Make Something Unreal

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Make Something Unreal, also known as $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest and Make Something Unreal Live, was a series of

mods using the Unreal game engine. Make Something Unreal has not returned since the event in 2013. Epic Games has since launched Epic MegaGrants, a grant based scheme, in 2019.[1]

The competition partnered with companies such as

.

Grand prize winners

Year Development team Game Grand prize
2004 Tripwire Interactive
Red Orchestra: Combined Arms
US$50,000,
Unreal Engine 3
license
2008 Michael Hegemann and Team The Haunted US$50,000, Unreal Engine 3 license
2012 Commander Kiwi Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters Unreal Engine 3 license,
iOS App Store
game release
2013 Dead Shark Triplepunch Epigenesis Unreal Engine 3 &
Unreal Engine 4
licenses

$1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest (2004)

Logo of the 2004 contest

The first competition, titled $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest, was held in 2004 in partnership with

Unreal Engine 3 license.[4] Additionally, US$300,000 worth of computers were awarded, including 50 computers for schools whose students or faculty submitted an entry to the competition.[2]

During the contest one thousand entrants submitted mods for Unreal Tournament 2003 and Unreal Tournament 2004 across 13 categories.[2][5] Qualifying entries were required to be freely available for download.[2] The competition was held in three phases, and grand winners were announced at the Game Developers Conference.[2]

The grand prize for best mod was awarded to

Red Orchestra, developed by Tripwire Interactive, who earned nearly US$80,000 in cash and computer hardware prizes over the course of the contest.[5][6] Tripwire Interactive cite the Make Something Unreal contest as the reason the studio exists.[7] Friedrich Kirschner won US$25,000 in the Best Non-Interactive Real Time Movie category for a short film titled The Journey.[4]

Following the competition,

Mark Rein, vice president of Epic Games, stated that "The ultimate beneficiaries were... the game industry as a whole which uncovered some incredibly talented people who will continue to make contributions to the industry for many years to come."[8]

$1,000,000 Intel Make Something Unreal Contest (2008)

In 2008 Epic Games announced the continuation of the Make Something Unreal contest in partnership with Intel.[6] This competition would again be an opportunity for aspiring video game developers to submit mods using Unreal Engine 3, this time for Unreal Tournament 3.[9] Phase One winners were announced in September 2008, with some cash and hardware prizes awarded, including high performance PCs.[10][11] Of the first phase contestants, Mark Rein said Epic Games had "been blown away by the quality and variety of the mods submitted".[10]

Phase Two winners were announced in February 2009, with a total of US$70,000 cash awarded across all winners.[12] The Phase 2 winning mods were showcased at the 2009 Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.[13] In August 2009 Phase 3 winners were announced, with prizes amounting to around US$100,000 in cash and hardware.[14]

The overall winners of Make Something Unreal 2008 were announced in February 2010, with

Angels Fall First: Planetstorm third, Prometheus fourth, and Hazard: The Journey of Life (later known as Antichamber) placed fifth, receiving US$40,000, $30,000, $20,000, and $10,000 respectively.[16]

Make Something Unreal Live 2012

In November 2011, it was announced that Epic Games would be hosting another Make Something Unreal contest in conjunction with Train2Game, a

Unreal Development Kit – the free version of Unreal Engine 3.[17] The competition began with a two-day game jam in which ten teams had to create a game based on the theme of Guy Fawkes.[18] The top three teams, and a fourth comprising the most talented developers from other teams, were chosen to take part in the main event at Gadget Show Live in April 2012.[19]

The chosen teams were required to spend the six months prior to Gadget Show Live developing games, based on

gamebooks Fighting Fantasy,[20] until a final two-day event at the live show, where they received guidance from developers such as Cliff Bleszinski, Jon Hare, and Peter Molyneux.[21] Large screens were displayed to the public viewing the event with the aim of giving them an insight in the game development.[22]

Development team Commander Kiwi won the 2012 contest with their

iOS App Store following Gadget Show Live.[24]

Make Something Unreal Live 2013

In-game screenshot of 2013 winning game Epigenesis

Make Something Unreal Live continued in 2013, with a new competition being announced in October 2012. The competition was open to students who were tasked with making pitches for a PC game using the Unreal Development Kit based on the theme 'mendelian genetics'.[25] Finalists for the competition were chosen in November, with 12 teams progressing to the next round where they were required to present works in progress, made using Unreal Engine 3,[26] to a judging panel, who would then choose four teams to compete at Gadget Show Live 2013.[27]

A panel of judges, including senior personnel from Epic Games, chose four teams to progress to the final, stating that they were "hugely impressed by the quality of all 12 shortlisted entries to this year’s competition."

eSport."[30]

MSUL 2013 was also supported by Staffordshire University, Epic's educational partner for the program, and UKIE, the games industry trade association.[31]

References

  1. ^ James, Batchelor (20 March 2019). "Epic Games announces $100m MegaGrants program, launches free Online Services tools". GamesIndustry.biz.
  2. ^ a b c d e Calvert, Justin (6 June 2003). "$1,000,000 Unreal mod contest announced". Gamespot. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  3. Ziff Davis Media
    . Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  4. ^ a b Adams, David (January 24, 2005). "Winning Something Unreal". IGN. Ziff Davis Media. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  5. ^
    Condé Nast. Archived
    from the original on May 19, 2013. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  6. ^ a b IGN Staff (April 3, 2008). "Intel and Epic Games Launch '$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest'". IGN. Ziff Davis Media. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  7. ^ Johnson, Leif (14 November 2017). "How Unreal Tournament mods created a wave of successful indie studios". PC Gamer. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
  8. Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived
    from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  9. ^ Alexander, Leigh (April 3, 2008). "Epic Announces New 'Make Something Unreal' Mod Contest". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived from the original on November 13, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
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    GamesIndustry. Gamer Network. September 16, 2008. Archived
    from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  11. MCV. Intent Media. September 5, 2008. Archived
    from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  12. ^ "$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest Phase 2 Finalists #1/Video". Gamers Hell. February 18, 2009. Archived from the original on September 19, 2015. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  13. ^ Orry, James (February 19, 2009). "Make Something Unreal Phase 2 winners announced". VideoGamer. Pro-G Media. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  14. ^ Purchese, Robert (August 5, 2009). "Make Something Unreal winners revealed". Eurogamer. Gamer Network. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  15. ^ O'Connor, Alice (February 18, 2010). "'Make Something Unreal' Contest Winners Crowned". Shacknews. GameFly. Archived from the original on October 22, 2012. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  16. ^ Burnes, Andrew (February 18, 2010). "Make Something Unreal Overall Winners Announced". Voodoo Extreme 3D. Ziff Davis Media. Archived from the original on April 24, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2013.
  17. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (November 2, 2011). "Epic and Train2Game announce Make Something Unreal Live". VG247. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  18. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (November 15, 2011). "Epic Game Jam competition winners announced for Make Something Unreal Live". VG247. Archived from the original on January 1, 2014. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  19. ^ Brown, Nathan (November 15, 2011). "Epic announces finalists for Gadget Show game jam". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  20. ^ "Gadget Show Live at $1,000,000 Make Something Unreal Contest". 2012-09-07. Archived from the original on 2003-02-07. Retrieved 2022-11-12.
  21. ^ "Full-cycle game development company". DataSakura. 2022-06-20. Retrieved 2022-11-13.
  22. ^ Maxwell, Ben (April 25, 2012). "Make Something Unreal Live report". Future plc. Edge. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013. Retrieved July 8, 2013.
  23. ^ Dutton, Fred (April 16, 2012). "Epic announces Make Something Unreal winner". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  24. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (April 17, 2012). "UK-based Commando Kiwi chosen as Make Something Unreal winner during Gadget Show Live". VG247. Archived from the original on June 10, 2015. Retrieved June 8, 2013.
  25. ^ Purchese, Robert (October 3, 2012). "Make Something Unreal Live 2013 competition begins". Eurogamer. Gamer Network Ltd. Archived from the original on March 28, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  26. ^ Rose, Mike (November 8, 2012). "Make Something Unreal Live 2013 shortlist revealed". Gamasutra. UBM plc. Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  27. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (November 8, 2012). "Make Something Unreal Live 2013 shortlist announced". VG247. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  28. ^ Nunneley, Stephany (December 6, 2012). "Make Something Unreal Live 2013 finalists announced". VG247. Archived from the original on September 7, 2015. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  29. ^ Cocke, Taylor (April 8, 2013). "Epigenesis crowned winner at Make Something Unreal Live 2013". Edge. Future plc. Archived from the original on May 31, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  30. ^ "Make Something Unreal Live prize goes to "potential eSport" Epigenesis". VG247. April 8, 2013. Archived from the original on May 9, 2013. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
  31. ^ Wellcome Trust (7 December 2012). "Finalists announced for Epic Games' Make Something Unreal Live 2013". Wellcome Trust. Archived from the original on 21 April 2015. Retrieved 16 June 2015.

External links