From January 10 to 12, Cégep de Valleyfield held its 8th edition of the Intercollégial de création de jeux vidéo. The competition, which brought together 108 students in 19 teams from 12 different CEGEPs, saw participants from Collège Bois-de-Boulogne come out on top in this event of IT and creative achievement!

Open to all CEGEPs in the province, organized with the participation of Cégep de Valleyfield's Techniques de l'informatique students and supported by the Cégep's Direction des technologies de l'information, this intercollegiate event brought together the following institutions under one roof: Collège de Bois-de- Boulogne, Cégep de Chicoutimi, Cégep Édouard-Montpetit, Cégep Gérald-Godin, Cégep de Saint-Jérôme, Cégep de Lévis, Cégep de Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Collège Maisonneuve, Cégep de Sainte-Foy, Cégep de Shawinigan, Cégep de Sorel-Tracy and, of course, Cégep de Valleyfield.

This intercollegiate competition, lasting just over 41 hours, challenged participants to deploy their skills and knowledge in the field of video games. The challenge was essentially to work as a team to create a video game based on the theme of Worship.

A distinguished jury

At the end of the competition, the final creations were presented to a jury of industry professionals: Margot Blanchard, lead designer - team leader at Lowbirth Games, Pier-Luc Gauthier, community developer at Ubisoft Montreal, and Audrey Poulin, a visual arts graduate from Cégep de Valleyfield, now lead art at Behaviour interactive and also art director at Folklore Games.

They determined the overall winners, who were unveiled on January 24 at the Virtual Gala presented on the Cégep de Valleyfield's Twitch channel.

The winners

3rd place and the $750 bursary went to the Code Crusaders team from Cégep de Saint-Jérôme for their game Cultus Arcanum. The team stood out for the retro feel and hand-crafting of their village management game, as well as for their writing skills and day-and-night system detail.

Team Les Énigmatiks from Cégep de Shawinigan took 2nd place for their game Voulez-vous devenir un Chef de Culte, winning a $1,000 bursary for their Pac-Manesque cult leader experience with simple, effective visuals and beautiful programming for enemies and allies.

Finally, it was the Garfield Kart Fan Club team from Collège Bois-de-Boulogne and their Lutin Mutin game that took top honors in this 8th edition with a $1,500 bursary. Among other things, the team made a name for itself with a 100% hand-made game, and an original approach to the theme, with a degree of depth and social criticism hidden behind a child's world in Santa's kingdom!

Special mentions

The jury gave special mention to the works of the Chromatix team from Collège de Bois-de-Boulogne for the technical prowess of their game La confrérie des astres déchus, and to the Cégep de Lévis team for the narrative design behind their production La Chute.

An inspiring conference

Participants also had the opportunity to attend a conference given by Olivier Leclair, founder of Studio Chien d'Or. He shared his background and experiences in the industry with the young creators, and then talked not only about his tasks, but more broadly about his personal production methods. A moment of sharing that aroused a great deal of interest among the participants.

Cégep de Valleyfield well represented by its local team

The local team, made up of Cégep de Valleyfield Computer Science students, gave their all to design an equally interesting game: Sanguinem. The local group, made up of Tommy Bédard, Louca Filiatrault, Alec Sauvageau, Adiel Proulx-Lepage and their friend Louis-Félix Quintal from Cégep de Sherbrooke, put their skills and knowledge of video games to work.

The Intercollégial is an opportunity for students to put into practice, as a team, the programming skills they learn as part of their training. Behind the success of this 8th edition are many players, and the Cégep de Valleyfield would like to congratulate and thank them all: the organizing committee, the team of volunteers, as well as all the departments and services that worked in any way on this project. 

The Cegep also acknowledges the considerable support of the following organizations: L'Association Étudiante du Cégep de Valleyfield (AECV), La Fondation du Cégep de Valleyfield and the Ministère de l'Éducation et de l'Enseignement supérieur.

If you have any questions or comments about the Video Game Creation Intercollegiate, please call 450 373-9441, ext. 390, or write to interjeuxvideo@cegepvalleyfield.ca.