After last year’s successful Next Great Game Challenge, Hasbro Gaming Labs and Indiegogo are back at it again with a second challenge and even more cash!
Last year’s Challenge received more than 500 game submissions from designers and inventors in the U.S. alone with The Mr. Toast Game as the grand prize winner. The game’s developer Dan Goodsell raised more than $10,000 through his Indiegogo crowdfunding page and Hasbro plans to launch The Mr. Toast Game later this year.The Hasbro Gaming Lab Spring 2016 Next Great Game Challenge has expanded globally so designers from the U.S., U.K., Canada, France and Germany can submit their ideas through May 15th on www.nextgreatgamechallenge.com. The winner will receive a greater grand prize of $25,000 and a trip to Hasbro headquarters to meet with game developers.
For burgeoning casual game designers it’s a fantastic opportunity. Not only do you have industry professionals vetting your idea, if they like it, they’ll give you advice and cash to start a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo. Here’s how it works:
- You pitch your game to the folks over at Hasbro Gaming Labs. They comb through all the submissions and choose 15 likely candidates based on theme, playability, and salability. These semi-finalists submit their prototypes to Hasbro.
- The 15 prototypes get playtested by Hasbro–so make sure you’ve done a playtest yourself before you submit your pitch. This round, they’ll look at uniqueness as well as and choose 5 top candidates. (Don’t worry, you’ll get your prototype back!)
- The five finalists will receive mentoring from Hasbro and Indiegogo and $2,000 to launch a crowdfunding campaign.
- Once the Indiegogo campaigns have wrapped up, the top-funded finalist will win $25,000 and a trip for four to Hasbro HQ to work alongside Hasbro to assist in final development and production of their game.
You can follow the Hasbro Gaming Lab blog for announcements as well as features on Mr. Toast, the game that won the first Next Great Game Challenge. If you’re ready to throw your hat in the ring for the chance to win $25,000 and have your game professionally published by Hasbro, polish your pitch and head over to the submission page before May 15!
