Congrats to Jeremy Mayes and Tom Rassweiler!

Winners of the 2009 GameDev.DePaul.edu GDC Game Design Challenge!

The contest finalists, along with Eugene Jarvis and Alex Seropian

The winner of the top prize (a PS3) in our 2009 GameDev.DePaul.edu GDC Game Design Challenge was the design team of Jeremy Mayes and Tom Rassweiler of Arkadium, Inc., for their game idea, “Market Limbo: How Low Can You Go?”

Their 100-words-or-less description: “A Flash based stock market game with a NYSE/cityscape background. The background pans vertically so the cameral appears to be moving downward. Stocks (colored balls with symbols on them) fall past the screen. The user must click on them to buy them. As they fall their value (shown with numbers on them) decreases. When a player buys them they bounce upward (increasing in value) then fall again. The player has to click them again at the peak of the parabola to sell them and make a profit. This is a fast paced time management game.” Jeremy and Tom submitted this prototype screenshot diagraming the key gameplay:

Jeremy and Tom pitch their idea to Eugene Jarvis at the GameDev.DePaul.edu GDC booth

Jeremy had this to say about the contest:

I thought the contest was a fantastic idea and hope you continue it in the future. Tom and I had a blast and thought it was really fun. We are going to put the winning game idea into production and will be in touch once it is complete.

In my haste, I forgot to express the awe I felt having such industry legends (Eugene Jarvis and Alex Seropian) approve of our idea. Along with the rest of the planet, I am a huge Halo fan, and I actually fried my first Atari from playing Defender too much.

Congratulations to the other finalists, who won GameDev.DePaul.edu GDC shirts:

2nd place: Ryland Sweigand
3rd place: Richard Fleming

And the other finalists, in alphabetical order:
Amanda Ligman
Elizabeth McLaren
Evie Powell
Keith Sakow
Ryan Wiemeyer
Charley Wilcox
Sarah Zurawell

THANKS to all those who entered, and especially Eugene and Alex who took the time out to judge the Challenge!

Some of the finalists’ prototype screenshots:

Ryland Sweigand