The Rochester Institute of Technology is looking for the next great game.
Submissions open Monday for the first ever New York State Game Dev challenge.
The competition is an opportunity for students enrolled in New York State colleges and universities, as well as indie developers above the age of 18 residing within the state to bring their game ideas to production.
RIT was recently named 1 of 3 Digital Gaming Hubs in New York State, along with RPI and NYU. The objective for the gaming hubs is to foster innovation and create collaborative activities that spur new games and companies.
Jennifer Hinton is a spokeswoman for RIT's Magic Studios, a research and development lab for new games. She said interest in the growing gaming industry is happening both on and outside of college campuses.
"Certainly students who go to college to study game development as a higher education degree, but we know there are a lot of hobbyists or enthusiasts that are out there that are developing games on their own with friends and with colleagues. Creativity is not confined to the classroom."
Entrants will be judged on their game idea pitch, game prototype, business plan, mentorship plan and development timeline.
Hinton says participants are competing for $25,000 in prize money from Empire State Development.
"Along with the funding is the opportunity to spend the summer incubating if you will, on campus at either RIT, RPI or NYU, and we'll also be connecting these developers to a pretty fantastic network of professionals that we have in the state."
Submissions will close April 24th and winners will be announced in a ceremony at The Strong in May.