The Great Canadian Appathon

The Great Canadian Appathon (GCA) was a 48-hour game design and development competition open to Canadian college and university students.^[1] Students attempted to design, develop and program a working mobile game within the restrictions of an annually changing game 'theme'. Individuals, or teams of up to four students, worked for 48-hours in designated 'HUBS' set up at participating universities and colleges, to submit their games for a variety of prizes.^[2] A number of studios have been founded on the prize money won at the Great Canadian Appathon. This includes Edmonton based 1st place Team Masheen, and Bitshift Games.^[3]^[4]

Progress

	GCA (March 2011)	GCA² (October 2011)	GCA³ (September 2012)
Provinces	4	8	10
Colleges and Universities	7	21	39
Teams	94	125	149
Students	296	410	521
Games	54	80	124

^[5]

Judging criteria

All the submitted games by GCA participants were evaluated by game development senior staff on criteria such as the degree of innovation, the fun and entertainment factor, the level of art and design polish as well as stability to determine the winners.^[6]

History

March 11th-March 13th 2011

Place	Team	HUB	Game
Winner 1	Team Masheen	Northern Alberta Institute of Technology & University of Alberta	Super Punch
Winner 2	Team Sheldon	University of British Columbia	Valley Raid
Winner 3	Resistor5	McGill University & Concordia University	Plasmium

^[7]

September 30th-October 2nd 2011

Place	Team	HUB	Game
Winner 1	Drop Table Teams	Concordia University	Trace Racer
Winner 2	Resistor5	McGill University	Ludicrous Archery
Winner 3	Team ABXYZ	Carleton University	Portal Bow

^[8]

September 28th-September 30th 2012

Place	Team	HUB	Game
Winner 1	Team Heisenberg	Carleton University	Daylight Saving
Winner 2	Team Unistd	University of Toronto	Devourer of Worlds
Winner 3	Team Grade-F	Polytechnique Montreal	Zombyte

^[9]

References

^ Akkad, Omar El (30 September 2012). "Students go a weekend without sleep for the Great Canadian Appathon". The Globe and Mail.
^ "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
^ http://metronews.ca/news/edmonton/27146/next-coding-contest-on/ ^{[dead link]}
^ "302 Found".
^ Hartley, Matt (28 September 2011). "Great Canadian Appathon 2 kicks off on Friday with $50k on the line | Financial Post". Financial Post.
^ "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
^ "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".
^ Berkow, Jameson (3 November 2011). "Montreal dominates Great Canadian Appathon finalists | Financial Post". Financial Post.
^ "The Genesis of a Gaming Studio".

[1] Akkad, Omar El (30 September 2012). "Students go a weekend without sleep for the Great Canadian Appathon". The Globe and Mail.

[2] "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".

[3] ttp://metronews.ca/news/edmonton/27146/next-coding-contest-on/ ^{[dead link]}

[4] "302 Found".

[5] Hartley, Matt (28 September 2011). "Great Canadian Appathon 2 kicks off on Friday with $50k on the line | Financial Post". Financial Post.

[6] "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".

[7] "The Great Canadian Appathon Returns with a Vengeance".

[8] Berkow, Jameson (3 November 2011). "Montreal dominates Great Canadian Appathon finalists | Financial Post". Financial Post.

[9] "The Genesis of a Gaming Studio".

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