Local gamers collaborate to create 4 new games over weekend
Will Emigh, Global Game Jam local organizer
Well, a game jam is when a group of people get together and work for a relatively short period of time to create a game, and the Global Game Jam has been running for 10 years now. This is the 10th anniversary, and it is 48 hours rolling across the globe, so starting at 5 p.m. in everybody’s time zone and running Friday through Sunday. So everybody has 48 hours to create a game based on a secret theme that’s revealed at the beginning of the channel, so it’s a lot of fun. There are locations all over the world, from very large cities to very small colleges and even towns, villages, and people participate for all kinds of reasons: to challenge themselves, to learn something new, to meet new people, to get together with other people who enjoy games and a lot of times just to get out of their comfort zone and do something fun.
Filmed and edited by Anna Howell Music by bensound-summer
Held from Friday to Sunday evening, Global Game Jam is one of the largest game creation events in the world. It was only the second year Bloomington’s event was held in Franklin Hall, but it was only the 10th year for the event worldwide.
This year, under the “transmission” theme, about 15 people produced four games, Media School lecturer and local site organizer Will Emigh said. Three were digital, and one was a board game.
Among these, one game involved a strategy using transmissions to space robots, and another game included monsters disrupting transmissions via walkie-talkie.
While it is important for aspiring game designers to gain more experience through this kind of event, Emigh said the communication between the participants is also an important opportunity presented by Global Game Jam. He said it helps the gamers grow socially in a “low-stakes and supportive environment.”
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- Sophomore Justin Hatfield and freshman Ari Trejo finalize their Global Game Jam projects. (Terry Wicks | The Media School)
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- Freshman Ari Trejo picks out color themes for her game design. (Terry Wicks | The Media School)
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- Participants spread out idea boards among the tables to plan their games. (Terry Wicks | The Media School)
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- Sophomore Stephanie Davidson creates visual effects for her team’s game design. (Terry Wicks | The Media School)
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- Sophomore Justin Hatfield spent his weekend designing a video game for Global Game Jam. (Terry Wicks | The Media School)