What is a Game Design Treatment?

Two of our competitions are open to just game treatments. A treatment is a first pass plan for a game. It is usually a short document not more then 10-12 pages and often smaller the describes a basic idea for a game, the core gameplay, the general user experience, a story if the game has a story, the key characters if there are characters, and other important information that describes the game. Game design treatments often also involve some simple diagrams or illustrations to help explain the game, and also include basic information about how the game would be built, what the intended audience is and how the game would be marketed. These need not be incredibly detailed plans but they must be detailed enough that an experienced reader would be able to build a great picture of the proposal in their head and evaluate it. Treatments that survive a good evaluation go on to become more fully fleshed out plans, and eventually some of them actually get turned into finished games.

The goal of the treatment competitions is to create a short document that defines a problem in healthcare and then proposes a game that would contribute to the solution of the problem in part or whole.

Our submission form for the treatment competitions includes a basic template you can follow and extend for your entry. If you can define all the basic questions well, provide a few diagrams, and make a compelling case your game treatment can score well!

Does the scope of the problem play a role in my score?

Traditionally the world does tend ttry and put more weight on problems that affect larger groups. Our competition does not. We are more concerned with you providing a problem that is well defined then the size of the population that it affects. A great idea that helps a community of 10,000 people will be scored higher then a bad one that affects 50 million. Do not worry about the scope of the plan and instead focus on the symbiotic linkage between a well defined problem and a creative game solution.

Why is this competition being held?

The Games for Health Project believes game development offers in and of itself creative responses to many problems in health and healthcare. The Games for Health Competition is all about exploring and inspiring people to think of games beyond entertainment and as a possible tool to be used in everyday problem solving in health and healthcare. We hope to field a slew of entries that showcase the variance and depth of creative solutions that can be imagined. We expect the body of entries to provide new inspiration for projects both in the form of a goal projects can seek to meet, and by showing us new ideas we haven't considered to date.

What will you do with our entries, the finalists, etc. after the competition is over?

We will post materials related to all finalists on our Web site for public consumption, review, and inspiration.

What Intellectual Property Rules Pertain to This Contest ?

Our IP rules are stated in our official rules. They protect the dual needs of entrants and the operators/sponsors of the contest. The do not transfer ownership from you to any other entity.

Do I have to have supporting research to prove my game works?

If you do - it can help, but it is not a requirement. Our judges will make their own best judgement if your game will work to achieve its goals based on how you describe the problem and document or demonstrate the solution. It is NOT a requirement for entry.

Does my work have to be a computer game?

All entries must be computer games - non-computer games don't qualify. This is further required by the presentation of a technical plan as part of a treatment and of coruse an executable for our prototype competition.

Will other types of game-like applications be acceptable?

Virtual worlds, interesting puzzles, augmented reality games, alternate reality games are all acceptable. A game need not look, feel, and play like Super Mario Brothers. However the application you submit must have many of the core traits of games like competition, uncertain outcomes dependent on the player, rules, failure, etc.

What is the entry deadline?

Your work MUST be submitted by 11:59:59 PM Pacific Time on Friday March, 30. NO EXCEPTIONS will be made unless there was a discernable and easily provable technical glitch that prevented what would otherwise have been a valid submission. All decisions regarding such exceptions will be made at the sole descretion of the contest operators.

Will I receive confirmation of my entry?

All submissions will receive a confirmation within 24 hours of their submission. If you do not you may email Ben Sawyer @ bsawyer@dmill.com to inquire about the state of your submission.

Is age a requirement of any of the competitions?

In accordance with our official rules entrants must be 18 years or older as of October 19, 2006.

You must be a full-time student for at least the fall 2006, or spring 2007 semester to enter our student storyboard competition and that game must be targeted at a traditionally aged student population (5-25 years of age).

What does "please provide FULL CREDITS for all individuals who contributed to this project" mean on the submission form?

It means please list the names and emails of EVERYONE who contributed to some degree to this submission. This is part of our vetting process to ensure entries meet eligibility requirements.

In general our advice is to keep your teams small and succinct to avoid any chance of disqualification as a result.

May I replace my submission once submitted?

NO. Only finalists for the prototype contest will have the ability to replace a submission with an updated entry. Prototype submissions may provide bug fixes but only at the request of a judge. Most judges won't request this so its better to make sure your executable submission is as bug-proof as possible.

Is the competition open to professional game developers?

Please see our rules for organizations that are qualified to enter which covers some of this issue.

If you are a professional developer but are submitting the work on your own (and have the right to do so) and you did not use time or resources from an otherwise ineligible company you may submit.

Who will judge the entries?

We are still assembling our judging panel. Judges will come from health & healthcare, academia, and professional game development.

Can I submit a game on a mobile device, old game system, linux, etc?

You may submit games for operating systems, hardware devices, or mobile platforms that may not have a large installed base. However, submissions that require us to assemble the platform beyond PC or Mac may be deemed to hard to judge because we can not get these systems properly into the hands of our judges. Supplying the hardware will help but all hardware supplied will not necessarily be returned due to logistics. If you plan to submit a game that you believe to require extra work to judge please contact Ben Sawyer (bsawyer@dmill.com) and discuss the logistics necessary to get your game properly judged.

Can I submit an existing health game or must it be new?

So long as it doesn't violate any other rules your game may be new, or old.

If we are a team and win an award how is it distributed?

The award will be given to the desginated organization or individual the team specifies in its application.

If I supply art for my treatment entry does the quality of the art play a role in judging?

Not necessarily. So long as the art makes a noticible contribution to explaining the game and how it will work art quality will not be a judging element for treatments. This means all images and diagrams should be produced with care and quality but you need not be a professional artist. The quality of your overall submission will be rated so do pay attention to overall issues such as spelling, grammer, layout, etc.

Is the art quality for my prototype a criteria for judging.

Yes. A prototype submission will be judged on overall production quality relative to the game being created. This is because a prototype, demo, or full game is being evaluated at a level closer to what the consumer would see. If you are creative about your game though you can avoid huge needs for great and expensive artwork.

Is age a requirement of any of the competitions?

In accordance with our official rules entrants must be 18 years or older as of 17, 2006.

You must be a full-time student for at least the fall 2006, or spring 2007 semester to enter our student storyboard competition and that game must be targeted at a traditionally aged student population (5-25 years of age).

Will we be notified if I am a finalist or not before the finalists are publicly announced?

No. Everyone will hear of the finalists at the same time.

Once the finalists are announced what happens to all entry materials?

Please see our rules which state that unless specified in a subsequent email all submissions and supporting material will not be garaunteed to be returned.

Is there any basic advice you have for entrants?

The most important advice we can give you is as follows:

1. Find a good problem to solve and describe it well. General problems like "people don't always take their medicine regularly" is not going to help you. Health games work well when they are focused on core problems such as "Many bone marrow donors do not realize how simple the process of pre-screening is and thus don't enter themselves into the marrow database effectively minimizing their potential to make an important donation when the time comes." The more specific and thorough you can describe the problem you are trying to solve the better your game solution will be and the better the judges will score your entry as a result.

2. Think about feasibility. Most amateur game developers trip up by trying to create or propose an idea that is simply too hard to build. They often can build some of it but not all of it, or they dream of a game that has so many ideas that it crumbles under the weight of them all. Simple game mechanics, basic ideas, but with sophisticated outcomes (e.g. Tetris) have proven to be the types of games that not only are praised for their ingenuity but end up being games easily produced by even upstart developers. Judges will rank the feasibility of your idea -- by staying realistic you stand a better chance of scoring well.

3. Draw inspiration from the 30+ years of great games the game industry has produce thus far. Games are often improved combinations and copies of existing games. Originality stems from novel additions and combinations as well as entirely new ideas. Explaining how your game is similar in style or play to other popular games leaving only the twists and differences to emphasize is a great way to not only design interesting games but to also convince judges how the game will play.

4. Get feedback from others. Once you have your concept - share it with friends, family, and others close to you - especially gamers. Their comments and ideas may be the key to tweaking your idea to the point our judges will praise it. User-centric design is a critical way to make a great game idea even better.

5. Participate in our conference calls. These are great opportunities to ask questions and hone your ideas. We will do our best however not to tell you if your idea is good or not. Instead our goal will be to point you to resources that might help you make those decisions for yourself. We can however tell you if you've honed your problem to a degree that will work well.

Can I mod an existing game?

Yes, but your entry must not violate any End User License Agreements for the software. Stick to games that encourage mods like Unreal, Half-Life, Civilization 4, NeverWinter Nights and more.

Modifiable online worlds such as Second Life may also be used. However, if judging requires the creation of an account(s) and or payment you must provide 5 instances of log ins/passwords and at least 1 months access time for judges to use at their descretion.

Are Homebrew Games for the PSP and GameBoy acceptable.

Not as prototypes. These systems technically forbid you from building homebrew software even though it is technically feasible and thus you violate their rights. As much as we'd love to see these devices and their companies encourage user-created content until they do legally we can't accept entries.

Treatment competitions however can be submitted with ideas suitable for any device since there is no actual development for them being entered.

If I entered another competition such as The Independent Games Festival, Slamdance, or Hidden Agenda can I enter this one.

Yes, so long as your agreements with those competitions doesn't preclude you we're happy to consider previously entered or currently entered work.

If my work is part of a school project, thesis, or otherwise may I still enter?

Yes, so long as the rules of your school governing projects developed while at the school allow you to do so.

I need help from others to develop my idea - can you put me in touch with possible collaborators?

No we can not. You may however use the resources on our help & resources page to find such people.

If I have done any work with Digitalmill, Robert Wood Johnson, or Hopelab can I still enter the competition.

Please see our rules in regards to this -- if you are still uncertain then contact us.

If I have had a commercial relationship with any of the judges may I enter.

With the exception of Digitalmill yes. In that case judges involved will recuse themselves from your evaluation.

Can I replace my entry with a better new idea after I've submitted?

No. So make it your best idea before you submit it.