[From the industry] Gamers Charity SpecialEffect announce Fall Guys, The Sims and Broken Sword as featured games in One Special Game art competition 2021

This a press release posted in addition to our usual editorial content. 

Video game charity SpecialEffect is proud to announce entries for the second annual One Special Game competition are now open. The contest challenges amateur and professional artists to design a brand new poster based on one of three iconic video games. Full details on how to enter can be found at onespecialday.org.uk/onespecialgame.

The games featured in this year’s competition are:

FALL GUYS (Developed by Mediatonic)

THE SIMS – (Developed by Electronic Arts)

BROKEN SWORD – (Developed by Revolution Software)

Artists across the globe interested in entering the competition can submit their work on the official One Special Game website. Creatives have until One Special Day on Friday 1st October to submit entries and the winning design will be crowned poster of the year at the Develop conference on 26-28th October. The winner will receive a prize bundle including a brand new OLED Switch, an Adobe Stock Annual license, a £100 voucher for games clothing company Insert Coin, a game bundle from Perp Games and a professional portfolio review. Runner-up prizes include £50 Insert Coin vouchers and Perp Game bundles.

All finalist’s images will be sold as limited edition posters via the One Special Day website, with all proceeds from sales going directly to SpecialEffect. The money raised will help the team bring the magic and inclusion of video games to people with disabilities across the world. In 2020 One Special Day raised more than £500,000, changing the lives of thousands of disabled gamers around the world.

Founded in 2007, SpecialEffect specialises in helping people with physical disabilities play video games. The charity makes games more accessible for everyone, with a team of developers and therapists creating a wide range of bespoke controller setups for people with disabilities. One Special Day is the video game industry’s Red Nose Day and focuses on raising funds for the invaluable work of the SpecialEffect team. For one day, SpecialEffect invites the games industry to donate a day’s revenue from one or more of their titles.

Partners this year include Sumo Digital, Mediatonic, Amiqus Games, and Ripstone Games plus many more.

“We are excited to once again challenge the most imaginative artists to create iconic pieces of art and raise money to support the amazing SpecialEffect team,” said Nick Streeter, Fundraiser of SpecialEffect. “Last year our partners and artists raised a phenomenal amount of money, helping bring joy to thousands of disabled gamers across the globe. Whether an amateur or professional, we are excited to see what inspirational visions artists have in store! Good luck to everyone who takes part.”

“The team at SpecialEffect continue to amaze and inspire with their fantastic work making games accessible to everyone” commented Jeff Tanton, Creative Director of Mediatonic. “Over the past 18 months, video games have brought friends and family together. SpecialEffect help everyone to connect through gaming and we at Mediatonic are proud to be their partner and have Fall Guys as one of this year’s featured titles. We look forward to another successful One Special Day, and can’t wait to see all the fantastic submissions to One Special Game”.

To enter, artists must:

1. Choose a game and create 1 x A3 poster image as a 300 dpi digital file plus a smaller thumbnail for submission.
2. Mail the thumbnail image to entries@onespecialgame.com with the following information:

Name and location (One Special Game 2021 is open to entries from around the world but all prizes will not be available to international entrants)

Twitter name/Instagram name

Chosen game plus an explanation why

Connection to the games industry (if any) and if a professional or amateur artist

Share entry on social media using:

Hashtags #OneSpecialGame #SpecialEffect

All entries must be emailed by 1 October 2021 and must not include any official game art logos, publisher logos or screenshots,

All winning entries will be hosted in an online gallery with profits raised from the sale of prints going directly to SpecialEffect funds.

For all information on One Special Day and how to become a partner, visit https://onespecialday.org.uk/

All information on how to enter One Special Game can be found at https://onespecialday.org.uk/onespecialgame/