Kiwi Game Starter 2022 – call for entries!
1 March 2022
Entry forms for the New Zealand Game Developers Association startup programme for interactive games businesses, the Kiwi Game Starter, are now open!
Entrants should prepare their playable prototypes and business/marketing plans for submission via the submission form. The deadline for submissions is Monday 2 May 2022 at 5pm.
Thanks to our kind sponsor University of Canterbury for funding the First Prize of $25,000 (NZD), and AWS for funding the Second Prize of $10,000 (NZD).
What is Kiwi Game Starter?
Kiwi Game Starter is the NZGDA’s annual game development award and startup programme for interactive games businesses and startups. Each year there is a prize that includes mentorship support for the winning teams or individuals and cash to aid in the completion of the winning project. The competition aims to improve the commercial outcomes for NZ developers working towards completing their games.
The key areas the submissions will be judged upon include originality and technical / creative innovation. Commercial prospects will also be judged based on the information provided in the completed business and marketing planning templates provided. Games can be developed for the following digital platforms: mobile (Android & iOS), browser, or computer (Windows, MacOS, Linux). For avoidance of doubt, Board Games are specifically excluded from the competition.
Requirements
Each entrant must be an individual, or a group/company with at least one team lead based in New Zealand, aged at least 18 years of age or older, and a member of the NZGDA. The game cannot be available for sale or pre-sale at the time of submission. However, it is acceptable for it to have been provided as a reward as part of a crowd-funding or charitable campaign.
What are we looking for in entries?
KGS is a business-development competition to help new and upcoming New Zealand game development. As such, its focus is on commercial viability in the international market. For any given application, we require:
- A playable demo that gives the judges an understanding of the core of the game. This does not need to be feature complete, but it should provide confidence in the concept and ability of the team to execute.
- A business and marketing plan based on the provided template that explains what the game is, a prospective timeline for the project, and where funding is going to be allocated.
Further prizes or funding may be announced while the competition is running, so get to work on your entries!
How to Enter
- Complete the KGS2022 Business and Marketing plan template, and the KGS 2022 Support Data template (make your own copies and submit links to these copies in your entry form).
- Enter by completing the submission form.
Terms and conditions apply and can be viewed here.
Please don’t be put off by the application forms! Anything you can’t understand you can query via email to kgs@nzgda.com.