Games industry legends to judge Epic's Make Something Unreal Live
Epic and Train2Game have announced the panel which will be judging the entries for Make Something Unreal Live. Among others, Steve Jackson, co-creator, “Fighting Fantasy”, Ian Livingstone, and Peter Molyneaux will preside.
Last month, Epic and Train2Game secured the rights for iOS games based on the Fighting Fantasy series of role-playing books - created by Ian Livingstone and Steve Jackson - for the Make Something Unreal contest.
Each team will select one of the Fighting Fantasy novels available, and then create an iOS game from the title.
Following is the list of individuals which will review the Fighting Fantasy iOS game and coach start-up teams:
- Ian Baverstock, founding partner, Tenshi Ventures, and advisory board member, Game Developers Conference
- Cliff Bleszinski, design director, Epic Games
- Jon Hare, founder, Tower Studios
- Steve Jackson, co-creator, “Fighting Fantasy” series and professor of game design, Brunel University
- Ian Livingstone OBE, co-creator, “Fighting Fantasy” series and life president, Eidos
- Professor Carsten Maple, director of business education interaction, TIGA
- Peter Molyneux OBE, founder, 22 Cans
- Dr. Jo Twist, chief executive officer, The UK Interactive Entertainment Association (UKIE)
- Jon Yates, director of product development, City & Guilds
"Fighting Fantasy has in the past been used by school teachers as inspiration for creative writing exercises but this is the first time the teaching exercise has been to create a fully-featured video game,” said Jackson.
“Ian and I are impressed with what we’ve seen of the students’ work so far, and we are looking forward to seeing the final results.”
Projects to be revealed publicly for the very first time during the event are: The Warlock of Firetop Mountain: Lost Chapters, The Citadel of Chaos: Dire Consequences, Deathtrap Dungeon and Armies of Death: Rise of Agglax.”
The games will be first viewable on April 10, which the trade and press day for the Gadget Show Live, and the public will be able to watch the teams finish off their creations live starting the following day when the event opens to the masses.
On the final day, April 15, Jackson and Livingstone will select the winning team, who will walk away with a full commercial Unreal Engine 3 license for iOS. A portion of the proceeds from the winning game’s sales will also be donated to The Prince’s Trust.
Gadget Show Live runs April 10-15 at the NEC in Birmingham, UK.