Results From Game Design Challenge: No Sports? No Problem!

Simulations of real-world sports have been around since Tennis for Two, and since those early days, nearly every sport imaginable been recreated in the world of video games. Many of these games build themselves around a single athlete or sports figure, like the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater series or Madden NFL, though their cover stars typically have little to do with the core gameplay.

Other games, however, take their sports star license in a completely different direction, with memorable results. Michael Jordan: Chaos in the Windy City dragged the NBA megastar off the court and into a 2D platformer with breakable backboards that award power-ups. 2002’s Go! Go! Beckham! Adventure on Soccer Island places soccer star David Beckham in a side-scrolling quest to stop the evil Mister Woe using an enchanted soccer ball. While both of these games incorporate their stars' real-world skills to an extent, their fantasy elements add a spark of creativity that we'd like to see more of in modern titles.

For Game Career Guide's latest Game Design Challenge, our readers designed non-sports games starring professional athletes. Here are our top picks!

Best Entries

Katie Pearson, Student at High Point University, Michael Phelps Goes Grocery Shopping! (see page 2)

Michael Clemons, Indie Game Designer from Chicago, IL, Stone Cold vs. The Atrocity Crew (see page 3)

Raismuanda Bin Rusdi, Student at Multimedia University in Malaysia, Serena Williams: Invasion of Wimbledon (see page 4)

Veronika Tanaeva, Junior Indie Game Designer in Moscow, BiaDefense (see page 5)

Jeremy Guillory, Student at River Valley High School in Yuba City, CA, Michael Phelps: Medal Mania (see page 6)