Expert talks
Learn about the realities of working in games from these expert talks.
Thank you to all of the teams who participated in this year's event!
Scratch - dcsz - junior school
The general idea of the game is interesting, I feel like I would appreciate a bit of a backstory - perhaps to include a short intro before the explanation of the controls that tells the player what the game is about.
MakeCode - dcsz - junior school
Interesting level of challenge. Please thing about how you could improve the clarity on what is dangerous and what is not.
Scratch - dcb - junior school
I really liked how you included the theme and how things were explained using the characters. To improve you could make it clearer what the player needs to do at the start. I didn't notice that the game had started until I missed the first plastic!
Scratch - dcb - junior school
If you're looking to make the game a bit more suspenseful, you can add some music and sound effects to keep the player on their toes. It might also be helpful to add some instructions at the start of the game to tell the player what they are expected to do and how they will be controlling the character. Finally, a nice to have would be to explain to the player what the premise behind the game is, i.e. the motivation for them to collect plastic.
Scratch - dcb - junior school
Very clearly explained and easy to pick up, Clear signs and feedback. Nice educative information added for the players. Would be nice to have more information pop up at the end of each level.
Scratch - dcb - junior school
The idea was really creative and I really liked the artwork. You included the theme really nicely. Perhaps some more player feedback to explain when you did the right thing rather than just telling the player when they died.
MakeCode - dcsz - junior school
Very nice graphics, I would play this game any time. The sound effects at the end of the level are fetching, you could also add some music/sound effects for the main part of the game too, e.g. every time the shark loses a point, the player hears a negative sound and the positive points are announced with a positive sound. The timer is a good idea - it adds a bit of challenge and suspense to the game.
Scratch - dcsz - junior school
The game is very replayable, which is great! It might be helpful to add some short instructions at the start to tell the player what the premise of the game is and what they need to do to progress. I appreciate that the player also can learn some of these instructions through trial and error as well, so the instructions don't need to be particularly detailed. The music suits the game well. The level of challenge was well tuned.
MakeCode - dcsz - junior school
Interesting educative content. This game mashes many different mechanics together, it may be better to focus on one per level.
Unity - dcsz - junior school
This was a fantastic effort! I love that you made a scratch prototype as well. It is an ambitious project, the car controls are a little tricky (either that or I am bad at driving), but well done for trying to do something this challenging.
Scratch - dcsz - junior school
I really like the look of the game and the motion of all the objects in the game, which isn't easy to get right. Some instructions or tutorial would have helped as I am not sure what I'm meant to do.
Unity - dcb - middle school
I liked the sike, although I spent too long trying to figure out how to shoot arrows on the first screen. The level design is great, the main feedback is that in unity you can make it so that a Rigidbody2d does not rotate - that would stop the character falling off edges.
Java - dcb - middle school
The story premise is a nice hook, ambitious content, would be nice to have more playable content, could not get out of first room.
Unity - dcb - senior school
Nice procedural level design, good realization and feedback. It would have been nice to have a bit more story to it. Who am I playing? How did I get to be the trash king?
Scratch - dcsz - senior school
Great theme! Loved the graphics, the music and the overall atmosphere of the game :) Very good instructions and storytelling in the game, well done! One suggestion is to do a bit of playtesting with players to see if there are any bugs that you may not have spotted.
Unreal 4 - dcb - senior school
Nice implementation of AI and animations, nice atmosphere on the level art. To improve it would be nice to have more indications of what the purpose of the character is. Who am I? Why am I fighting enemies?
All games were presented to our experts from industry and academia to receive feedback on how to take each game to the next level.
All members of the winning teams received their choice of game making accessory including: graphics tablets, headsets and keyboards.
Winning teams received a VR headset to allow their school's game development club to explore the world of VR.
Ubisoft China
CD PROJEKT RED
The University of York
Swansea University
All teams will have their game played by our panel of experts for feedback on how you can develop your project into a full release.
| Teacher | School |
| Thomas Stewart | Dehong Shanghai International Chinese School |
| Jared Rigby | Dulwich College Beijing |
| Glory Goh | Dulwich College Suzhou |
| Adones del Socorro | Dulwich International High School Suzhou |
| Sean Dowling | Dulwich International High School Zhuhai |
| Marceline Kelder | Hochalpines Institut Ftan |
| Is your school not listed? Contact jared.rigby@dulwich.org | |
