BCS AGD SG Artefact 2021 competition

The theme for the BCS Animation and Games Development SG’s Artefact 2021 competition is “Games to make us Happier”.

Student winners

Winner: Christina Moir from Abertay University, UK

2nd place: Georgios Lampropoulos from International Hellenic
University, Greece,

3rd place: Hanya Zhuang from Jiangsu and Rural Construction College, China

Highly Commended: Yat Ching Max Leung from University of Sussex, UK

There will be two classes, one aimed at students (p2p - from primary schools to post graduate educational establishments) and the other open to all BCS members.

The artefact could be a computer game, or the idea for a computer game on a single PowerPoint slide or a one-minute video on YouTube - with the theme, “Games to make us Happier”, as the 2021 theme for the British Science Week, 5-14 March 2021, is “Innovation for the Future".

We all enjoy video games, we can escape from the world or hang out with friends playing them. Many games adjust to the skill of the player to make it enjoyable but not impossible but still some can be frustrating. What if the game could detect a player’s frustration, see a smile or a frown, spot boredom or unhappiness?

A game such as this could be built to help keep the player in what is called flow, when you have mastery of a game (or anything), but it's still a challenge no matter what your skill level. Can you design a game to make players feel the best that they can? A game to help balance our mental health, re-enforce positive ideas and who knows... save the world for real.

Entries should be submitted by a point of contact to the BCS, ACDcomp@BCS.org, with a copy to margaret.ross@bcs.org.uk, Nick.Whitelegg@solent.ac.uk and Prins.Butt@solent.ac.uk by 12:00 (noon) on Wednesday 30 June 2021.

The authors of winning entries will receive a certificate and a small prize.

Rules of the competition

Entries are invited from individuals or groups of students at all levels whether in full-time or part-time study; open to BCS and non-BCS members.
The language should be English.
The entry should to be sent to ACDcomp@BCS.org with a copy to margaret.ross@bcs.org.uk, Nick.Whitelegg@solent.ac.uk and Prins.Butt@solent.ac.uk with 'AGD Artefact competition' as the subject line and stating Student or Open class.
The BCS AGD Artefact competition judging panel. will assess all submitted entries and select up to 20 per class for further consideration.
The BCS will have media rights and all other rights appropriate for the competition, so all entries could be made public and / or put on the various websites.
All entries must be free from any copyright, potential legal limitations or other issues that might cause offence.
Entries from Overseas are encouraged.
The judges’ decision is final.
The names of the winners, runners-up and highly commended might be put on the BCS website.

Open entries

Entries should be sent via the individual (who should be a BCS member, stating their BCS number) or one member for group entries. Only one member per group needs to be a BCS member. The subject heading for all communication should be 'AGD Artefact Open Competition'.

Student entries

Entries should be sent via a nominated single point of contact (normally a teacher or lecturer at the educational establishment) for each competition. The point of contact need not be a BCS member. The subject heading for all communication should be 'AGD Artefact Student Competition'.
The point of contact should submit a zip file or files with the identification of the author(s) for each, together with the contact details of the nominated point of contact, e.g. full name, name and address of the educational establishment, country and email address by Wednesday 30 June 2021.
For students having home-study, rather than conventional school attendance, a single person acting as point of contact for that region can submit the entries, but prior contact must be made in advance, with details of the group to be represented.
Each academic establishment or regional home study group may submit up to 30 entries for each competition; it is left to the points of contact to sift down to this limit, if more than 30 entries are submitted to them.