Challenge 5: Shader Showcase
⏱️ ~1–2 hrs
First impressions are everything.. That’s why your game needs to be instantly appealing and catch players before they even play. The secret? Great visuals.
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Why do this?
- Win rewards 🟡 on The NotWork by climbing the leaderboard.
- Real studio skill that shows you can design visuals and build them cleanly (no spaghetti nodes).
- Reusable asset... create a shader you can drop into future projects!
Overview
Create either:
- A Material Shader (e.g., glowing lava, stylized toon surface, holograms), or
- A Post-Process Shader (e.g., outlines, scanlines, color grading, distortion)
Then submit:
- A publicly shared Google folder (so anyone can view):
- The a zip of the project
- A screenshot or render that clearly shows the shader in action
Judges will import your shader into a game engine and evaluate both the visual output and technical structure.
What to Do (3 Steps)
1
Aesthetic
- Your shader should look polished and purposeful
- Style and visual identity matter. Does it look like something that belongs in a finished game?
2
Quality & Structure
- Is your shader organized, cleanly built, and functional?
- Judges should be able to import it easily and understand how it’s wired.
- Avoid spaghetti-node nightmares or messy code.
3
Dynamic / Reactive Behavior
- Does your shader change over time? React to light? Wiggle when the camera moves?
- Optional but strongly encouraged! This is what turns a texture into a moment.
Pro Tips
- Test, test, test! Make sure everything works and looks good.
- Keep your video short but effective, just enough to show off the asset in action.
- Give your asset some personality.
- Test your zip and make sure the project opens!
Scoring (Total: 125 pts)
Aesthetic - Visual appeal & design
Visually stunning and cohesive; strong artistic direction and polish.
40 pts
Quality - Technical structure & functionality
Cleanly built, well-organized, performant; imports and runs flawlessly.
55 pts
Dynamic/Reactive Behavior
Time-based, camera-based, input-based: highly reactive or animated; responds meaningfully to time, input, or environment.
30 pts
Heads up: Once you submit, you can’t edit your entry until it’s been scored.
