This week, GameCareerGuide has posted both a new Game Design Challenge (asking readers to find a new hero) to its readers and the results of its most recent competition (which all began with a mysterious letter.)
A New Challenger Appears
The latest Game Design Challenge, which is open to all of GameCareerGuide's readers, and which will accept submissions until September 16, asks entrants to take a look at their favorite games and figure out which character should step out as the hero of an original adventure.
Inspired by Nippon Ichi's
Prinny: Can I Really Be The Hero?, which promoted the peculiar penguins from the
Disgaea series to a leading role, the latest GCG challenge asks the question: which overlooked game character should lead? For full details and guidelines,
visit the challenge at GameCareerGuide.
Results!
The latest
Game Design Challenge results are live. In the challenge, GCG asked its readers to envision a game touched off by a letter:
"Though paper letters aren't such a big part of our lives anymore, they were once of tremendous significance.
"Email, Twitter, blogs, instant messaging, cell phones, and Facebook have all drawn us closer, but there was a time when momentous information would come in a letter; information that could change the course of someone's life.
"This design challenge deals with such a letter.
"GameCareerGuide's readers were challenged to create a game called The Letter, which opens with the main character receiving a very significant letter.
"What's the content of the letter? Where does he or she go from there? These elements were up to our readers, as were setting, content, and genre. The only restriction is that the game's story must begin with the protagonist receiving a letter."
Here are the three top entries:
Jay Gavarra
Gavarra's entry makes the written word a crucial gameplay element, as the game's opening letter serves as both an initial impetus and a physical landscape that must be charted. Traditional platforming bridges the gap between the letter and the physical world in this imaginitive title.
Garrett Guillotte
Guillotte suggests a complex yet largely anonymous MMORPG in which players are drafted and instructed by a real-world letter. A mid-game twist provides additional tension, further fueled by the game's unique premise and lack of explicit communication.
Alessandro Toffoli
In Toffoli's version of The Letter, a homeless man receives a mysterious note that starts him on a journey to his troubled homeland. Players must use limited resources to complete difficult tasks and help a visually impaired young man survive his trek through a warring country.
To read the winning submissions, including seven strong runners up, head on over to
the results on GameCareerGuide right now.
