Skip to main content

Course Search

Courses

Admissions & Support

Faculty Areas

Course Search

Our Campuses

Our Services

Our Community

Course Search

Governance

Professional Services

Discover More

Game Studio

The theme for Games Fleadh 2025 is Small World.

Closing date for registrations of teams is Friday Februrary 28th at 5:00pm.

Gamer Register your Game Studio Team

Register your Game Studio Team

Click here to register
Toggle Navigation

General Information

Students are required to submit using a One Drive or Google Drive folder shared with liam.noonan@tus.ie please ensure your college lecturer is also provided with this share URL

  1. Game Executable
  2. Source Code
  3. Design Doc
  4. A video Trailer Screencast max of 90 seconds

Closing date for submission of entry is Monday March 3rd 10:00am 2025

As states in the Rules Entrants will be accepted from 2nd, 3rd and/or 4th years that are full time undergraduate 3rd level courses and Fetac level 6 game design related courses. Entrants must have the approval of an academic mentor.

2025 Prize Categories

Judging Criteria

Your entry will be judged using, but not limited to, the following criteria.

Game Play

  1. Clarity of Games’ goals
  2. Player is motivated to play the game again (i.e use of leaderboards, share score etc)
  3. Levels are creative and attractive with a ramp up of difficulty
  4. User interface is well defined and enhances the game
  5. The narrative of the game addresses the theme of addressing climate change and its impacts
  6. The Game Trailer would encourage someone to play the game
  7. Player can replay the game using a different approach/strategy

Game Mechanics

  1. The game poses a set of unique and interesting challenges for the player to overcome
  2. Implementation of the rules and procedures that guide the player and the game response to the player’s moves or actions

Algorithms

  1. How decisions are made in the game code, are they simple binary decisions, do they use simple calculations or do they implement a decision algorithm to guide the player or NPC in the game i.e. AI, Machine Learning, graph tree
  2. Use of Physics calculations to produce a more realistic game

Use of Programming and Game Engine Concepts

  1. Use of programming concepts and commenting of code
  2. Use of basic frameworks and libraries provided by the programming language or Game Engine. Has the code been designed with scalability and code reuse in mind i.e. inheritance, polymorphism etc
  3. Use of advanced frameworks, plugins and external APIs (or development of a custom library/API)

Game Dev Resources

Programming

Windows 11

Frameworks and Engines

JavaScript (HTML) Frameworks and Libraries

Art

2D

3D

Art Assets

Audio

Sound Generators

Sound Assets

Production

Project Management

2025 Rules

Please note Game Studio Ireland Challenge Cup Rules are subject to change. All entrants must ensure full compliance with rules and agreed to terms of the participation agreement.

Download Participation Agreement here

2025 General Rules

Entrants must read and agree to the Participation Agreement.
Entrants to the Game Studio Ireland Challenge Cup can be an;
Individual entry
OR
Team entry (of no more than 6 students, each team member should agree to the Participation Agreement)
Entrants will be accepted from 2nd, 3rd and/or 4th years that are full time undergraduate 3rd level courses and Fetac level 6 game design related courses. Entrants must have the approval of an academic mentor.

Closing date for registration of teams is Friday Feb 28th 5:00pm 2025.

Submission of entries closes on Monday March 3rd 10:00am 2025.

The team name and the title of the game must be the same so as to assist in the judging process.

Students are required to submit using a One Drive or Google Drive folder shared with liam.noonan@tus.ie, please provide the share URL to your college lecturer as well.

  1. Game Executable
  2. Source Code
  3. Design Doc
  4. A video Trailer Screencast max of 90 seconds

Two entries per educational institution is allowed. Institutions may apply to submit more than two entries and these extra entries maybe allocated available places, in priority order as identified by the institutions academic mentor and at the discretion of the organising committee. Colleges and Universities must officially register each Game Entry as set out in the competition schedule.
Entrants to the Game Studio Ireland Challenge shall base their Game Entry on the theme of the Games Fleadh. Copies of entrant’s source code, art and audio work must be submitted as set out in the competition schedule..
The entrants must submit a Game Design Report explaining in detail their design and how this has been implemented.

The Judging Panel will be nominated by the organising committee. The Judging Panel must be satisfied as to the suitability of each entrant’s Game Entry and that it fairly reflects the work and research of the individual or each member of a team.

Each team member must attend Games Fleadh in person on Wednesday March 5th2025 TUS Thurles Campus.
The Game Entry must be the contestants own work. Any breach of this will result in immediate disqualification.
The Game Entry will developed using resources.
The Game Entry must be demonstrable on Windows  and/or Xbox 360/XBox One / XBOX One X and/or a mobile phone.
The use of external API’s should be limited and where used fully documented in the Game Design Report.

Teams are responsible for uploading and sharing their entries with the Games Fleadh organisers.

If a team plans to bring stand alone video screen that do not fit on the table allocated then they must get permission 1 week in advance (Wed Feb 26th  2025) of the competition from the Games Fleadh organisers. This permission must be routed through their Lecturer who is acting as their mentor.

If these rules conflict in any way with the Participation Agreement, the Participation Agreement takes precedence.
Incomplete, damaged, defaced or illegible Game Entries may be deemed invalid at the sole discretion of organising committee.

Game Entry constitutes full and unconditional acceptance of these rules.
The organising committee reserves the right to disqualify anyone in breach of these rules.
The decision of the Organising committee, Interview Panel and Judges will be final.
Game Studio Ireland Challenge 2025 Specific Game Rules

Game Studio Ireland Challenge will honour the theme small world
ENTRANTS MUST ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THE PARTICIPATION AGREEMENT
A Game Entry can be submitted as 2D or 3D games.