Congratulations to the Vacancy team, winners of the 2018 Best in Georgia competition!

The GGDA’s Best in Georgia Competition encourages teams from the Global Game Jam to continue working on their games after the jam is over. The competition not only looks at what they bring to the jam, but what they can do in the weeks following. The main goal is to encourage teams to continue developing their titles, and help create a polished portfolio piece worthy of distribution. Past winners include Alter Gravity from the 2017 Global Game Jam.

Each Georgia Game Jam site nominates one game for the competition. The nominees are:

SCAD-Atlanta: Trans Mission
GSU: Blind Justice
Georgia Tech: https://globalgamejam.org/2018/games/humanfeel-5k
SCAD-Savannah/GuildHall: Vacancy
KSU: Patient Zero

The teams have until Feb. 13 to continue developing their games. They are then judged on the following five categories:

Originality - Is it immersive? Are the gameplay and mechanics unique/original? Are the story, settings, and characters engaging? Does the world have internal consistency? Does it make the player want to know what happens next?

Gameplay - What are the fun factors of the game? Are there interesting options that can take the game in a variety of directions? Is the gameplay innovative or derivative? If it’s derivative, does it add any new twist to existing gameplay styles? Are there rewards at key game events or levels that add motivation for the player to continue? Are the rewards fun and/or innovative?

Visuals - Is the style of the art complementary to the theme/gameplay and in telling the story? Does the art add clarity to the gameplay, or make it difficult to tell what’s happening?

Music/Sound - If there is sound, does it complement the theme? Does it to help immerse the player in the world, or is it jarring and distracting?

Technical Complexity - What technical feats were accomplished? How did this complexity in development lend to a better gameplay experience? (i.e. procedural generation, VR, etc.)

In addition to getting their game named “Best in Georgia,” the winning team wins professional passes to SIEGE, a place at SIEGE to demo their game, and legal and professional consulting services to help them continue their development. Thanks to our sponsors, including Business Law Partners, Abigail Joslin Consulting, and Project MQ!