1st Place – CUT LOOSE

School: Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL) in collaboration with Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM).

  • Dominic Brodeur-Gendron, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Informatique et génie logicielCutLooseTeam_1b
  • Alexandre Choinière, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL), Création de jeux vidéo (art)
  • Louis-Philippe Geoffrion, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), Informatique et génie logiciel
  • Kathy Khau, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL), Création 3D – Animation
  • Félix Mailhot, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL), Création de jeux vidéo (design)
  • Jean-Médrick Piché, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL) – Création de jeux vidéo (art)
  • Olivier Rufiange, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL) Création de jeux vidéo (art)
  • Tiffani Trogi, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue – Campus de Montréal (UQAT MTL), Création 3D

Cut Loose is a third-person adventure game where the main character is a puppet whose goal is to escape from its controlling puppeteer. Cut Loose integrated personalized design into the main’s adventure.  A team of students representing Université du Québec en Abitibi Témiscamingue (UQAT) and Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) teamed to build the game Cut Loose.  Originally built for Ubisoft’s 2019 Game Lab Competition, the project earned Ubisoft’s prize for best artistic direction and production as well as the public choice award.

Cut Loose marks the third consecutive year that a team from Quebec that participated in Ubisoft Game Lab Competition has captured ESAC’s Student Video Game Competition.  The team will now travel to Los Angeles, California to showcase their game on the show floor at E3 from June 11 to 13.

How did your team get together?
We got together to create our game within the context of Ubisoft’s Game Lab.

How long did it take your team to develop your game?
Each team member put in an average of 30 hours per week for 10 weeks. Production was carried out from January to April.

Who were your mentors?
We were supervised by one of our profs at UQAT: Erwan Davisseau, who helped redirect us when we were facing some difficulty; he really helped us with or game concept. We also had two Ubisoft mentors: Julien Dechêne and Alain Greco, with whom we developed a friendship over the course of our developing Cut Loose, and through their support, advice and expertise.

 Favourite video games:

  • Dominic – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask (Nintendo, 2000)
  • Alexandre – Diablo II (Blizzard North, 2000)
  • Louis-Philippe – The Witcher III (CD Projekt Red, 2015)
  • Kathy – The World Ends With You (Square Enix, 2008)
  • Félix – Elebits (Konami Digital Entertainment, 2006)
  • Jean-Médrick – Dungeon Keeper (Bullfrog Productions, 1997)
  • Olivier – The Legend of Zelda : The Wind Waker (Nintendo, 2002)
  • Tiffani – Nier: Automata (Platinum Games, 2017)

 Fantasmagorique – Cut Loose’s word for describing how they felt when they won #SVGC2019.


2nd Place – HOMEBASS

Game Title: SHATTERED
School: Sheridan CollegeTeam_Homebass - 2nd Place

  • Jesse Baker, HBA, Game Design
  • Sean Braithwaite, HBA, Game Design
  • Josh Garcia, HBA, Game Design
  • Nathan Powless-Lynes, HBA, Game Design
  • Ian Wang, HBA, Game Design

How did your team get together?
Over the years studying at Sheridan College we had the opportunity to work with one another from class assignments, game jams and program-wide events like sprint week (five-day game jam). For our final year, we all valued growing together, creating unique experiences, and cultivating long-lasting relationships, a great foundation for a team which had successfully worked together. In 2018, we collectively attended the Global Game Jam at Sheridan College and have been a team ever since.

How long did it take your team to develop your game?Shattered_sheridancollege_2ndplace
In our final year in the Honours Bachelor of Game Design program, teams get to experience a simulated work environment called capstone. During this time students are given up to 8 months to develop a game. The development time of SHATTERED was approximately 6 months, spread across two semesters, with approximately 12 hours per week per member.

What was the most exciting part of the development process?
Working alongside close friends for eight months provided many memorable experiences. The most exciting point during development was likely when the team began to see the payoffs of (an externally contested) heavy early investment into design and production planning. When the pace of development began to increase, the team was extremely excited. Otherwise, playtesting and tweaking incrementally until woes subside and the intended experience began to shine through were very exciting. Lastly, reaching the point at which we could say we ‘met’ our design goal of creating a satisfying combat experience where the player cannot attack was deeply gratifying for everyone.


3rd Place – TEAM AKIMBO

Game title: Varchlan
School: Vancouver Film SchoolTeam Akimbo - 3rd Place

  • Ian Chau, Game Design (GD50)
  • Varun Sonti, Game Design (GD50)
  • Jose Augusto Lima, Sound Design For Visual Media (SD90)
  • Berke Gulbakan, Sound Design For Visual Media (SD90)
  • Frank Munro, Sound Design For Visual Media (SD90)

How did your team get together?
The game design teams had its members form teams to design games. Once the game design teams have been formed we were to present our designs to the audio members, whom decide upon a game team they preference and wish to be assigned to. The actors were an optional resource available to the teams if they agreed to volunteer their voice for the game.
Short answer: The game design teams formed groups which then were assigned audio members and had the option to include actors.

How long did it take your team to develop your game?
Our game was developed in a total of 3 months.

What was the most difficult part of the development process?varun-sonti-gameplay-sceen
The most difficult part of the development process for us was the limited time constraint that we had as our team was smaller than the other teams.

What was the most exciting part of the development process?
The most exciting part of the development process was having someone playtest our game as it allowed us to see if our design was clear to the player and brought us joy when players had fun.

Any advice to students considering developing video games?
General: Less is more, it’s better to have 2 things your game does really well, then 10 things it does alright. Try to build your project as modular as possible art wise if able.
Ian: Playtest and iterate on your design often. Have others around you try to go through the game without your guidance to see if they understand and act the way you intended.
Varun: If you’re determined on a design lean into it, don’t be afraid to go too far into it.