Last year, 2013, was the last year for the amazing GDC Game Design Challenge.  It was a highlight of every GDC, but this year it was nowhere to be found.  This left a hole in our hearts which I am attempting to fill with this Game Design Challenge: Gamasutra Blog Edition! Last time, all of the participants explained their game designs.  To refresh your memory, here's the theme of the challenge:

With current technology, the trip to Mars will take between six months and a year, depending on the relative positions of Earth and Mars.*  NASA has identified boredom as one of the biggest dangers to a Mars mission.  Design a game to be played by astronauts or civilians on their way to the red planet.  This can include participation from other players back on earth, but keep in mind that the lag on Mars due to speed-of-light limitations can range between 4 minutes and 24 minutes.*

THE WINNER

If you took a look at the votes from our previous entry, you'll notice that it was a pretty even playing field.  However, you'll also already know that the winner is 'The Task Game' by Jenn Sandercock!

Jenn Sandercock: The Task Game

For her prize, Jenn Sandercock will be recieving 2 lbs of Martian Soil Simulant!  She'll be able to reach her hand in and feel the end of the astronauts' journey for herself! From the source website: JSC MARS-1A SIMULANT JSC Mars-1A is a palagonite tephra collected from the slopes of the Pu’u Nene cinder cone on the Island of Hawaii. Palagonitic tephra from this cone has been repeatedly cited as a close spectral analog to the bright regions of Mars. The chemical composition is compared to that of a typical Mars surface sample analyzed at the Viking lander 1 site.

And for their amazing work, each of our other participants will be receiving 2 ounces of the same martian soil simulant! Once again, many thanks to Jenn Sandercock, Chris Bell, Jake Elliott, Tanya Short, Liz Ryerson and John Murphy!

FIN

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Your Host, Rob Lockhart is creative director of Important Little Games, an educational game studio -- currently working on Codemancer, a fantasy adventure game that teaches the magic of programming.