The Great Canadian Appathon, a 48-hour test of game developing endurance, was preparing Thursday to come back for round two.

The Canada wide competition, which starts Friday and runs until Sunday, pits Canadian college and university students against each other in a nonstop two -day challenge fueled by creativity, coding prowess, pizza and energy drinks.

Lydia Schaele from XMG Studio, the company behind the event, told thedailyplanet.com on Thursday that the contest was made to put Canadian student developers to the test.

“There’s a lot of great student developers in Canada,” said Schaele. “We wanted to find a way to get some competition going on.”

Schaele said all Canadian students are eligible to participate.

“The Appathon is open to anyone with a valid Canadian student ID,” said Schaele. “It’s completely free, too,” she said.

Schaele said there are over 20 schools across Canada partaking in the event, including Humber College.

There is no entry cost for the Appathon, but the prizes are extensive.

The grand prize for the winning team consists of $25,000 in cash, and the app will be published in Apple’s online App Store. Plus, there will be a job interview at XMG Studio, Schaele said.

'Taste of the industry'

Umer Noor, a game programming professor at Humber College, is promoting the event to his students.

“Students get bogged down in homework and assignments,” Noor told thedailyplanet.com.

“I want to get them excited and give them a taste of working in the industry,"he said.

Officially, Noor said he cannot be told how many Humber students are participating, but he said from talking to his classes, he gathers about 20.

Noor said 48 hours of nonstop developing can take its toll on entrants in the competition.

“I know 48 hours is tough,” said Noor. “I’ve been lenient in the next week on assignments.”

Unlike the first Appathon earlier this year in April, the second version will feature a secret theme or idea on which games must be built.

Schaele said the theme won’t be revealed until the contest starts, so that “everyone has to begin from the bottom up.”

Cows vs. Aliens, the winning game of the previous Appathon.

 

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