Epic Games and Intel Corporation have joined up to unveil the “$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest” for 2008, with cash awards and other prizes exceeding over $1 million in value.
Following up on its original “$1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest,” Epic has brought on Intel as a sponsor for the now-awkwardly-named competition, allowing them to offer Intel Software Development Products as prizes, along with Intel-based Velocity Micro PCs and the grand prize of one Unreal Engine 3 license.
To participate, entrants must create game modifications for the PC version of Unreal Tournament 3 in categories including environments, characters, weapons, gameplay, tools, vehicles and more. Entries will be judged in four preliminary phases beginning in June and concluding with a “grand final” round of judging and awards to be held in fall 2009.
“To all you aspiring game developers out there – this is your chance to get in the big leagues,” said Epic Vice President Mark Rein. “We have categories for all kinds of creatively talented people including programmers, artists, 3-D modelers, designers and even aspiring film directors. You get to use the same world-class Unreal Engine 3 toolset we used to create Unreal Tournament 3 and Gears of War.”
“This is truly a chance to prove your worth and get your foot in the door of the game business while having your work potentially exposed to millions,” he added.
Red Orchestra, the World War 2-themed winner of the first “$1 Million Make Something Unreal Contest,” earned the Tripwire Interactive development team almost $80,000 in cash and hardware, as well as a full-blown Steam and retail release of the game. “A few years ago, we were just a group of fans with an idea to make a mod that we would all like to play,” said Tripwire President John Gibson. “The Unreal Engine and its mod tools were perfect for the game we wanted to make, and with the hard work and determination of our team we used those tools to create Red Orchestra and win the mod competition. Winning the “Make Something Unreal Contest” helped the Tripwire Interactive team realize our dream of founding our own development studio and bringing our game to retail. It is a real life “rags to riches” story.”
For more information about the “$1 Million Intel Make Something Unreal Contest,” check out www.makesomethingunreal.com.
