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10 Year Old Brother Game Environment Challenge is over. The challenge was started by WoLD member Robert aka BasketQase. I want to thank Robert for coming up with the idea and 1111mediawosrks.com for t-shirts to top 3 entries.

This challenge was fun to watch. It was interesting to see how story defined the perception of the environment and the variety of environments created from the same theme. In the end we had seven final entries and 3 top winners as chosen by Rob's brother and his friends.

Below are top 3 entries with kid's reactions and the rest of the final work submitted.

Thank you to everyone who participated and hope to see you in the next challenge.

1st place: Duruk
2nd place: Thrice
3rd place: Moutrave

TOP 3

1ST PLACE: Duruk

Story: Global warming caused by an alien invasion flooded the earth. The surviving humans have fled into the mountains or are living in cities made from ships. Our hero arrives in a submarine and its your task to finally get rid of the 5 Alien bosses and save the earth before they attack the last surviving humans. After you defeat the first boss the second boss spawns on the second tower and so on.

Kids Reaction: Video really sold this one with the kids, going from only a single vote before viewing the video, to being a favorite afterward. They really liked the different bosses and were impressed by the details they noticed after looking at it longer (like the helicopter crashed into the side of the building).

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2ND PLACE: Thrice

Story: Far beneath the sea, in a chasm known as "The Deep" a group of scientists and explorers uncovered a new form of life. This microscopic life form was drawn to the explorers' equipment and appeared to have some kind of link to technology. Hoping to use the the life-form to enhance their own weaponry, the scientists quickly setup a small base on the most stable area near The Deep.

In time this small base grew as more and more researchers arrived to study the new life-form. A tower was built near the edge of The Deep which was used for advanced research. Soon after, scientists began extracting small amounts of the life-form and bringing it back to the tower. Very soon they realized their mistake as the life-forms they brought back began to grow and spread within the tower where it was being studied.

The scientists fled the tower because they feared that they might be infected. They called the new life-form 'Viroid' because it appeared to be a virus that could actually infect technology. Fearing that the Viroid would spread, the scientists called in the strongest soldiers from the surface to enter the tower and fight the infection back. You are one of those soldiers.

Kids Reaction: This was the clear favorite background story. Reading the story to the kids for this entry changed it from being mostly uncommented on to "that's awesome." One judge said, "THAT'S a game I would play!" after the story was finished. The video helped seal the deal as it showed more of the level and helped the kids understand the layout better.

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3RD PLACE: Moutrave

Story: The distant future, long after all life has deserted the surface of the earth. At least, that's what the new human "underwater" society believes. That society had to adapt to life underwater after a cataclysm long forgotten. It's not easy, cities are scarse, but there are remains of technology and various clans have formed, each of them having their own beliefs.

This particular "city", if you can call it that, has been nicknamed "Omega" for lack of a better word. Here people come looking for a new beginning or an end, that depends on the outcome of their journey. Outcasts, outlaws, religious fanatics, warriors eager to fight : all this type come here because of the strange and old legends surrounding the five towers that are planted in the middle of a small crater like plain.

Whoever can reach the top of the middle tower and defeat whatever eveil they find in between and underneath the great final dome, is said to be transported in the only remaining surface land that exists.

Of course no one has come back to tell the tale. But people keep coming once a year, and at the end of the 3 day long challenge, a blinding light flashes out of the dome, along with a screeching organic / mechanic sound that would creep rambo out.

Yet no one know what happens in there afterwards. that's why people keep wanting to find out !

Kids Reaction: This one had the most universal appeal, getting a vote from each of the four judges. They all reacted favorably to the images right away with phrases like "whoa" and "that's cool." They were also excited by the level's background story.

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FINAL ENTRIES

Aldighieri

Story: It is Atlantis, in the 51st century. The people have built a thriving underwater civilization, blissfully unaware of the dangers that lurk around them. Dangerous creatures exist just beyond their biosphere, some large enough to completely consume the entire city. The dark god Poseidon keeps these threats at bay, but only if a champion can defeat his best warriors in an annual tournament. Tendrils rise from ash and form a tower that will hold this tournament. Defeating the Dark God's warriors will lure his champion out. The two champions will clash, and the winner will decide the fate of the entire city.

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ikomnen

Story: Exploring the deep see and ocean floor our hero's submarine expedition received strange radiation signals on its scanner. But following this signal suddenly they find themselves entrapped into giant mechanical octopus claws. Now they will have to fight for their freedom through five arenas - including final fight with Octoboss!!!

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Jason H

Story: The year is 2010 and through much protest from the world leaders, the UN had decided a human extinction scenario should be set into motion in case any of the old civilizations' histories/prophecies were accurately translated for the end of this earth era in 2012.

Whatever the plan was, it had to save people from giant asteroids plummeting into the earth, planetary alignment/magnetic polar flip, huge solar flare storms attacking the earth while we're at the earth's currently low state of atmospheric protection [there's a lot of holes in our atmosphere atm], or the return of the Anunnaki[alien visitors] to rule as gods over the species they may or may not have created in their image .. or all of the above. Billions were spent on research and development for a flexible technology that would protect at least a handful of humans from all of the scenarios presented to the UN, and finally they came upon a plan designed during the cold war era that had been started but never finished.

They decided to build a series of underwater/underground bases in which to house the most important things and the most genetically healthy people from across the world. And so the Regenesis-2 was born as one of these installations across the world; much like the international space station, every country that wanted to save it's people had a part to play in these life saving arks.

It took two years before the Regenesis-2 was fully constructed from it's already half built frame in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and with only a month left before December 2012 mobilization had already begun while the construction workers were finishing off the last of the protective measures in the building. Supplies, however,
were delayed, as some of the other installations which had been finished slightly earlier had needed to be stocked first. A human ark at the bottom of the ocean stretching down into the earth's crust filled with personnel and no food, what could go wrong?

The supplies never came. Contact with the outside world stopped shortly after the last survivor arrived, as a result of the overactive solar flares from the sun, so nobody knew the north pole had turned into the south pole and vice-versa. Nobody knew this had caused hyperactivity in volcanoes all over the globe, and that the sky was covered in ash. Nobody knew about the Apophis Asteroid hurtling towards the earth at 10,000 miles per hour with a projected impact somewhere around the middle of the Pacific Ocean, or that the gasses emitted by the giant rock after its impact would turn any human survivors into zombie-like creatures. For now all you know is that life sucks at the bottom of the ocean with no food supplies from the surface, and the microbial food generators wouldn't create enough food for everyone to have a full meal for another month.

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Orion5175

Story: The entire level would be a maze of stairways and partially broken elevators due to the electrical outages that consume portions of the tower and the surrounding buildings. Whatever took over the tower hasn't been occupieing it for long,
The entire place still has a lived in look with lights, tv's, equipment, electronics, appliances still left on. The entire layout is pretty straight forward linear design with sections and floors that can be explored off the regular path.

I think the hardest thing about this challenge was trying to design around a boss that doesn't exist and I am not a character designner so it was hard to reflect what type of environment he/she/it would be in or surroundings it would have created around it.

As far as the overall environment I was trying to make it earth but in a completely different era but still have alot of the familiar elements as today. For example the second scene has an office lobby type feel to it along with the bar in scene four. And the different era in scene three with the underwater causeway leading to the tower along with the large creature behind the tower. The final scene was the top of the tower and not really knowing much about the boss, I kinda left it with the huge aquarium in a double tiered room lite mainly from the main tank in the center leading out and open at the top.

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