Search For A Star is one of Europe’s biggest student game dev competitions, designed to highlight and reward the most promising young video games programmers, 3D artists, VFX artists and animators, and help them break into the industry with a bang.
Jobs, internships and mentoring are available for high achieving final year and Masters students, while personal feedback from industry professionals and impressive portfolio pieces can improve employability tenfold!
If you’re a first- or second-year student, please see our companion competition offering internship placements: Sumo Digital Rising Star.
The competition
We want to prepare our entrants for what lies ahead; that’s why our competition has been split into three stages designed by industry experts to mirror a typical games industry recruitment process.
The competition is split into five categories which you can enter: games coding, 3D character art, 3D environmental art, 3D animation, and VFX. You’ll have the chance to create your own games, art assets, animations or visual effects (depending on your discipline), to make a big impression with our judge panel and grow your own portfolio.
What’s in it for you?
- This is a unique opportunity to gain a job or valuable work experience at one of the top UK games studios.
- Develop a games project to a real brief & have it seen by industry professionals.
- Build your portfolio and improve skills by receiving personalised feedback from professionals in your field.
- Experience interview panels with judges from the industry, and receive personal advice and interview feedback from professionals from big names such as Microsoft and Unreal Engine.
- This is a chance to get your skills showcased in front of some of the UK’s leading games studios and make a big impression!
Search For A Star: Code
Stage 1
HackerRank C++ Proficiency Assessment
Applicants are given a series of code questions to complete in 90 minutes under exam conditions.
Stage 2
Games Development Project
The qualifying students from round 1 will be provided with a very loose game framework in the Unity engine. You’ll have four weeks to fix any code errors and improve the overall efficiency, while also developing new features. When complete, you will publish your finished project & our judges will assess your game as a published product.
Stage 3
Final Interview
Five finalists will be invited to a panel interview with leading industry representatives. You will be interviewed on your performance in the previous rounds, your aptitude, portfolio and your aspirations for the future.
Search For A Star: Art, Animation, VFXÂ
All entrants must choose a specialisation from the following: Character Art, Environment Art (incl. object; vehicle, weapon etc.), VFX, Animation. A winner will be chosen from each specialisation.
Stage 1
Portfolio Assessment
You will be invited to submit a current portfolio piece within your chosen specialisation. Portfolios will be examined and assessed by our team of industry experts.
Stage 2
Specialisation Project
The qualifying students from round one will receive a typical industry art brief to develop game-ready assets for use in the Unreal engine. You will have four weeks to create and present your finished project. When complete, our judges will assess your game assets as a publishable product.
Stage 3
Final Interview
Five finalists will be invited to a panel interview with leading industry representatives. You will be interviewed on your performance in the previous rounds, your aptitude, portfolio and your aspirations for the future.
Round one is now open for all applicants, but if you’ve not yet entered – don’t panic! Applications to register are open until the 24th January. Deadlines for Art portfolio submissions is 27/1/17. while the deadline to take the coding test is 31/1/17.
Want some inspiration? See one of last year’s winners had to say about the competition, and some of the fantastic art pieces our entrants submitted:
Anthea Van Leeuwen
Aaron HumphreysÂ
Tim Dries