Providing students with an authentic learning activity can increase engagement. A popular activity for primary and secondary students in Australia is the Australian STEM Video Game Challenge.
Since 2014, the annual challenge has invited students across the country to design and build their own playable video games. In the 10 years it’s been running, the challenge has aimed to foster students’ STEM skills and inspire the next generation of digital problem solvers through a fun and authentic learning opportunity.
This year, students could work individually or in teams and enter into one of 6 different competition categories based on their age and the game platform they chose to use. At the end of the challenge, teams submit an original playable game alongside a Game Design Document that shares the overall creative process and design goals for the game. Students are supported throughout the challenge by a team mentor (usually a teacher).
The winners for 2024 have just been announced. Spanning 4 states in Australia, the winners were selected from 518 entries comprised of 1,470 students – a significant increase in the number of entries and students from last year’s challenge. The most popular platform used in 2024 was Scratch and the most popular age category for entries was years 3-6.
For the first time this year, a judge winner has also been announced. The challenge’s judging panel is comprised of volunteers from the education, game development and technology sectors. The 2024 judge winner is Matt Coffey.
The theme for this year’s challenge was stars and could be interpreted in many different ways – for instance, students may have leant into the geometric shape or have been inspired by space.
Below are the winning entries for 2024.
Year 3-6 Scratch
Dyson Defender, by Jack, Luke, Agasthya and Akien from Queensland
The students that created this game took their inspiration from the solar system. Players are thrown into a future world that is powered by the sun’s solar power. When a sudden power failure occurs, you are responsible for finding the solution to get the city where humans live, ‘Startropolis’, back to normal.
Year 3-6 Open platform
Rogue Stars, by Riley from Victoria
The design of this game is a clear nod to the 2024 challenge theme. Rogue Stars is advertised as an arcade-style game that involves a spaceship’s encounter with a cluster of stars in outer space. The Turbowarp platform has been used to create the game.
Year 7-9 Godot Engine
Shooting Stars, by Nathan and Adriel from New South Wales
Image: The team’s workflow strategy for Shooting Stars.
Staying in space, and the main character of Shooting Stars is a spaceship operator who is trying to protect Earth from shooting stars. To succeed in the game, players must shoot stars headed towards Earth, to protect it from being destroyed.
Year 7-9 Open platform
The Night’s Sky, by Elora from Queensland
Image: Constellations created by Elora for The Night’s Sky.
To matriculate through the levels in this game, players need to touch the brightest star. They can also choose to complete the constellation in the level as an extra task. The creator of this game used friends and family to test the game during the challenge to ensure it was enjoyable to play.
Year 10-12 Unreal Engine
Project Constellation, by Aidan from South Australia
Image: The process of character design for Project Constellation.
Constellations also feature in this game, created using Unreal Engine. The creator says they took inspiration from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Indiana Jones, alongside the challenge theme. The game begins with the player finding themselves inside an ancient temple and trapped by constellations. To escape, you need to solve puzzles to obtain artefacts that help you find a way out.
Year 10-12 Open platform
Swingularity, by Ted, Micky, Hudson and Kevin from New South Wales
Golf enthusiasts will enjoy the premise of this game. Players hit their golf ball and watch it bounce off planets and see how gravity impacts the direction of the ball. There are a series of galactic golf courses in the game and if you complete the courses under par, you earn stars.
To stay up to date with the 2025 Australian STEM Video Game Challenge dates and theme announcements, and for more information and mentor resources, visit the challenge website.
