Competitions

New for 2009 is the ScreenBurn at SXSW Game Design Competition, which provides a venue for emerging designers to pitch their concept to a jury of established professionals. Participants in this event are challenged to excite the imagination with a description of the game they want to build.

SXSW is known for introducing cutting edge, up–and-coming indie talent to the world before it hits the mainstream. In that tradition, ScreenBurn at SXSW has announced semi-finalists for its very first annual Game Design Competition. Encompassing two categories, Casual and AAA gaming, the competition allows talented game design hopefuls a chance to pitch their concept to a jury of established professionals. A grand prize winner for each category will be decided by live jury vote and audience feedback. In addition to being interviewed by attending press, winners will be featured Monday, March 16 at Studio SX, SXSW’s onsite interview studio, in a conversation with a video game industry professional.

2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW Casual Game Design Competition Winner:

• Sloppy Ice (Gwen Murray) gmurra20@student.scad.edu, gwen.em@gmail.com

2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW AAA Game Design Competition Winner:

• Project Z.E.U.S. (Seth Smith) ssmith46@student.scad.edu, sethssmith@gmail.com

2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW Casual Game Design Competition Finalists:

• Blorst (Jerry Paffendorf) jerryp@gmail.com
• FLOAT (Anders Howard) andershoward@gmail.com
• Full Moon Manor (Deborah Colon) dlcolon@gmail.com
• Sloppy Ice (Gwen Murray) gwen.em@gmail.com

2009 ScreenBurn at SXSW AAA Game Design Competition Finalists:

• Cover Up (Kristin Boyett) kristin.boyett@unt.edu
• ManorMeta (Evonne Heyning) evoamo@gmail.com
• Project Z.E.U.S. (Seth Smith) sethssmith@gmail.com
• Ringmaster (Jill Taffet) jtaffet@me.com

Casual Game Design Semi-Finalists

• Blorst (Jerry Paffendorf)
• Codename: ULTRA (Cadin Batrack)
• Coil Flow (Jordan Booth)
• Farm Follies (Andrew Gardner)
• FLOAT (Anders Howard)
• Full Moon Manor (Deborah Colon)
• Phase (Seth Smith)
• Piano Ninja (Evan Lenz)
• Sloppy Ice (Gwen Murray)
• Tick Tock Universe (Christian Arca)

AAA Game Design Semi-Finalists

• A Chicago House Story (Mason Dixon)
• Boomer (Matthew Jones)
• Cover Up (Kristin Boyett)
• Glaxal (Morgan Craft)
• Lil' Sandscape (Rianti Hidayat)
• ManorMeta (Evonne Heyning)
• Mixtape (Nathan Philpott)
• Project Z.E.U.S. (Seth Smith)
• Reaction (Elyse Kloeden)
• Ringmaster (Jill Taffett)

"ScreenBurn at SXSW has enjoyed tremendous success since launching in 2006," says SXSWi festival director Hugh Forrest. "This success reflects the growth of the video game industry, particularly amongst more mainstream audiences. By providing another avenue to bring in up-and-coming developers, we think that the Game Design Competition will help generate even more buzz for ScreenBurn at SXSW."