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Google Play contest challenges teens to design an awesome mobile game

By Trevor Mogg Updated April 25, 2023

Most teens love playing mobile games, but do they have the imagination to come up with one themselves?

A Google Play contest launching this week poses that very question, offering those between the ages of 13 and 18 to submit their best idea for a mobile game for its 2020 Change the Game Design Challenge, an ongoing initiative aimed at building a more inclusive future through gaming and education.

To enter the contest, coding skills are not required — just a really awesome idea.

“The most important thing about your game is that you dreamed it up and then you made it,” Google Play said on the contest’s webpage. “So even if this is your first shot, you’ve already got everything you need to make an incredible mobile game.”

The main part of the entry process requires you to describe the game, in writing, “as if you’re telling someone about it for the first time.” You’ll also need to explain how you came up with the idea, and include a short statement about why you’re passionate about game-making. You can even add details such as sketches that bring your proposal to life. Then it’s simply a matter of smashing the submit button.

Applications are open from now through July 31, so there’s still plenty of time to come up with that special concept.

Fifty lucky winners will be invited to join Google Play’s online game development workshops that run until the end of the summer.

The workshops will show participants how to create playable games, as well as offer top tips on going pro. Participants will walk away with a playable prototype of their game, and also receive a special certificate and a Google Chromebook for their efforts.

The online sessions are sponsored by Change the Game and Girls Make Games, the latter of which launched in 2014 to support and encourage girls to pursue careers in the video game industry. Take note though, the contest is open to girls and boys.

For all of the details on how to enter, head over to Google Play’s site. And if you need some inspiration, check out Digital Trends’ suggestions for some of the best games available now for Android and iPhone.

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Not so many moons ago, Trevor moved from one tea-loving island nation that drives on the left (Britain) to another (Japan)…

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