Games Degree Students of Limkokwing University won the Best of Tertiary Student Project (Creative Multimedia) Category in the APICTA (MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific Awards) 2009.

Their winning entry was their innovative game for the Microsoft XBox360 Game Console titled Smog Busters.

Smog Busters was created by a team of 5 programmers and artists. Team Leader Bryan Ong Kuan Ting and Lead Programmer Joseph Gan Kwang Seng are final year students from the BSc (Hons) in Games Technology. The artists are all final-year students of the BA (Hons) Games Art. Lead Artist Umar Mochtar, Noorul Hassan Faizal Naseer and Lim Chiou Chow were responsible for all the visual elements, user interface and game assets for Smog Busters.

Winners of the MSC Malaysia APICTA Awards represent Malaysia at the annual international APICTA Awards which would be held in Melbourne, Australia in December 2009.

MSC Malaysia APICTA 2009 is jointly organised by the Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), the driver of the MSC Malaysia initiative and the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia (PIKOM).

The MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Awards (APICTA) 2009 dubbed as the Oscars of the ICT industry is a showcase of the latest, innovative ICT ideas and products.

The objective of the MSC Malaysia Asia Pacific ICT Awards (MSC Malaysia APICTA) is to provide recognition to outstanding achievements of individuals, students, entrepreneurs, SMEs and organizations with operations in Malaysia who have contributed to the development of the MSC Malaysia initiatives or in building applications and services for the benefit of Malaysia. It recognises creativity, innovation, and excellence in Malaysian ICT.

This annual Awards programme also provides an opportunity and an ideal environment for individuals and companies to gain local, regional and international exposure through on-going promotional activities, and through participation at the international Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA).

For the more tech-savvy:

The key feature of Smog Busters was the innovative use of the Xbox 360 controller thumbstick with the implementation of Directional Attacking System (DAS). This was a challenge for the game designer in implementing this system in an action hack and slash game as there are very limited (or none) game in this genre that uses such control system. Different combination of thumbstick directions will pull off different skills. The first innovative aspect of this game in terms of development is the (DAS) system which is fully compatible with the Microsoft Xbox 360 controller thumbstick. The second is the concept of using facts such as Ozone purifies air pollutants (smog) as part of the gameplay and the idea of making an action game that are educational at the same time.

Storyboard: “Smog Busters” is set in Kuala Lumpur in the year 2015. Kuala Lumpur is engulfed by thick haze. An elite task force comprising members of the Royal Malaysian Police and a team of scientists from anti-haze project known as “Smog Busters” is formed to fight this crisis.

This arcade-like game incorporates elements of learning and education whereby players will learn scientific facts such as the process of Ozone purifying the air pollutants (smog) with an innovative use of the X-Box 360 Console input device that allows for a multi-directional attack and movement respectively.

The project is intended for final project of a subject for both Games Art and Bsc (Hons) Games Technology students. The students were exploring and learning the features and capabilities of Visual Studio 2005 XNA Game Studio 2.0. This is the first game by the students that can be played in both PC and Xbox 360.