Games Competition: World Finals
Competition year
Active Dates (UTC):
Online Competition
Join the global game revolution. Today, great games come from anywhere and people play them everywhere. On their phones, on their computers, on their tablets, in their browser, with their friends, with anyone, with everyone. Powerful game engines and libraries are available for free so students can get started right away. There’s really never been a better time to make the next great game.
We’ve seen amazing games come out of nowhere in the last few years. Many of them have been made by students around the world. Have you got an idea? Then get a team, make a plan, and make it happen!
The Imagine Cup Games Competition is a global contest for the best new student games and the winning team will take home $50,000 (US). Create a desktop or tablet game using Windows, or a mobile game using Windows Phone, or a browser game using Windows Azure and you could win big at the Imagine Cup World Finals in Seattle 2014.
Game on!
How to Get Started
Take a look at our Getting Started guide for step-by-step instructions that will take you through the whole registration process.
How to Submit Your Project
Ready to submit your project to the judges? Click the 'Submission' link next to the competition on your Team Page to get started!
Remember that in order to submit your project, you'll need to have checked both the Registered and Competing checkboxes. You also are required to assign at least one of your team members to the competition, by clicking the 'Assign Roles' link. Once you've done all that, you'll be able to click the 'Submission' link.
Project Title
Give your project a short, memorable title.
Documents
You'll need to upload two different documents: first, a project proposal that outlines what your project is, how it works, who the target audience is, and so on; second, a set of instructions that judges and potential users can use to install and use your app. To upload each of the required files, click 'Select' to choose a file, and then click 'Upload' to send it off to us.
Video
As part of your project, you'll need to upload a video presentation to Microsoft's OneDrive service, and provide a link to the presentation. This presentation should explain your project and your team: Who your team is; what your project does; who your project is for; and how you will bring your project to market. Your video must be no longer than ten minutes and it may not have any edits or added visual effects. You may not move the camera during your presentation. In all respects it should replicate the experience of a judge sitting and watching your live presentation.
For more information about using OneDrive, and a step-by-step explanation of how to upload your video to OneDrive, take a look at our guide, Get Started With OneDrive.
The App
Upload the app software installer. This should be one of the following file formats: APPX, EXE, MSI, XAP, or ZIP. To upload the required file, click 'Select' to choose a file, and then click 'Upload' to send it off to us.
Azure URL
Is your project a web-based Azure app? If so, enter the URL for the project here. If not, just leave this field blank.
Save!
Don't forget to click 'Save' when you're done!
PAX Boot Camp
Launched in 2004, PAX has grown from a fan festival for gamer webcomic Penny Arcade into three events on two continents: the world’s premier celebrations of all things gaming. Imagine Cup will bring the winning student team from our Games category to PAX Prime in Seattle over the last weekend of August, 2014. They’ll spend all four days at the festival demoing their game to PAX Prime attendees, gaining unbeatable exposure and hands-on feedback from the most dedicated gamers in the world.
But their experience starts even sooner: this student team will also attend PAX Dev, the two-day game developer conference in Seattle that takes place immediately before the start of the PAX Prime. At this industry-only conference featuring many of the industry’s finest game designers, programmers, and artists, the team will attend learning sessions and meet their peers from around the world.
Visual Studio Online Boost
Visual Studio Online offers the cutting edge of online development services including source code controls, project tracking tools, hosted builds, cloud load testing, and team collaboration, all available anywhere you go. In 2014, all Imagine Cup World Semifinalist Games teams will be eligible for the Visual Studio Online Boost in which three teams in each competition will win $1,000 for using Visual Studio Online in their Imagine Cup project.