About The G.A.N.G. Student Game Music and Sound Design Competition
Over the past few years, many colleges and universities have created game development majors and minors covering a variety of game design disciplines, including art, design, programming, music, and sound design. A core element of many of the curricula in these programs are courses where students create a new, original video game for academic credit, typically through a one or two semester sequence.
The G.A.N.G. Student Game Music and Sound Design Competition seeks to recognize these student games, the students creating music and sound for them, and the institutions themselves.
There are two Awards presented, one for music and one for sound design. The awards consider the entirety of the music or sound design experience, including both the content itself (music or sound design) as well as the implementation within the game.
Entries are evaluated by a jury of experienced game audio professionals comprising G.A.N.G. Officers, Board Members, Advisory Board Members, and other professional members of G.A.N.G.
Winners in each category receive an Award Trophy, and all-access passes to GameSoundCon 2025, where they will be able to show off their game at the G.A.N.G. booth.
G.A.N.G. Student Game Music Award:
Recognizes music and music implementation in the game. Judgment is on the overall quality of the music and equally on its implementation and aesthetic. Music must be original composition(s).
G.A.N.G. Student Game Sound Design Award
Recognizes sound design and sound design implementation. Judgment is on the overall quality of the sound design for the entire game, as well as its implementation in the game itself.
Dates:
May 1, 2025 Submissions Open
June 15, 2025 Submissions Close
Fall 2025: Winners Announced
Winners:
Two Honorable Mentions and one Winner will be selected separately for music and sound design categories. Winners will receive complementary All-Access passes to GameSoundCon 2025, and may show off their game at the G.A.N.G. booth. All students listed as “Audio Contributors” will receive passes (up to 3 per submission).
Game Eligibility
Games completed for academic credit and submitted for final grading during the 2024-2025 academic year (June 1, 2024 – May 30, 2025) are eligible to submit for the G.A.N.G. Student Game Music and Sound Design Competition.
Games music be new, original games created as part of students’ academic work at an accredited institution. At least 75% of the students who created the game must have done so for academic credit, or be degree-seeking students of an accredited institution working on a game for which other students are receiving academic credit Note: Student team members may be from different institutions as long as they have collaborated as part of their respective academic studies.
The game submitted, including submission videos, should represent the game as it was submitted for course credit. Minor post-submission bug fixes may be made, but the entry must substantially represent the game as it was submitted for course credit.
A game may only be submitted once for the G.A.N.G. Student Game Music and Sound Design Competition; games may not be re-submitted in subsequent academic years, even if additional development has been done as part of an academic course. Do not submit a work in progress. Entries cannot be changed once they are submitted.
Student Eligibility
Audio Contributors (composers, sound designers, implementers) must have been students enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution working on the submitted game as part of their degree program or have been degree-seeking students contributing content to a game for which other students were receiving academic credit. High school/secondary students and younger are not eligible to submit.
Submission Fee:
Members of G.A.N.G. may make a submission for $25 USD. Non-members may submit for $50 USD. If a single game would like to submit for both music and sound design awards, two separate submissions must be made. However, they may share submission video(s) if desired.
If you are a member, you should log into your G.A.N.G. account to get the member rate. Submissions may be made the appropriate link below:
Submission Process and Requirements
Please read the submission information carefully!
Submitters must supply each of the following at time of submission
1) Submission Information PDF
2) Screening Video
3) Playthrough Video
Screening Video
The screening video is a short, edited gameplay video (maximum length: 3.5 minutes) that shows excerpts from the that best highlights the music or sound design. Video should be no longer than 3.5 minutes and be submitted via Reelcrafter or YouTube. All audio in the Screening Video must be un-altered gameplay audio, exactly as it was captured in-game. Do NOT modify the audio the the screening video or process it in any way.
Playthrough Video
The playthrough video shows the ‘full’ playthrough of the game, up to a maximum of 20 minutes. The playthrough should be as complete as possible, showing both win/lose scenarios (if applicable). The video may include limited on-screen overlay text to highlight portions of the game the submitters would like the judges to pay special attention to.Gameplay capture footage should be as unedited as possible and represent a true representation of how the game is experienced by the player.
The playthrough should be made with whatever default settings are set in the game; for example, if there are player-settable controls for music, sfx volume, they must be set to the default setting while making the playthrough video. Video should be no longer than 20 minutes in length. If editing must be done to meet that time maximum, it should be clearly pointed out via on-screen text overlay.
All audio in the Playthrough video must be unedited gameplay audio, exactly as it was captured in-game. Do NOT add any audio to the Playthrough video or process it in any way
Note: Although the audio for the screening and playthrough videos must be unadulterated, you may add visual elements if you believe it will help the judges better understand the music or sound design. This could be simple text overlays, or inset FMOD/Wwise overlays, etc.
Submission Information PDF
Submissions must include a pdf with the following information. Name the pdf
GameTitle_SubmitterLastName_Category.pdf, where “Category” is “Music” or “Sound Design.” Each submission PDF must include the following formation, formatted as shown below:
A sample Submission Information PDF can be viewed here
Category: Music or Sound Design
Submitter Information: A section entitled “Submitter” containing the following information:
- Submitter name and contact information
- Description of the role of the submitter in the making of the game (eg “student composer,” “Faculty,” etc.)
- Educational Institution & class course number for submitter
Game Information: A section entitled “Game Information” consisting of the following information:
- Game Name
- Development dates (start date – end date). This is the period of time where the game was developed for course credit.
- 1-2 sentence game description
- Academic institution(s) & course number(s)
- Team Name (if applicable)
- Total Team size (total number of all students involved in creating the game)
- Game Engine and Audio Engine used (Unity, Wwise, FMOD, Unreal, etc.)
- Target platform(s)
Audio Contributor(s) information: A section entitled “Audio Contributors” containing the following information
- Audio Contributor names and contact information (school email address preferred)
- Description of the primary role(s) of each Audio Contributor for the submitted game (composer, sound designer, audio implementation, etc).
- Student degree program and year of each contributor. For example, “BM Junior” or “MFA 2nd year”
- Educational Institution & class course number for each audio contributor
Example of Audio Contributors would be sound designer, composer, or perform implementation (music designer, audio programming, audio middleware integration, etc.). Students whose contribution is limited to playing on a soundtrack would normally not be listed as an Audio Contributor, nor count in the “Team Size” calculation, unless the performer played a significant role in the composition of the score (such as might be the case for a highly improvised score)
Audio Contributors listed should have done significant work on the submission creating or implementing content. “De minimis” contributors should not be included.
Faculty Sponsor name, contact information (.edu email address) and submission eligibility attestation
Each submission must have a faculty sponsor from the institution where the game was created. The sponsor attests to the eligibility of the submission and the student-status of the submitters. The faculty sponsor contact information must include a .edu email address.
(optional) Highlighted Audio Content
A section calling out any particular sound/music aspects of the game you would like the judges to pay particular attention to. It may also include any details of implementation that might not be apparent by just watching the submission videos. For example, a description of an interactive music system, or how a particular sound was crafted and implemented. Reference to times in the screening or playthrough videos can be helpful. 1000 word maximum, screenshots may be included if desired.
Non-Student Contributions
If any non-students were involved in creation in any of the music/sound components (for example a professional musician playing on a track) that must be noted in the required PDF file under a section entitled: “Non-Student Contributions.”
(optional) Link to playable game download
If available, you may provide a link to a playable version of the game. The version must be the final version submitted for course credit.
Additional Information
Volunteer or Non-student contributions
A game may have students who contributed audio content to the game, but not for class credit (“Volunteers”). Student Volunteers who created audio content should be included in the Audio Contributors section of the Submission PDF.
Any audio contributions to the game by non-students must be specifically listed in the submission pdf. This would include, but not be limited to musicians, composers, voice over artists, consultants, or institution faculty. Note: individual names of non-students do not need to be listed, only the roles. Contributions of non-audio content by volunteers or non-students do not need to be listed.
Judging
Judging will be performed by separate music and sound design panels comprising G.A.N.G. Officers, Board Members, Advisory Board Members, and other professional members of G.A.N.G. Each submission includes both a short screening video and long (Max. 20 minute) full gameplay video. Judges will view each of the screening videos. From there the top 3 are selected in each category. The judges will then watch the full videos from the 3 selected and decide on the winner. The remaining submissions will be be awarded “Honorable Mention.”
Submissions will be judged on the quality of the content (composition, production values, sound design prowess, etc), the implementation of the sound/music in the game itself, as well as interactive mix and the underlying sophistication and aesthetic appropriateness of the implementation.
For example, a game with a brilliant, completely linear score may be evaluated lower than a very good score that has appropriate interactive complexity.