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Announcing the 2009 Unity Awards!

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by HiggyB, Aug 19, 2009.

  1. HiggyB

    HiggyB

    Unity Product Evangelist

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    It's that time of year again y'all, time to toss your hat in the ring and see if you rank among the best of the best in this year's Unity Awards! Quoting our site:

    Come get the fame and fortune that's rightly yours at the annual awards ceremony to be held at Unite '09

    Anyone who's interested should go read up about this year's contest right away:

    Unity Awards 2009

    For those interested in seeing who's entered so far, please keep an eye on this thread for updates:

    Unity Awards 2009 Entries


    So, is it your year to win? Let's see! :D


    Note: we'll be following this up with a conference related announcement in the next week or so, please stay tuned for that as well.
     
  2. nickavv

    nickavv

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    Yes yes yes! I always miss the contests somehow, but I'm on time for once. :D I'm starting right away, so as not to get behind.
     
  3. SophieHoulden

    SophieHoulden

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    wooo! I just submitted BOXGAME.

    not sure if its good enough to win anything in competition, but its nice to actually have a finished game to submit :)
     
  4. Jessy

    Jessy

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    1. Can one game win every single category? :wink:

    2. Can we get a sticky set up so everyone interested in beta testing the iPhone games can share the necessary info? (I'm thinking that we could all send this info to Tom, or someone else at UT, and this person could keep the first post of the thread updated.) As far as I know, this would just need to be a list of UDIDs, but I've never used ad hoc distribution before. A short guide in the post would also prove helpful.
     
  5. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    In theory, yes.

    Sure, we can do that in the iPhone section and link to it from here or something. Developers will have to list themselves in the thread as Unity Awards candidates and then folks that want to beta test a game can then PM that developer to request a build. The tester will provide the developer their device ID, then in turn the developer provides the tester with an ad hoc build.

    What I don't want it to have that thread turn into an area of comment about said entries, it should be about "here are entries that want beta testers, contact the developer if you're interested". If folks want to start commentary threads then that will be done separately. That way the signal to noise ration in the sticky thread stays solid. :)


    And c'mon Sophie, BOXGAME is fun! :)
     
  6. SarperS

    SarperS

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    Thank you guys for making an official competition each year, it's so exciting, we are totally participating!
     
  7. jakehaas

    jakehaas

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    Hi,
    I've got a few questions.

    1. Can someone under 18 participate?
    2. Can we use a older game we game if we revamp it for the competition?
    3. Can the submitted game also be used for UniKnowledge?
     
  8. krabbo

    krabbo

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    Are you going to announce the judges, their experience, qualifications and preferences?
     
  9. Martin-Schultz

    Martin-Schultz

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    Awesome, I'll take part with my racing game "Hard Rock Racing".

    Edit: My entry is submitted and here is the thread in which I will blog about the progress.
     
  10. MikeHergaarden

    MikeHergaarden

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    Can I join UA two times (as part of 2 slightly different teams)?
     
  11. fivearchers

    fivearchers

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    Hmmm, maybe just the extra bit of motivation I need!
     
  12. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    You're quite welcome. As you'll see on the UA'09 page this is the third year in a row we've had something like this as it always helps tease some really cool content out of the community, lets us offer a nice nod to those doing good work and generally lets us all show off a bit. :)


    1. I think so but let me double-check to be sure we can legally do that.

    2. If you go that route then you're leaving it up to a judgment call on our end whether you've revamped it "enough" to make it a new game.

    3. Certainly!


    For now the judges are going to be members of the Unity Tech staff and as to our "qualifications", we're all life-long game players and all work in the industry so we can appreciate what it takes to make a game (and to do that well). Preferences though, no, those are not to be announced, you just have to put up your best effort and go from there instead of tailoring games to judge prefs. :)


    I'm going to create a Showcase area sticky thread today in which I will list all of this year's entries. That thread will be locked so I only post in it, each developer will then be encouraged to do as Martin did and open their own thread for questions, comments, feedback, etc. I will of course list links to those threads in the sticky post listing all entries. ;) Entries will be listed in the order they're being received so there's no hint of preference or bias.


    As long as they're different projects, sure.


    Get to it! :D
     
  13. bumba

    bumba

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    must a iPhone game be released? or could it be a WIP ?
     
  14. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Those are not exclusive choices at all.

    No, you do not have to make an iPhone game at all, that's entirely optional.

    You can submit what you like, WIP or otherwise, just know that it will be judged against the other content and generally incomplete games aren't going to fair well (unless everyone submits incomplete games at which point we'll be very disappointed ;) ).

    You can sign up today and then have until October 5th to submit your final build (as per the website). :)
     
  15. Jessy

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    Tom, I think bumba meant "made available on the App Store".
     
  16. n0mad

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    Won't be on time this year, but next year I'll take a chance :)
     
  17. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Thanks Jessy, that in retrospect should have been caught by me the first read through... :p


    In that case your app doesn't necessarily have to be released on the store. With that in mind you will need to submit a beta build and a final build, in both cases we're going to have multiple people judging so you need to be ready to issue as many ad hoc builds as we'll require (assume for now we'll have a total of 10 judges, or so).
     
  18. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Check out the original post I made in this thread as I just edited it. I've created a new Showcase sticky thread (here) in which I'll list all entries as they come in. From there individual developers/submitters will be encouraged to separately start their own Showcase threads for ongoing discussions about their submissions and/or to offer beta builds if desired.
     
  19. jakehaas

    jakehaas

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    Great! Thanks! I hope i can :)
     
  20. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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  21. jakehaas

    jakehaas

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    Hi Tom,

    Any news for people who are under 18?
     
  22. zumwalt

    zumwalt

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    How about a crappy game category that is making money on the apple store (well crappy for now, as soon as I graduate with my BA in CCSI, going to revamp the entire thing)
     
  23. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Sadly, yes. The Unity Awards page has been updated to note that only those 18 or older on the date you submit are eligible. We're having to be more and more careful about the legalities of contests like this and it's all a rather ugly mine field, victim #1 is the under-18 set. :(

    If you want to enter you can always have your folks do it on your behalf! :)
     
  24. nickavv

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    Woah, seriously? >.- That sucks man.

    I guess I'll have one of my parents submit for me, but can I still post the progress reports and betas and stuff in my name, until that time?

    At least I'll be 18 this time next year.
     
  25. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Yes, seriously Nick. Welcome to the world of under-18 folks not being able to do a lot of this stuff. :( The official entrant and prize winner will be your parents, but you are of course free to post updates about the progress and work you're doing.


    The entries keep rolling in, we have over 20 so far and all entries submitted thus far are now listed in the Unity Awards 2009 Entries thread over in Showcase, go have a look!
     
  26. nickavv

    nickavv

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    Yeah, that's fine. Like I said, I'm almost through the days of youth anyways. Since I turned 17 I've been enjoying purchasing M-rated video games and R-rated movie tickets without parental consent. :p
     
  27. Discord

    Discord

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    Whats up with spammers on this forum lately?
     
  28. Don-Gray

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    Maybe he's talking about HiggyB cutting his hair, but in the wrong thread.

    :)


     
  29. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Guys, when you see spam posts like that:

    (a) PM me so I can come clean it up.

    (b) Please do not quote the post in your reply thus making the spam links appear again and again and again. :p I edited the two replies above to drop the link in the spam post.


    Oh, and the spammers are just being attracted by the extra activity and notoriety of these forums. Plain and simple, spammers go where the action is and more and more that's right here. But we'll keep fighting them back so just let us know when you see spam and we'll keep doing the whack-a-mole routine.
     
  30. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Ok folks, there are lots more entries that have been received over the weekend, I'll keep adding them to the entry listing post* and offering replies later tonight and tomorrow until they're all listed, stay tuned!

    *2009 Unity Awards Entries
     
  31. antenna-tree

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    Yeah, we're constantly trying to fight the spam. I think we usually do a pretty good job. When I'm at work (or even when I'm not sadly enough) I get rid of the spam before most people even see it ;)

    But some do slip through the cracks so as Tom said please just PM one of us and we'll get rid of it.

    On a side note we have 2 new forum moderators that should probably get a proper introduction at some point. This isn't that intro, but I will say that "naruse" and "andeeee" are now officially on board helping out to keep the forums spam free and well informed.
     
  32. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    FYI, that announcement can now be found here. :)
     
  33. GargerathSunman

    GargerathSunman

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    109 entries? Judging's going to be a little hard this year! Blush, though.... Hasn't it been around for a long time?
     
  34. MatthewW

    MatthewW

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    Blush production took place January 1st - March 1st (it was our first 8-week game of 2009).
     
  35. GargerathSunman

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    Ok! That's not that bad. Makes me fear that a lot of the quality entries will walk away with nothing, though. There aren't enough prizes for the number of entries I'd vote for personally.
     
  36. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    And I have another 20+ to post!

    I know Matt clarified the dates around Blush, but please understand that any game not previously submitted and that was published after September 1st of last year is eligible. Keep that in mind before fretting over any entry and its eligibility. :)
     
  37. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    All entries (132 of 'em) have been posted!

    Unity Awards 2009 Entries


    If you thought you entered and you have not yet received an email from me and/or you're not listed in the above thread then you should contact me ASAP.
     
  38. Jessy

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    So, how do we ensure that our iPhone betas will work for the official judging/testing team before next week? I'm not ready to make a showcase thread yet, but I am not going to miss that deadline.
     
  39. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    I'll be sending out an email internally to gather UDIDs from judges, and those will then get sent to all entrants. If there are snags in making those builds work properly we'll forgive a day or two delay as there is a TON of content to look at. No worries Jessy, we'll get it sorted together. :)
     
  40. ikaruga

    ikaruga

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    AAAAAAAaaaaahhh..

    I've just gotten into game making and I rejoined the forum, 2 days too late to see about the UA2009. I know there isn't much days left but I would like to give it a shot anyways, I think I could deliver something cool for the deadline.

    I made a lot in 2 days, I could make a lot more in the remaining time.

    If you would please consider letting me sneak into the competition I would be so happy.

    Thanks a lot. ^^
     
  41. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    I'm sorry but the deadline for applying passed quite some time ago (10 days) and so we cannot accept you for consideration as part of this year's Unity Awards.
     
  42. ryanzec

    ryanzec

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    Just think of it this way, now you have about a 1 year to build something for Unity Awards 2010 :)
     
  43. Thomas-Lund

    Thomas-Lund

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    I'm super impressed by the number and quality of this years entries. Fantastic and big congrats to the teams as well as Unity for providing us with a tool that is so easy to make great games with!

    /Thomas
     
  44. GargerathSunman

    GargerathSunman

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    Oh definitely! I've long since given up on winning with this level of competition, so, fellow competitors, make us something awesome we can play! That'd be the best consolation prize I can think of. ;-)
     
  45. kaaJ

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    I second that!
     
  46. OXYGEN

    OXYGEN

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    issue resolved
     
  47. Sync1B

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    What is the latest time we may submit our final build? Also may we send updated team and description information? Can't wait to see all the entries!

    Thanks,
    Bill - Team Aractroid
     
  48. OXYGEN

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    today....yikes so get compileing
     
  49. HiggyB

    HiggyB

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    Builds are due "today", and while we didn't provide an exact time let's just say you should get it in by midnight your time. If you must push the envelope consider all submissions due by 11:59pm HST (the last time zone before crossing the international date line).
     
  50. GargerathSunman

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    Who knows? Someone in the competition might actually live in Hawaii! :-D