Make Something Unreal
, also known as
$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest
and
Make Something Unreal Live
, was a series of
video game development
competitions organised by
Epic Games
which began in 2004, with subsequent competitions in 2008, 2012, and 2013. The contests aimed to reward developers who created
mods
using the
Unreal game engine
. Make Something Unreal has not returned since the event in 2013. Epic Games has since launched
Epic MegaGrants
, a grant based scheme, in 2019.
[1]
The competition partnered with companies such as
Nvidia
and
Intel
and provided competition winners with Unreal Engine
licenses
, cash prizes, and
PC
hardware. Notable games in the competition included
Red Orchestra: Combined Arms
,
Angels Fall First: Planetstorm
and
Antichamber
.
Grand prize winners
[
edit
]
$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest (2004)
[
edit
]
The first competition, titled
$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest
, was held in 2004 in partnership with
Nvidia
,
Digital Extremes
, and
Atari
[2]
It was described as "a way to reward a growing community of gamers that are helping to spark the evolution of 3D entertainment".
[3]
The grand prize was US$50,000 and an
Unreal Engine 3
license.
[4]
Additionally, US$300,000 worth of computers were awarded, including 50 computers for schools whose students or faculty submitted an entry to the competition.
[2]
During the contest one thousand entrants submitted mods for
Unreal Tournament 2003
and
Unreal Tournament 2004
across 13 categories.
[2]
[5]
Qualifying entries were required to be freely available for download.
[2]
The competition was held in three phases, and grand winners were announced at the
Game Developers Conference
.
[2]
The grand prize for best mod was awarded to
World War II
shooter
Red Orchestra
, developed by
Tripwire Interactive
, who earned nearly US$80,000 in cash and computer hardware prizes over the course of the contest.
[5]
[6]
Tripwire Interactive cite the Make Something Unreal contest as the reason the studio exists.
[7]
Friedrich Kirschner won US$25,000 in the Best Non-Interactive Real Time Movie category for a short film titled
The Journey
.
[4]
Following the competition,
Mark Rein
, vice president of Epic Games, stated that "The ultimate beneficiaries were... the game industry as a whole which uncovered some incredibly talented people who will continue to make contributions to the industry for many years to come."
[8]
$1,000,000 Intel Make Something Unreal Contest (2008)
[
edit
]
In 2008 Epic Games announced the continuation of the Make Something Unreal contest in partnership with
Intel
.
[6]
This competition would again be an opportunity for aspiring
video game developers
to submit mods using Unreal Engine 3, this time for
Unreal Tournament 3
.
[9]
Phase One winners were announced in September 2008, with some cash and hardware prizes awarded, including high performance
PCs
.
[10]
[11]
Of the first phase contestants, Mark Rein said Epic Games had "been blown away by the quality and variety of the mods submitted".
[10]
Phase Two winners were announced in February 2009, with a total of US$70,000 cash awarded across all winners.
[12]
The Phase 2 winning mods were showcased at the 2009
Game Developers Conference
in
San Francisco
.
[13]
In August 2009 Phase 3 winners were announced, with prizes amounting to around US$100,000 in cash and hardware.
[14]
The overall winners of Make Something Unreal 2008 were announced in February 2010, with
horror
shooter
The Haunted
taking the first place prize of US$50,000 and an Unreal Engine 3 license due to "a winning formula of intense survival horror gameplay, rich multiplayer modes, and nightmarish themed graphics."
[15]
The Ball
placed second,
Angels Fall First: Planetstorm
third,
Prometheus
fourth, and
Hazard: The Journey of Life
(later known as
Antichamber
) placed fifth, receiving US$40,000, $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 respectively.
[16]
Make Something Unreal Live 2012
[
edit
]
In November 2011, it was announced that Epic Games would be hosting another Make Something Unreal contest in conjunction with
Train2Game
, a
distance learning
resource for game development. This competition required teams to develop a game for the
iOS
platform using the
Unreal Development Kit
? the free version of Unreal Engine 3.
[17]
The competition began with a two-day
game jam
in which ten teams had to create a game based on the theme of
Guy Fawkes
.
[18]
The top three teams, and a fourth comprising the most talented developers from other teams, were chosen to take part in the main event at
Gadget Show Live
in April 2012.
[19]
The chosen teams were required to spend the six months prior to Gadget Show Live developing games, based on
roleplay
gamebooks
Fighting Fantasy
,
[20]
until a final two-day event at the live show, where they received guidance from developers such as
Cliff Bleszinski
,
Jon Hare
, and
Peter Molyneux
.
[21]
Large screens were displayed to the public viewing the event with the aim of giving them an insight in the game development.
[22]
Development team
Commander Kiwi
won the 2012 contest with their
fantasy
RPG
game
Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters
, winning them a full commercial license for Unreal Engine 3.
[23]
All four of the finalists' games were released on the
iOS App Store
following Gadget Show Live.
[24]
Make Something Unreal Live 2013
[
edit
]
Make Something Unreal Live continued in 2013, with a new competition being announced in October 2012. The competition was open to students who were tasked with making pitches for a PC game using the Unreal Development Kit based on the theme '
mendelian genetics
'.
[25]
Finalists for the competition were chosen in November, with 12 teams progressing to the next round where they were required to present works in progress, made using Unreal Engine 3,
[26]
to a judging panel, who would then choose four teams to compete at Gadget Show Live 2013.
[27]
A panel of judges, including senior personnel from Epic Games, chose four teams to progress to the final, stating that they were "hugely impressed by the quality of all 12 shortlisted entries to this year’s competition."
[28]
At Gadget Show Live 2013 a similar format to 2012 was followed, with judges including Peter Molyneux and
BioWare
producer Mike Gamble.
[29]
Dead Shark Triplepunch's
first-person
ball game
Epigenesis
won first place at the competition, winning the team a commercial license for Unreal Engine 3 and
Unreal Engine 4
, with second place awarding Kairo Games'
Polymorph
with an Unreal Engine 3 license. Judges described the winning game as a "potential
eSport
."
[30]
MSUL 2013 was also supported by
Staffordshire University
, Epic's educational partner for the program, and UKIE, the games industry trade association.
[31]
References
[
edit
]
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.
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.
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.
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"
'Make Something Unreal' Contest Winners Crowned"
.
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. Ziff Davis Media. Archived from
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.
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Archived
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
External links
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