The Alice Challenge invites middle and high school students in the Pittsburgh region to create 3D animations, engaging games, or immersive experiences using the Alice programming environment.

On Alice, you can build virtual 3D worlds, create games, and explore your creativity all while developing your technical skills. Students can submit projects in three competition categories:

Animation: Put on your director’s cap and start storyboarding! Animations in Alice use the scene builder, camera placements/moves, functions, and procedures to create an explorable virtual world or tell a story. If you want to tell an original tale, create your own interpretation of a classic story, or create an immersive environment full of mysteries and magic, this category is for you.
Games: Sure, winning games is fun, but have you tried building games? In Alice, you can use procedures, functions, and event listeners to build a game that lets users interact with the characters and objects in a scene to win, lose, learn, and play. Whether you want to create your own version of a game you love or think through the dynamics of a completely new game, this category let’s you decide how the game is played. Games can be of any genre—driving, quiz, puzzle, whatever you can make with Alice.
Good Neighbor: Fred Rogers once said that “We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.” If you want to be a hero, or help people find the hero in themselves, then the Good Neighbor category is for you. Inspired by television personality and native Pittsburgher Fred Rogers’ legacy, this category is about creating experiences for social good—experiences that encourage kindness and responsibility, and help people see their own value in the world. Entries can be Alice animations, games, or whatever you can imagine.

How to Prepare an Entry

Entries cannot be edited once they have been submitted, so we recommend you prepare all the entry materials in a Google Doc or similar workspace before starting the submission process. Here are the things you’ll need to gather before submitting your entry:

Your Category: Select the category your entry will compete in. Students can submit a maximum of one entry to each category. The same entry cannot be submitted to multiple categories.
Entry Title: Give your creation a name. Think of it as the title of your movie or your video game. Make it unique so it stands out!
Entry Description: Tell us about your project. What is it about? How do you play it or experience it? What’s the story? Why did you make it? You have a maximum of 200 words here.
Impact Statement: This one is just for the Good Neighbor category. Tell us why you chose the issue your entry focuses on, what your message is about that issue, and how your entry helps spread that message of being a good neighbor. Again, 200 words max for this answer.
Submitter name(s) and grade level(s): Tell us who created the entry. Students can work individually or in teams of up to 4 participants. We’ll need to know everyone’s grade level so we can put them in the right competition division.
Name of School or Program: Tell us where you’re learning about Alice. If it’s in a classroom or school-based club, let us know the name of your school. If it’s at the library, in an after school program, or some other community center, let us know where. If you’re doing it on your own or at home, let us know.
Video Recording: Make a screencast recording of your world and upload a file of the recording through the submission platform or, you can choose to upload it to YouTube or your favorite free video streaming service, and submit the link so that judges can see your world in action. New to screencasting? We've put together a helpful "how to" guide using free software. Check it out here.
Alice File: Save your Alice project files into a .zip folder and upload it so that judges can open it up and see how you created it. Need help zipping your files? Try these step-by-step instructions. Your Alice file must be 50MB or smaller. If you need help, email us at alice-challenge@lists.andrew.cmu.edu.

How to Submit an Entry

When you’re ready to submit your entry, click the green "Submit an Entry" button in the upper right of your screen to get started. You will be prompted to create a new account. Only adults at least 18 years old can create accounts, so every student needs to have a sponsoring adult complete their submission and agree to the Alice Challenge Terms of Use on their behalf. This can be a teacher, a mentor, a coach, a parent, or other adult who is responsible for the student(s) submitting to the competition, has the authority to enter the student(s) into the competition, and can be a point of contact for competition managers. The same adult can submit on behalf of multiple students and student teams.

Once an account is created, you’ll be shown to the submission page where you can enter the required information. Review your entry carefully before submitting.

Deadline, Judging, and Awards

The deadline to submit an entry to the Alice Challenge is May 3rd, 2019 on or before 11:59 PM Eastern Daylight Time. Challenge entries will be judged by real game designers and industry experts, and competition prizes include exclusive experiences and technology. Finalists and winners will be invited to a celebration awards ceremony on June 12, 2019 at Carnegie Mellon University.

Questions?

For any inquiries, please email alice-challenge@lists.andrew.cmu.edu.

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