Nearly 40 students from Kent State University's Tuscarawas, Stark and Kent campuses recently participated in Kent State’s first site for the Global Game Jam (GGJ).
GGJ is a worldwide game-making event where creators gather at 800-plus sites around the world over a weekend to make games based on a single theme over a 48-hour period. Kent State’s GGJ was held at the Tuscarawas regional campus and organized through a collaboration between the Kent State Modeling, Animation and Game Creation (MAGC) program and the Animation and Game Creation Club.
Sudents from Kent State’s MAGC and Computer Science programs participated, and together, created eight different video games during the 48-hour game jam period.
The event began on a Friday evening with opening remarks by Bradley Bielski, dean of Kent Tuscarawas, and a keynote speech via video by Ben Cole, veteran game designer and owner of the independent game studio, Pxlplz. Once the jam’s theme, “What home means to me,” was revealed by the organization overseeing the event, students assembled teams and worked over the next two days, including some late nights, on their games.
The project results were presented on the final day of the event, and included Going Home, a choose-your-own adventure game about a woman working through her feelings as she comes home from college; Woodcutter Adventure, a game in which a woodcutter must gather wood for the winter without destroying trees that animals live in; and Pending Failure, a virtual reality experience about watching horror movies with your family.
GGJ is the world's largest game creation event, taking place around the world at various locations. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time explores the process of development, through programming, iterative design, narrative exploration and artistic expression. The event encourages people from all backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
In January 2018, Jams took place a 803 locations in 108 countries where 8,606 games were created in one weekend. The event is known for helping foster new friendships and increasing confidence and opportunities within the game-creating community. Pareticipants are invited to explore new technology tools, try on new roles in development and test their skills at design, development, creation, testing of new games.
GGJ is operated by the Global Game Jam, Inc., an international non-profit corporation based in San Luis Obispo, California, with a mission to foster game design and game education through innovative events. Executive Director Seven Siegel oversees Global Game Jam.
More information about the Game Jam and a full list of games created by Kent State students can be found at:https://globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/kent-state-university-tuscarawas-regional-campus/games.