Hey game makers! Today, organizers of GDC 2020 and its Game Narrative Summit are pleased to announce this year's winners of the annual Student Narrative Analysis Competition, all of whom receive passes to attend the conference next month!
This competition is a great opportunity for up-and-coming designers to flex their critical faculties, as each participating student conducts a detailed structured analysis of the narrative elements of a game of their choice.
Every year, leading game design programs at universities across the U.S. make the competition part of their academic curricula. The resulting papers are submitted to the GDC Game Narrative Summit advisors for review, and entrants with the most promising submissions are then invited to present poster sessions of their work to future industry peers (and potential employers/colleagues) at the Game Narrative Summit!
Winning entries in competitions past (which you can watch right now on GDC Vault) have tackled a diverse array of subjects, from big-budget blockbuster games to smaller, critically-acclaimed indie titles, including games renowned for their storytelling and games designed with no formal narrative at all.
Regardless of their chosen subject, past competitors have consistently produced insightful, bold analysis that foreshadows the sorts of contributions they may some day make to the field of game narrative. This year's competition featured another strong group of entrants from schools across the country, and we’re proud to announce that this year's winners are:
Platinum Winners
Emma Stone, NYU
Lawrence Le, Sheridan
Jessica Zhang, Sheridan
Gold Winners
Julie Arcala, Drexel
Kellye Blosser, Ohio University
Antonia Gates, Quinnipiac
Jonathan Baldessari, UCF
Chance Lytle, CMU
Kai McDonald, Digipen
Laurel Pratt, Digipen
Isabella Haro-Uchimura, Drexel
Julia Del Matto, NYU
Emily Ortega, RPI
Aayush Sriram, RPI
Tyler Kahn, RPI
Xinran Ma, Sheridan
Gabriel St Onge, Sheridan
Benjamin Mora-Davidson, Sheridan
Mary Andrea Arroz, Sheridan
Haley Barngrover, Texas