On May 3, a new videogame called Dino 'Splode – developed in Ottawa – will be judged against nearly 200 other video games.

It's a global competition organized by Microsoft. This game was produced by a group of college students and may well end up surprising a lot of people.

The world of Dino 'Splode is one of frantic action, pounding music, and the need for you to have the reflexes of an NHL goalie to keep up.

It looks a lot like one of the long-time standards, Super Mario Brothers. But here, the hero is a dinosaur doing battle.

The game comes from five game designers at Algonquin College in Ottawa.

Listening to them discuss game strategy is like listening to a new language. They don't know how many hours they spent working on the game over a seven-month period.

It was more work than any of them expected: from music to artwork, from gaming strategy to making sure a player can easily understand the controls.

But none have any regrets.

Wes Scharf, the project leader, says "The whole process was incredible. We learned so much in the seven months we spent on the game."

Owen Deery says, "I feel this is a lot more rewarding than just playing the video games. I still love video games, but it is just so much better to be involved in designing a game – and at the end, you have something to show for it. "

Steve Grove says, " I definitely love doing this. Even though it was harder than I thought it would be, I would do it again even on the same game.

"It was fun, even though it got crazy at times and stressful when we started to put in deadlines and had to get things done in time for the contest. But I would certainly do it again."

The students' teacher urged them to enter their game in a global design contest sponsored by Microsoft. $135,000 in prizes, and the game will be available for sale.

Tony Davidson teaches game development, which is the college's most popular design course. There's a waiting list to get in.

Davidson sees a lot of people with talent, but not as many with the motivation of the design team.

"I was blown away by the game – by the originality of it, by their work to develop the game, and all its elements they worked on it during summer.

"hey were motivated and doing what we want them to do: to be creative. That is something that is hard to teach. Once you've played the game for five minutes, you can't put it down, and that is the sign of a good game – easy to learn and fun to play."

Good games are all about the story line and how well it plays. Then add in the polish to make it look good.

No matter how they do in the competition, they say they've changed their view of gaming.

Anthony Bongers says, "After you start creating games, you just want to keep doing more. It's more fun, I guess."