of the most ambitious projects in the competition, Indigo Jam's Deathtrap Dungeon is a first person action game that has you moving through large scale environments, fighting with goblins, avoiding and interacting with traps, while solving complex puzzles and collecting keys and gems.
Harking back to the original source material, combat is turn-based and uses randomly rolled dice to work out damage inflicted.
Particularly impressive was the enormous underwater level, which highlighted one of the designer's experience in making props and architectural models.
Runner up: Digital MageArmies of Death: Rise of Agglax
A castle vs castle (or tower offence) game, Digital Mage's Armies of Death is reckoned to be the first game from the competition that will actually be released on the App Store.
It has you launching attackers along different pre-set routes to attack the enemy' base. The variation is provided with the different units - soldiers, archers, flying units: each of which act in a paper, scissors, stone manner - while there are additional waypoint towers you fight over.
The focus for the team will be creating and tuning more levels to add to the two currently completed.
Runner up: Derp StudiosCitadel of Chaos: Dire Consequences
A first person melee combat and magic game, Citadel of Chaos had you fighting off waves of enemies ranging from goblins and mad dogs to fire demons.
It's planned that all four games will continued to be worked on until they are good enough to be released on the Apple App Store; a process UK publisher AppyNation will be handling.