No, this post isn’t about those horrible games that are saturated in pink hues and revolve around cuddly anthropomorphic animal friends that developers market to pre-teen girls. This is about the Games 4 Girls competition, an event in connection with ChicTech and the U of I’s Department of Computer Science, in which college-age women design and implement a video game for their younger counterparts in middle and high school.
This year’s competition began in January, and the winners were just announced. As part a of the ChicTech initiative, the goal is to get girls interested in computer science. Participants compete for cash prizes of up to $1000 per team member, and games are judged by a panel of high school age women.
This is the fourth year for the competition. I actually had the pleasure of participating in the very first G4G with a team of women in computer science at Parkland (we didn’t place, but we did walk away with an honorable mention). It’s a great opportunity to really dive into something that women may not have ever considered as a career previously, and a whole lot of fun. By the sound of things on their website, they’ve expanded a bit and accept entries from all over the country now.
It’s too late to enter this year, obviously, but if you haven’t heard of it, and think you may be interested in the next G4G, drop by the competition’s website and take a look. Never too early to start planning. Check out the games that won last year, while you’re at it, and stay tuned because I’m sure they’ll post download links for this year’s winning games.
Nikki Blight: is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.
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the217
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Nikki Blight
is still trying to find that damn princess... when she's not writing fresh code for the217.com.