The Great Canadian Appathon

Last updated

The Great Canadian Appathon (GCA) was a 48-hour game design and development competition open to Canadian college and university students. [1] Students attempted to design, develop and program a working mobile game within the restrictions of an annually changing game 'theme'. Individuals, or teams of up to four students, worked for 48-hours in designated 'HUBS' set up at participating universities and colleges, to submit their games for a variety of prizes. [2] A number of studios have been founded on the prize money won at the Great Canadian Appathon. This includes Edmonton based 1st place Team Masheen, and Bitshift Games. [3] [4]

Contents

Progress

GCA (March 2011)GCA2 (October 2011)GCA3 (September 2012)
Provinces4810
Colleges and Universities72139
Teams94125149
Students296410521
Games5480124

[5]

Judging criteria

All the submitted games by GCA participants were evaluated by game development senior staff on criteria such as the degree of innovation, the fun and entertainment factor, the level of art and design polish as well as stability to determine the winners. [6]

History

March 11th-March 13th 2011

PlaceTeamHUBGame
Winner 1Team MasheenNorthern Alberta Institute of Technology & University of AlbertaSuper Punch
Winner 2Team Sheldon University of British Columbia Valley Raid
Winner 3Resistor5 McGill University & Concordia University Plasmium

[7]

September 30th-October 2nd 2011

PlaceTeamHUBGame
Winner 1Drop Table Teams Concordia University Trace Racer
Winner 2Resistor5 McGill University Ludicrous Archery
Winner 3Team ABXYZ Carleton University Portal Bow

[8]

September 28th-September 30th 2012

PlaceTeamHUBGame
Winner 1Team Heisenberg Carleton University Daylight Saving
Winner 2Team Unistd University of Toronto Devourer of Worlds
Winner 3Team Grade-F Polytechnique Montreal Zombyte

[9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BioWare</span> Canadian video game developer

BioWare is a Canadian video game developer based in Edmonton, Alberta. It was founded in 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk and Augustine Yip, alongside Trent Oster, Brent Oster, and Marcel Zeschuk. Since 2007, the company has been owned by American publisher Electronic Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Western Ontario</span> Public university in London, Ontario, Canada

The University of Western Ontario is a public research university in London, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on 455 hectares of land, surrounded by residential neighbourhoods and the Thames River bisecting the campus's eastern portion. The university operates twelve academic faculties and schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carleton University</span> Public university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Carleton University is an English-language public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 1942 as Carleton College, the institution originally operated as a private, non-denominational evening college to serve returning World War II veterans. Carleton was chartered as a university by the provincial government in 1952 through The Carleton University Act, which was then amended in 1957, giving the institution its current name. The university is named after the now-dissolved Carleton County, which included the city of Ottawa at the time the university was founded.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grey Cup</span> Championship game and trophy of the Canadian Football League

The Grey Cup is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested between the winners of the CFL's East and West Divisional playoffs and is one of Canadian television's largest annual sporting events. The Toronto Argonauts have the most Grey Cup wins (18) since its introduction in 1909, while the Edmonton Elks have the most Grey Cup wins (11) since the merger in 1958. The latest, the 109th Grey Cup, took place in Regina, Saskatchewan on November 20, 2022, when the Toronto Argonauts defeated the Winnipeg Blue Bombers 24–23.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of Alberta</span> Public research university in Alberta, Canada

The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. It was founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta, and Henry Marshall Tory, the university's first president. It was enabled through the Post-secondary Learning Act. The university is considered a "comprehensive academic and research university" (CARU), which means that it offers a range of academic and professional programs that generally lead to undergraduate and graduate level credentials.

GCA may refer to:

The Great Midwest Trivia Contest, or Midwest Trivia Contest, is held once a year in Appleton, Wisconsin, broadcast over Twitch. It has a claim as the longest-running college bowl trivia contest. From 2006 to 2020, the contest was livestreamed by WLFM, Lawrence University's internet radio station, which ceased FM broadcasting in 2006.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Athabasca University</span> Distance education university in Alberta, Canada

Athabasca University (AU) is a Canadian public research university that primarily operates through online distance education. Founded in 1970, it is one of four comprehensive academic and research universities in Alberta, and was the first Canadian university to specialize in distance education.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northlands Coliseum</span> Indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hackathon</span> Event in which groups of software developers work at an accelerated pace

A hackathon is an event where people engage in rapid and collaborative engineering over a relatively short period of time such as 24 or 48 hours. They are often run using agile software development practices, such as sprint-like design wherein computer programmers and others involved in software development, including graphic designers, interface designers, product managers, project managers, domain experts, and others collaborate intensively on engineering projects, such as software engineering.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The King's University (Edmonton)</span>

The King's University located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, is a Canadian Christian university offering bachelor's degrees in the arts, humanities, music, social sciences, natural sciences, business, and education. King's is one of 26 publicly funded post-secondary institutions in Alberta. The University serves more than 900 students from across Canada and abroad, representing more than 16 nations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SNY</span> Regional sports network

SportsNet New York (SNY) is an American regional sports network owned by Sterling Entertainment Enterprises, LLC, itself a joint venture between Fred Wilpon's Sterling Equities, Charter Communications through its acquisition of Time Warner Cable in May 2016 and Comcast, through its NBC Sports Group subsidiary. The channel primarily broadcasts games and related programming involving the New York Mets, but also carries supplementary coverage of the Mets and the New York Jets as well as college sports events.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MacEwan University</span> University in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

MacEwan University is a public undergraduate university located in the downtown core of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

Elmer Roland "Rollie" Miles was a professional football player for the Canadian Football League Edmonton Eskimos. Miles played offence, defence, and special teams, during his eleven-year career with the Eskimos. Miles is a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, and the Edmonton Eskimos Wall of Honour. In November 2006, Miles was voted one of the CFL's Top 50 players (#48) of the league's modern era by Canadian sports network TSN.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasper Place High School</span> High school in Edmonton, Alberta (est. 1961)

Jasper Place High School is located in west end Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and is part of the Edmonton Public School System. It opened in 1961, originally part of the Town of Jasper Place school system, becoming a part of the Edmonton system when Jasper Place amalgamated with Edmonton in 1964.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GCA Games Convention Asia</span> Video game exhibition in Singapore

GCA Games Convention Asia is a major video game exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region. It consists of a public exhibition and a conference where the various players in the video game industry network and interact with each other, while showcasing their latest products and services to the public. Games Convention Asia serves as an entryway for companies trying to enter the Asian interactive entertainment market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XMG Studio</span> Canadian mobile games developer

XMG Studio was a mobile game developer based in Toronto, Canada. The company was founded by Ray Sharma in 2009. XMG developed games on iOS, Android and Windows Phone platforms. These games included: Fashion Star Boutique and Drag Racer World, and co-produced/licensed projects including Degrassi and Ghostbusters: Paranormal Blast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ray Sharma</span>

Ray Sharma is the founding partner and CEO of Extreme Venture Partners, the founder of XMG Studio and a super angel investor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Video games in Canada</span> Overview of video games in Canada

Canada's video game industry consists of approximately 32,300 employees across 937 companies. In 2021, the industry generated an estimated US$3.4 billion in revenue, having grown by 20% since 2019. Video game development is beginning to rival the film and television production industry as a major contributor to the Canadian economy. The industry this year in 2023 projects to make in U.S. Dollars about 5.77 Billon Dollars.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">XGen Studios</span> Independent video game studio

XGen Studios, Inc is an independent video game development studio based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

References

  1. Akkad, Omar El (30 September 2012). "Students go a weekend without sleep for the Great Canadian Appathon". The Globe and Mail.
  2. "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
  3. http://metronews.ca/news/edmonton/27146/next-coding-contest-on/ [ dead link ]
  4. "302 Found".
  5. Hartley, Matt (28 September 2011). "Great Canadian Appathon 2 kicks off on Friday with $50k on the line | Financial Post". Financial Post.
  6. "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
  7. "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
  8. Berkow, Jameson (3 November 2011). "Montreal dominates Great Canadian Appathon finalists | Financial Post". Financial Post.
  9. "The Genesis of a Gaming Studio".