By Parisa Burton
Staff Writer
Global Game Jam came to the College for its annual fun-filled three-day weekend from Friday, Feb. 3 through Sunday, Feb. 5.
The Game Design Club hosted the event in the Arts and Interactive Multimedia building. Members of the club and other interested parties enjoyed food, beverages and game design.
“Global Game Jam is an annual event held online and run worldwide by numerous colleges with the help of co-sponsors,” said Anthony Barreto, club president and a senior interactive multimedia design major.
According to Barreto, there were a variety of sponsors this year, including dotbigbang, Unity, GitHub and CrazyGames. These sponsors fund organizations to run sites and hold these jam events.
The College has been hosting Global Game Jam remotely for a couple of years due to the pandemic but is finally back in person this year.
“This year’s theme is roots,” Barreto said. “The theme is chosen by the Global Game Jam organization, which they reveal on their website for all organizations to see and participants make games based on this theme.”
Experience was not required to participate in Global Game Jam; it was open and free to everyone on Discord who is interested in game design.
“It is a fun experience,” said Tra-mi Cao, a freshman computer science major. “I didn’t have any prior experience making games.”
Many colleges hold Global Game Jam for the full week, but the College holds it for three days.
“The event is three days because it’s a sweet spot amount of time for people to form a concept and create sound effects and music around their game to match the theme,” Barreto said. “It allows people to form project management skills, make new connections and collaborate with friends.”
According to Cao, the club itself is focused on playing games where the jams challenge one’s game design skills. Barreto added that the club seeks to hold at least one game jam event each semester. They also hold other game-related events, including a board game event in the Fall 2022 semester.
The Global Game Jam theme changes every year which gives people a chance to put together imaginative ideas for their games.
“Back in 2020, the theme was repair,” Barreto said. “My team put together a whole story about aliens trying to find their way home and looking for pieces to put their ship back together.”
The e-board was working hard in preparation for the event, and the output was great as it gave friends a chance to socialize while sharing a common interest.
“Every year we think about how we can make our game interesting,” Barreto said. “Our games are distinct, not copies of each other. The e-board and I love holding these special jam events to see all the creative ideas and bring people together.”