Hopeful Darkstars start to shine

Posted by yesterday.sg under News
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SINGAPORE - THURSDAY MARCH 26 2009 ::: The idea of meeting Sir Stamford Raffles in the virtual world doesn’t seem such a far-off concept. At least not with Mission Darkstar - Heritage Gaming Redefined - an online game creation competition organised by the National Heritage Board that aims to marry heritage with the hot trend of online gaming.

Opened to students and young adults, a total of 21 proposals from 18 teams mainly from tertiary institutions like the polytechnics and ITEs, were submitted. Concepts ranging from the swordfish invasion of Redhill, role playing games on Singapore’s culture and assorted fun mini-challenges, were proposed - all in a bid by youths to encourage heritage appreciation among their peers.

The first stage of Mission Darkstar shortlisted five proposals that brimmed with potential and creativity. Each team received a seed funding of SGD4,000 to transform their ideas into online games over the next six months which you will be able to play for free on this site and on other social media platforms such as Facebook.

Receiving their seed funding at the Mission Darkstar Awards Ceremony at Asian Civilisations Museum this afternoon, the five selected teams were  Square Root 25, Cravirtua, Dark Ridge, Jason Yap & friends, and Sunnyside.

They wowed the judges with their well-thought proposals that encapsulated originality and Singapore’s unique heritage.

Said Stella Wee,one of the organisers of Mission Darkstar: “As this was NHB’s first attempt at organising an online game creation competition, we were somewhat concerned with the level of public participation when we opened the contest in December. But were we all pleasantly surprised with the number of ideas submitted.”

David Miller, Assistant Director of Corporate Communications at the National Heritage Board who gave away the prizes said: “Our judges were very impressed by the high standards of the proposals received. It showed clearly that these youngsters put in much time, effort and creative juices in coming up with such a wide range of online gaming ideas. Much credit must also go to the teachers involved for helping to promote Mission Darkstar within their institutions and for guiding the students along with their original game ideas.”

Added Melissa Giam, another Mission Darkstar member: “We looked at some of the animation sketches and the quality was unmistakable. We do have a lot of really talented youths and I’m sure they will make us all proud when we see their final games in a few months time.”

While the five teams get busy materialising their games to reality, the public can look forward to October 2009 where the five online games will be launched for the public to play and vote for their favourites. The top three teams stand to win a total of $13,500 worth of cash prizes.

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