THE MOST HARD CORE HACKATHON EVER!

1. FINAL REPORT
PIXEL CHALLENGE
VIDEO GAME
& SOUND DESIGN 2015
MARCH 19th TO THE 21st, 2015
Québec City, Canada
May 2015
«THE MOST HARD CORE HACKATHON EVER.»
- Mickey MacDonald, Microsoft

3. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 1
PIXEL CHALLENGE
CREATE – CHALLENGE - WIN
A 46 hour video game and sound design competition.
PIXEL CHALLENGE – AN ALLIANCE OF STRENGTHS
The theme of the third Pixel Challenge was unveiled at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 19,
by PIXEL director Louis Leclerc. Why choose a theme like L’alliance des forces (an alliance
of strengths)? There is a certain connection with the association between Louis Leclerc
and Pierre-Luc Lachance, director of Québec Numérique, to combine their strengths
and produce Digital Week in Québec City by holding their respective events in the same
place: Pixel Média, WAQ (Web à Québec) and Pixel Challenge.
The TERMINAL, in the Port of Québec, was the place to be for over 1000 participants in
some or all of the activities taking place March 18 to 21. The venue was totally inspiring,
with the St. Lawrence in the background.
Louis Leclerc, CEO, PIXEL
A VERY NICE ARRAY OF JUDGES
Top row: Sylvain Morel, Beenox, Étienne Pouliot, Beenox, Mickey MacDonald, Microsoft, Sen Fortier,
Frima, Alice Bernier, WB Games and François Taddei, Beenox. Bottom row: Nicolas Rioux, Ubisoft,
Louis Leclerc, Pixel, Martin Rhéaume, Squeeze and Philippe Nadeau, Digi Hub.

4. 2 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
PIXEL CHALLENGE – THE WINNERS
VIDEO GAME PRO –
$5 000 SPONSORED BY
VIDEO GAME STUDENT/
AMATEUR – $2 500
SPONSORED BY
One partner in the Pixel Challenge, CDRIN (Centre de développement et de recherche en
imagerie numérique – Centre for development and research in digital imaging) from the
Cégep de Matane, set up its motion capture equipment for the entire Challenge. It was a
great opportunity for participants to learn how to integrate motion capture (mo-cap) into
their video games because Rémy Lévesque, senior motion capture technician, and his
team were there to offer technical support. Also, teams having integrated mo-cap into
their game were eligible for a draw for $500. The winners of the CDRIN Challenge were
the members of the team from France: ESMI/CTRL-Z.
Left to right: Frederic Levy, Rémy Levesque, Alix Fumoleau, Pierre-Alexandre Renou, Yannick Jouneau,
Thomas Bourdon, Enrique Pons del Rey and François Taddei.
CDRIN CHALLENGE
Enterview of the winning team, FRIMA STUDIO
(Mario Almaguer, Léo Carnaut-Delord,
Jean-Sébastien Ratté and Frédérik Rodrigue)
BEYOND – de Frima Studio
THE HAPPY FACTORY – de French FrogsEnterview with the winning team , FRENCH FROGS
(Samuel Charron, Dominic Brodeur-Gendron,
Tristan Charron and Gabriel Jacques)
Marie-Christine Leblanc, TVA report
on Pixel Challenge

5. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 3
Sound Design
Stéphane Dufour
THE JUDGES AND THEIR OTHER FAVOURITES
This year we asked the judges what their favourites were beside the winners,
and announced them during the award ceremony. These nominations didn’t
include a monetary prize, but they allowed us to encourage the teams
and to extend recognition to more than one team in each category.
Video Game Pro
Chainsawesome Games (Jade Bélanger, Jean Simon Otis and David Paré)
Video Game Student/Amateur
Conjure Lion (Sarah Petri, Yvan Richer, Thibault Stones, Patrice Vignola and Simon Robert)
honorable mention:
Chicken Nuggets
(Jonathan Dechelle, Samuel Fradette,
David Gagné, Mathieu Gosselin
et Mathieu Poulin)
SOUND DESIGN –
A NEW COMPETITION
Aided by the dynamic team from
SilverJack Studio, a new competition
saw the light at the Pixel Challenge.
The work of the sound designer is
often ignored, but still very impor-
tant to any good production. The
emotion-stirring ambiance created
by these sound artists was on display
during the Pixel Challenge, where
they had to show their skills while
respecting the competition theme
and carrying out four additional
challenges: Do a long fade out,
include a defective transmitter
playing music, make us feel at least
two different emotions and include
a classic sound effect.
SOUND DESIGN, 1stPLACE –
$1 000 SPONSORED BY CNDF
SOUNDDESIGN,2ndPLACE–$500
SPONSOREDBYPIXELANIMATION
Louis-Étienne Payer, winner 2nd place
BACK TO THE BARN - Chicken Nuggets
IL FAUT UN ALLIÉ POUR VAINCRE
LE DRAGON DE LA CREVASSE (An allie
is needed to vanquish the dragon from
the crevasse)
LE DERNIER SAUT
(The last leap)
Enterview with Daniel Boisvert, winner 1st place
ENTROPYA
ELECTRIC PANIC - Chainsawesome Games
À BOUT DE SOUFFLE (Out of breath) - Conjure Lio

6. 4 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
WE THANK OUR PARTNERS

7. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 5
TOTAL NUMBER
OF PARTICIPANTS
CHALLENGE - VIDEO GAME PRO CATEGORY 50
CHALLENGE - VIDEO GAME STUDENT/
AMATEUR CATEGORY 61
CHALLENGE - SOUND DESIGN 6
JUDGES, GUESTS AND OTHER
PROTAGONISTS 16
ORGANISATION 18
VOLUNTEERS 6
TOTAL 157
ATTENDANCE ORIGIN
PIXEL TEAM
Louis Leclerc,
CEO
Micheline Beaulieu,
logistic director
Jean-François Boudreault,
technical director
Annie Frenette,
hospitality staff coordinator
Élodie Gros,
bar coordinator
Elsa Gonthier,
bar attendant
Night monitors:
Jeremy Gilbert, Christopher Noël
and Frédéric Godbout
Hands:
Sébastien Leduc, Samuel Belisle-Murdock,
Jimmy Bois and Marc-Olivier Girard
Volunteers:
Jessika Munger, Pierre-Luc Ouellet,
Savannah Perron, Audrey Turcotte,
Valérie Têtu and Marc-Olivier Girard
117
CHALLENGERS
QUÉBEC
71%
OTHER REGIONS
OF QUÉBEC
(PROVINCE)16 %
MONTRÉAL 9 %
France 4 %

8. 6 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
« The most hard core Hackathon ever. » - Mickey MacDonald, Microsoft
SOME COMMENTS FROM THE SURVEY
“Super organization, thank you!”
“You’re all awesome, bravo for the organization, we feel loved during
the challenge, thanks to you. Keep it up!!!!!!!!!”
“Bravo for taking the initiative to organize a sound design competition.
We hope you’ll do it again.”
“Great competition this year! We had room to work, comfortable chairs,
finally a reliable Internet connection. The public, and we ourselves,
even had time to go around and try the games this year, and we really
appreciated it […] Excellent competition, bravo!”
“I think that being with 3 motivated friends are enough to make the event
truly excellent. It was very well organized and I loved participating.
The snacks and breakfasts were perfect. […]”
“Really a marvellous experience […]”
“[…] Thank you and excellent organization!”
“Really the best Challenge yet! The organization was parfait! […]»
“This was the best year since the Pixel Challenge began […] thank you very
much for another year of competition.”
“As a member of the French team, it was an incredible pleasure to be able
to challenge the other teams who were there, especially Beenox, Ubisoft
and Frima, and especially to be so close to them, something that is very
difficult in France. A big thank you to all the event organizers, you’re
helping to make Québec a dream destination! Thank you again and bravo.”
“I sincerely adored it! See you next year!”
“This year was really great! Bravo to everyone for the organization, it was
much better than last year. It was a truly beautiful venue, with the river and
the big glass bay window. I am very happy to have participated. I’m a sound
designer myself, so I was delighted to see the sound design competition this
year! Thanks to that, audio played an important role, which is rarely the case
(they always say “we’ll look at that later”). […] The bar ambiance with music
was wonderful and didn’t disturb our work much. It woke us up! (positively)
I specially want to mention the quiet rooms. They were really appreciated!
Apart from the fact that there were no videos of the games, the presenta-
tion went very well and was fun, compared to last year when it was done
very quickly. […] Thank you again for this great event, I had lots of fun.
See you next year!”
“Thank you!”
“The food was even better than in previous years! The venue was
very nice because it was big and quiet. Nothing to complain about
in this year’s organization!”
It’s not easy to stay creative for 46 hours.
GURU helped ou challengers stay awake and
allert. GURU, made of natural and organic
ingedients, was the official energy drink
of Pixel Challenge.

9. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 7
PIXEL CHALLENGE BY THE NUMBERS
61competitors in the student/amateur video game category (15 teams)
50competitors in the pro video game category (13 teams)
WHERE THE COMPETITORS CAME FROM
71 % Québec City
9 % Montréal
16 % other regions of Québec
AND THE SURVEY SAID
17 % of respondents said that their participation opened doors
to obtaining a contract or a job.
94 % rated the event as a whole as good to excellent
26 %
4 %
98 %
more participants in the video
game category than in 2014
France
of respondents would participate
in a new Pixel Challenge
Wall of fame in Pixel Challenge lounge

10. 8 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
PIXEL CHALLENGE –
GOOD FOR THE LOCAL ECONOMY
Équilibre Traiteur
Mille et une Pizzas
Subway
Marché Dalhousie (Stef Café)
Yuzu
Ashton
Croquenbouche
Graphic design of the decorations,
ads, logos and t-shirt by CINQUANTE-CINQ
Decorations, accreditations, stickers and giant cheques
printed at Copies de la Capitale
30 medals and 4 trophies provided by Sumacom
10 thank you gifts purchased at Promodynamique
and Miellerie Leclerc
Furniture and tablecloths rented from KparK
Technical installation by Solotech
Game tables for the lounge rented from TechnoJeux
To this list can be added all the technical, hospitality,
bar and service staff needed during the event.
1,185meals served by local restaurants
and merchants:a
$1,500in beverages and snacks purchased
at the Métro Plus grocery store
200Pixel Challenge t-shirts provided
by Promodynamique
200coffee mugs provided
by Promodynamique

11. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 9
PIXEL CHALLENGE – PROGRAMME
MEET | SHARE | ACHIEVE
The Pixel Challenge, a video game and sound design competition, is at the core of Québec’s technoculture. Participants have
46 hours to create a video game or an sound environment. The Pixel Challenge plays an important role in business and human resources
development for game studios in Québec. It is also an opportunity for future professionals to rub shoulders with industry players.
PIXEL CHALLENGE 2015 - PROGRAMME
THE TERMINAL - 84 Dalhousie Street, Québec
THURSDAY MARCH 19 FRIDAY MARCH 20 SATURDAY MARCH 21
AM
8 to 9 am
Participants’ breakfast
Participants’ night meal
Participants’ breakfast
9 to 12 am
Chair massage
NOON
12 to 1 pm
Participants’ lunch
12 to 1 pm
Participants’ lunch
PM
1:30 to 5 pm
Participants’ check-in
Chair massage from Mong Chi Massage
4 pm
END OF PIXEL CHALLENGE
5 pm
Pre-Challenge meeting
4 to 6 pm
Final visit of the judges
EVENING
5:30 pm
Pre-Challenge cocktail
5 to 6 pm
Participants’ dinner
6 to 8 pm
- Cocktail
- Deliberations
- The public visits the participants
and see what theyhave done
6 pm
START OF PIXEL CHALLENGE
46 hours
6 to 8 pm
1st visit of the judges
8 pm
- Award ceremony
NIGHT
Midnight
Participants’ night meal
Midnight
Participants’ night meal

12. 10 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
PARTICIPANTS PIXEL CHALLENGE 2014
FIRST NAME LAST NAME COMPANY CITY COUNTRY
Dominique Alarie Mirabel CA
Mario Almaguer Frima Studio Québec CA
Frenette Annie Pixel Québec CA
Félix Arsenault CDRIN Matane CA
Maxime Beaulieu Lac-Beauport CA
Micheline Beaulieu Pixel Québec Québec CA
Patrick Beaulieu squeezestudio Québec CA
Pierre Bedard CDRIN Matane CA
Etienne Bédard Sarbakan Studio Québec CA
Jade Bélanger Chainsawesome Games Québec CA
Yanick Bélanger CDRIN Matane CA
Samuel Belisle-Murdock Québec CA
Alice Bernier WB Games Montreal Montréal CA
Julian Bertrix Québec CA
Olivier Bérubé Indépendant Saint-Pamphile CA
Vincent Bilodeau Ubiosft Québec CA
Michael BIsson College Bart Québec CA
Samuel Bissonnette Collège Bart Lévis CA
Jimmy Bois Québec CA
Daniel Boisvert Peak Media Montréal CA
Karol-Ann Boivin SilverJack Studio Lévis CA
Marie-Andrée Boucher-Beaulieu Québec CA
Jean-François Boudreault Pixel Québec Québec CA
Patrick Boulanger Ste-Brigitte-de-Laval CA
Thomas Bourdon Bordeaux FR
Carine Bourget Ciné-Scène Québec CA
Jean-Hugues Bouvrette Mirabel CA
Dominic Brodeur-Gendron Saint-Hubert CA
Mathieu Campagna CNDF Québec CA
Léo Carnaut-Delord Frima Studio Québec CA
Frédéric Émel Carpentier Frima Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury CA
Maxime Carrier Beenox / Activision Québec CA
Jonathan Champagne Québec CA
Maxime Charbonneau Charbonneau Parabole Québec CA
Samuel Charron Varennes CA
Tristan Charron Becker College Varennes CA
Simon Chartier Beenox Québec CA
Emilien Cote Collège Bart St-Édouard de Lotbinière CA
Joanie Cournoyer Lévis CA
Francis Couture Beenox Québec CA
Stéphanie Couture Québec CA

13. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 11
FIRST NAME LAST NAME COMPANY CITY COUNTRY
Marc Dallaire Québec CA
Jason De Ciccio Activision Québec CA
Jonathan Dechelle Québec CA
Sébastien Demers Tremblay Québec CA
Maxime Deshaye Québec CA
Marielle Dion-Robidoux Lévis CA
Samuel Dionne-Riel Lévis CA
Benjamin Drouin Québec CA
Pier-Luc Dubois Québec CA
Stephane Dufour Ludia Québec CA
Joé Dupuis Anhero Québec CA
Alexandre Fiset Parabole Québec CA
Sen Fortier Frima studio Québec CA
Alexandre Fortin CDRIN Montréal CA
Alexandre Fortin Québec CA
Gisèle Fournier Mallette Québec CA
Samuel Fradette Beenox Québec CA
Levy Frederic ESMI Bordeaux FR
Alix Fumoleau Talence FR
David Gagné Québec CA
Daniel Gagnon Sarbakan Québec CA
Pascal Gagnon Gazette Audiovisuelle Québec CA
Michel Gauthier MGP Québec CA
Hubert Gendron Québec CA
Jeremy Gilbert Challenge Pixel Québec CA
Marc-Olivier Girard Université Laval Québec CA
Elsa Gonthier Cégep Limoilou Québec CA
Mike Gonthier Montréal CA
Mathieu Gosselin Lévis CA
Patrick Gosselin Québec CA
Élodie Gros Me Québec CA
Sylvain Guérin Quebec CA
Jean-Rémy Horth Québec CA
Jean Huard Saint-Georges CA
Bastien Humeau Québec CA
Dominic Huot CÉGEP St-Jérôme St-Jérôme CA
Frédérick Imbeault Beenox Québec CA
Gabriel Jacques Saint-Hyacinthe CA
Nicolas Joltok sans emploi Québec CA
Yannick JOUNEAU ESMI Bordeaux FR
Jérémie Kaltenmark CDRIN Matane CA

14. 12 PIXEL CHALLENGE | FINAL REPORT
FIRST NAME LAST NAME COMPANY CITY COUNTRY
Adam Labranche Québec CA
Simon Lacroix SilverJack Studio Lévis CA
Alexandre Laflamme Buckland CA
Stéphanie Lagueux CÉGEP de Saint-Jérôme Sainte-Anne-Des-Lacs CA
Samuel Lapointe Saint-Georges CA
Philomène Larocque Québec CA
Daniel Le Saunier Pixel Québec Lac-Delage CA
Nicholas Lebrun Beenox Québec CA
Louis Leclerc Pixel Québec Québec CA
Sébastien Leduc Québec CA
Ludovic Lefebvre Ubisoft Québec CA
Micael Levesque Québec CA
Rémy Levesque CDRIN Matane CA
Antoine Lévesque Saint-Denis CA
Sarah Loignon Québec CA
Mickey MacDonald Microsoft Mississauga CA
Jean Christophe Martin Granby CA
Rock Mercier Québec CA
Raphael Mercier-Leclerc Ubisoft Québec CA
Sylvain Morel Beenox Quebec CA
Jessika Munger FCEQ Québec CA
Jean-Sébastien Nadeau Université Laval Québec CA
Philippe Nadeau DigiHub Shawinigan Shawinigan CA
Christopher Noel Université Laval Québec CA
Jean Simon Otis Chainsawesome Games Québec CA
Pierre-Luc Ouellet Universite Laval Rimouski CA
Vincent Paquet Wattshout Québec CA
Kevin Paradis-Giguère Québec CA
David Pare Chainsawesome Games Quebec CA
Jean-Philippe Parent Montréal CA
Mathieu Parent Québec CA
Louis-Étienne Payer Québec CA
Charles Pelletier Québec CA
Olivier Pelletier Québec CA
Savannah Perron Université Laval Québec CA
Tommy Perron Québec CA
Sarah Petri Montréal CA
Eric Pfalzgraf Studio du Roi Québec CA
Matthieu Pilon Montréal CA
Etienne Plourde Québec CA

15. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 13
FIRST NAME LAST NAME COMPANY CITY COUNTRY
Enrique Pons Bordeaux FR
Nicolas Potvin Québec CA
Mathieu Poulin St-Rédempteur CA
Etienne Pouliot Beenox Québec CA
Philippe Proulx Cégep de Sainte-Foy Québec CA
Eric Racine Victoriaville CA
Jean-François Racine Québec CA
Jean-Sébastien Ratté Frima Studio Québec CA
Pierre-Alexandre Renou Lanton FR
Martin Rheaume Frima Studio Québec CA
Yvan Richer Montréal CA
Nicolas Rioux Ubisoft Québec Québec CA
Sebastien Robert SR Solution Inc. Québec CA
Simon Robert Montréal CA
Frédérik Rodrigue Frima Studio Québec CA
Patrick Roussel CDRIN Matane CA
Claude Roy Québec CA
Marc-André Savard Valleyfield CA
Travis Savoie Marieville CA
Catherine Simard Collège Bart St-Raymond CA
jeremy St-amant Bart Québec CA
Thibault Stones Montréal CA
Lea Tabary Montréal CA
Francois Taddei Beenox Québec CA
Olivier Therrien Lévis CA
Irvin Thomas Ubisoft Québec CA
Gabriel Trahan Chambly CA
Lilianne Tran Québec CA
Mathieu Tremblay Cortex Québec CA
Yani Trudel Ubisoft Québec CA
Audrey Turcotte Université Laval Québec CA
Éric Vaillancourt Québec CA
Alexandre Veillette Québec CA
Patrice Vignola Longueil CA
Jérome Wauthy Québec CA

16. FINAL REPORT | PIXEL CHALLENGE 14
THE JUDGES OF THE CATEGORY VIDEO GAME PRO
ARE HAVING FUN WHILE TESTING A GAME.
THIS PICTURE OF THE JUDGES OF THE VIDEO GAME STUDENT / AMATEUR
CATEGORY SHOW THAT, AT TIMES, CONCENTRATION IS NEEDED FOR TESTING A GAME.

18. T: 418 266-0818
pixel@pixelquebec.org
pixelchallengequebec.org
pixelmediaquebec.org
pixelanimation.org
cartoon-media.eu/cartoon-connection/connection-canada.htm