To Elevate the Young Generation's Knowledge & Skills, SGU Held Gameathon Competition 2016
Many of the younger generation in Indonesia like playing games during their free time. There are a lot of games available developed by both professionals as well as amateurs in Indonesia. Due to the popularity of video games, the department of Information Technology, Swiss German University (BIT SGU) organized a workshop and competition on how to create games easily using a game engine called GameSalad, an authoring tool developed by GameSalad, Inc. used by educators and non-programmers alike. It consists of a visual editor and a behavior-based logic system. GameSalad is used to teach computer science concepts, logic based thinking, and problem solving skills without all the pain of syntax. GameSalad is used by consumers and creative professionals such as graphic designers, animators, and game developers for rapidly prototyping, building and self-publishing cross-platform games and interactive media.
The workshop and the competition were coordinated by BIT SGU lecturer, Mr. James Purnama, M.Sc and organized by 3rd semester students of BIT SGU, led by Muhammad Febriansyah. The workshop was very popular with 22 High schools and Secondary Schools in the Jabodetabek and Cikarang participating in August and September 2016. A total of 626 students took part in the event.
Caption: All SGU GameAthon Participants (107 students, 38 teams, 19 High Schools)
The workshop was followed up by a game creation competition on Saturday, 1 October 2016, called GameAthon. The theme of the competition was “Indonesia untuk Dunia (Indonesia for the World)”. The games created by the students had to follow the theme. This competition was team based, consisting of 3 students per team. The competition ran non-stop for 12 hours, creating the games at Swiss German University starting from 8.00 until 20.00. A total of 107 students were grouped into 38 teams from 19 different high schools. During the 12-hour competition, the students had two breaks for lunch and dinner and they were also allowed to have short rests at any time to enjoy snacks. All participants were enthusiastic, and no team finished early. All participants received Participation Certificates and free Entrance Test Vouchers for SGU worth Rp. 400.000,-.
Caption: Competition Situation in Room 1 and 2. There are 6 rooms used for SGU GameAthon.
After the competition, the committee uploaded all 38 games to Google Play, accessible to all Android users, with tagline: “SGU Gameathon”. The judges were SGU Alumni and Game/Android developers including Mr. Randy Anthony (CEO PT. Republik Media Kreatif), Mr. Joshua Tommy and Mr. Jonathan Simananda (Founders of bareng.id) and Mr. Michael (SGU Lecturer). The judges rated the games against the following criteria: related theme, creativity, design, story line, and willingness to play the games repeatedly.
Caption: List of 38 Games in Google Play
The winner announcement was made during SGU Day on Saturday, 8 October 2016. After tight discussion among the judges, they decided that the winners were:
First Winner:
School: SMA Atisa Dipamkara
Team Members: Adi Citta Agitsha Justitio, Bryan Allen, Yuana Yesika.
Game Title: Save Cendrawasih
Prize: Rp. 3.750.000,-/team, 25% scholarship to SGU for Development Fee and 1st semester Fee for each student (worth Rp. 20.250.000,-/student) and Award Certificates .
Second Winner:
School: SMA Al-Izhar
Team Members: Anggrio Wildanhadi Sutopo, Fauzan Aulia, Faiz Fadhilla Soemawilaga.
Game Title: Bambu Runcing
Price: Rp. 2.250.000,-/team and 15% scholarship in SGU for Development Fee and 1st semester Fee for each student (worth Rp. 12.150.000,-/student) and Award Certificates.
Third Winner:
School: SMA High Scope Indonesia
Team Members: Farasya Daninda Achda, Devara FT.
Game Title: Run Timun
Price: Rp. 1.500.000,-/team and 5% scholarship in SGU for Development Fee and 1st semester Fee for each student (worth Rp. 4.050.000,-/student) and Award Certificates.
Caption: The Winners of SGU Game-athon Competition
In addition to the winners, another award was given for the Game with the highest downloads in Google Play. The count was closed on Monday, 31 October 2016, and the winner was Save Cendrawasih from SMA Atisa Dipamkara, with a total of 248 downloads. They received a prize of Rp. 600.000,-/team and “Favorite” Team Certificates.
This competition aims to build the community of young Game Developers in high schools and will be organized annually by the department of Information Technology with many exciting Game Creation themes.
This competition was sponsored by Wealthy Group (http://wealthy.id/) and supported by Bareng.Id.
