With our Search For A Star and d3t Rising Star gamedev challenges well under way, we’ve still got openings for game developers who would like to be a part of this year’s assessment team.

With the large amount of signups for this year’s challenges, we’re currently looking for additional experienced developers across games programming, 3D art, animation and VFX.

With hundreds of projects submitted each year, we need all the help we can get when it comes to providing students with useful feedback on their work. Our assessment team volunteers are a key part of this — even a small amount of practical feedback from someone working in the games industry can help students to really understand how to improve, beyond just what they learn at university or college.

We understand that your time is incredibly valuable, and we don’t impose any specific expectations or requirements on our volunteer team. You can review as many or as few projects as you want, even if that’s just one or two. Literally every review can make a difference to someone, so we appreciate any time that you are able to provide. You’ll also be fully credited & promoted as a valued member of our assessment team.

By joining the team, you’re able to directly influence, guide and help the next generation of game developers — students who are in the same position you were once in, building their skills and looking to learn. While many assessors take part for these reasons alone, it’s also something that several studios encourage as part of personal development plans, outreach initiatives, or as mentoring experience.

The review period this year is between the 25th January to 1st March, and you can assess projects at any time over these five weeks. We’ll provide full guidance notes on feedback and scoring, and estimate that each project will take around half an hour to review and provide feedback for. You’re not given any set quotas or timelines outside of that, and can review projects at your own pace and convenience.

To express interest in joining this year’s team, you can sign up here: https://gradsingames.com/game-dev-challenges/become-part-of-the-search-for-a-star-assessment-team/

We work with hundreds of assessors each year, here’s what some of them have to say about their experience taking part:

“Having assessed SFAS entries for the previous two years I’ve found it very rewarding to guide aspiring game developers, offering advice to solidify and further guide their understanding and knowledge of art production for games. It’s a great way to pass on experience you’ve gained within the industry to the future wave of game developers.”

Anthony O Donnell, Art Director at d3t

“It’s great to be able to give something back from this industry that we are in. Working on great projects is awesome, but helping someone move forward with their childhood dream, even if it’s just a bit, can be incredibly fulfilling!”

Greg Booker, Game Lead at DPS Games

“I’ve been contributing to the SFAS assessment team for a number of years now, whenever time permits, and whatever time you can contribute really helps with the mammoth marking process.
It’s fun to see where the candidates go given the simple starting point of the SFAS projects.
Even if you’re not personally looking for new graduate recruits right now – SFAS really helps give the strongest graduates a chance to shine and that contributes to growing our industry and means a stronger pool of potential hires in the future 😉”

Aaron Miller, Senior Principal Artist at nDreams

“I’ve Judged and mentored in Search for a Star for a number of years, and thoroughly enjoy it. Not only do I get to experience the work and outlook of new students, and how they are taught and create, but also I get to mentor them, showing them experienced methods and processes. But, as an added bonus, the knowledge I receive for helping with such a worthwhile competition, I can add to my own work history on my CV, and network and interact in the 3d community. It’s a win win for all, and I hope those students who enter I get to see much more of in the future!”

Adam Vickerstaff, Senior Character Artist

If this sounds like something you’d like to be a part of, please let us know 🙂
https://gradsingames.com/game-dev-challenges/become-part-of-the-search-for-a-star-assessment-team/