The Game Girl Initiative

The Game Girl Design Competition was developed by Wired Sussex in consultation with City College Brighton and Hove, Wide Games, Climax and Babel Media. It was funded by the Sussex Learning and Skills Council and piloted as part of the HND in Multimedia curriculum at City College in the autumn academic term 2003.

The competition provides an invaluable opportunity for students to gain real work experience, learn first-hand about the process of designing and developing games and the variety of career opportunities in the games industry.

Game Girl 2003

Thirty students took part in the Game Girl Design Competition pilot which ran for four weeks. They formed seven single sex teams which competed against each other to win the prize for the best game design by a male team and best game design by a female team. All design and development work was paper-based, although some of the teams chose to present their final concepts digitally to the judging panel, this was not part of the project requirements.

The pilot was heralded as a resounding success by all involved. This included feedback from the students who took part and completed an evaluation survey following the competition, 100% male/female of whom felt that the design competition had been a useful learning experience as well as increasing their interest in working in the games industry (70% of male / 100% of female students).

The industry representatives also felt that their participation in the competition had been a very positive experience and that the students ‘…had produced some truly interesting and innovative game designs with a real commitment to their quality, coupled with an enthusiasm that shone through during their presentations’. This experience was also backed up by the City College tutor who was involved in the development of the pilot and supported the students taking part in the competition, who felt that it had been ‘a highly successful project’ and one which the college would be keen to repeat in the future.

It was also agreed that the winning teams prize of a days work experience at Babel Media, Europe’s leading provider of specialist services to the games industry, who are based in Hove, was both interesting and beneficial, not least for the two students (one male, one female) who have been offered work at the company in the future.

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Game Girl 2005

The second Game Girl design competition was run as a four week course module for the BTEC National Diploma (ND) and Higher National Diploma (HND) in Multimedia at City College during the spring term 2005. Thirty four students took part in the competition, forming fourteen single sex teams which competed against each other to design a ‘Lifestyle Game’ with broad non-traditional gaming audience appeal.

All students who took part in the Game Girl Design Competition were asked to complete an online survey which asked about their attitudes and experience of gaming and for their feedback on the project. The results of this feedback survey were overwhelming positive with 75% of the students, who completed the questionnaire, saying that they thought the Game Girl Design Competition had been a useful learning experience and that it had increased their interest in working in the games industry.

The students also valued the contact they had with the games industry representatives, with 80% saying that they found their input helpful especially when it came to developing their design concepts and learning more about the industry.

The winning teams who visited Babel Media said that they found the experience 'interesting and informative' and although most felt that games testing wouldn’t be a long-term career choice it could offer a good route into the industry.

From the games industry representatives perspective their involvement with Game Girl 2 had also been a positive experience, with Paul Mottram, reporting that he’d had 'a really good time' and that he’d 'really like to be involved next time if the chance becomes available.' Fellow judge Chloe Giusti also said she’d enjoyed herself and that “It was really good to see what students can come up with and the enthusiasm they put in their projects.”

HND Course Coordinator, James Brocklehurst also felt that 'on the whole the experience was a positive one for all the students and there was a genuine sense of excitement and energy within the group. The games representatives viewed the proposals as if they were 'real' and gave valid responses that the students appreciated.'

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Game Girl 2006

Wired Sussex and City College are currently exploring funding opportunities to further develop the Game Girl Design Competition and hope to run the competition again in 2006.

For more information please contact tara@wiredsussex.com