A team of computing students from the Kajaani University of Applied Sciences has won the Viope Game Development World Championship 2013, capitalising on the current trend for cute, cartoonish creatures with their game "Hopping Penguin". The development team, all of whom are in the final stages of their studies, consists of Aapo Lehikoinen, Joonas Alhonen, Olli Lahtinen and Veli Riikonen.
“The idea for game idea was born at the Global Game Jam event. Later on, when we heard about the Viope competition, we decided to participate,” said Lehikoinen and Lahtinen.
The Viope game development competition attracted 749 teams from 79 countries, producing 69 games for the competition. The contest has two categories, students and professionals, and is judged by a panel of industry professionals. In the professional category the victory went to a Brazilian team.
The Kajaani game development team was also part of Aalto University’s AppCampus programme, which will see the release of the Hopping Penguin game for Windows phones in March.
Food education game brings success at home
The Kajaani University of Applied Sciences students have also achieved competitive success on home turf. A week ago, food-processing company Atria published the results of its contest, with students Veli-Matti Korhonen and Miikka Ketonen winning top honours with their game “Ruokaryntäys” or “Food Rush”.
The contest is used as a platform for encouraging children to recognise healthy food and wellbeing choices by rewarding players when they choose the right options.
Atria is currently seeking to realize the concept and the finished game will be published in autumn of 2014.