Student Projects vs Game JamsA love letter to Game Jams

Glasgow Caley Game Courses

•Games Software Development

• Game Programming with Directx

• Mobile Game Development(iOS)

• AI

•Game Design

• Player Centred Game Design

• Psychology of Game Design

• Serious Game Design

Glasgow Caley Game Courses

•Game Art & Animation

• 3D Visualisation

• Motion Graphics

• Lighting and Rendering for 3D

•We also have a Integrated Project module which runs at level 1-3

•This brings together students from each of the Game Streams to make a game

Glasgow Caley Labs + Research

VR Lab

eMotion Lab

Student Projects 1st Year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh26_8gAyWM

•1st Year Projects•Film or Theatre based game for teenagers•Teams made of designers + programmers•Built using Unity3D•Fixed deadlines, theme, constraints and technologies

Student Projects 2nd Year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJVKpHGcqWg

•2nd Year Projects•Platform Games based on the theme of the book Sum: 40 Tales of the afterlife•Teams made of designers + programmers + artists•Built using C# and XNA•Fixed deadlines, theme and technologies

Student Projects 3rd Year

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iVx_hsuH4w•3rd Year Projects•Games based on the comedy/views of George Carlin & Bill Hicks(last year no theme)•Teams made of designers + programmers+artist•Built using any technology the student wanted(this year we had a mix of Unity3D, Flash, XNA and Directx)•Deadlines made by students, fixed theme no constraints

Game Jamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSFLKzPXc6c

•Global Jam is a yearly competition•Where the goal is to make a Game in 48 hours under some sort of constraint•GCU hosted this years event with 16 teams

Caley Game Jamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=679fntQO_kU

• Was a week long Jam hosted at GCU• Goal was to engage the students in a Jam like environment• There was 7 teams that took part made up of students of all 4 years(plus one post grad student)

Formal Assessment vs

Game Jam•Students seem to engage with Jam better

•Less support needed during the Jam

•No fear of failure!

•Can formal assessment learn from Jam ethos?

Why I love the Game Jam

•Constraints - Time, Theme, etc

•Working with different people

•Interacting with other teams

List of Game Jams

•http://www.mcfunkypants.com/2010/game-jams-aplenty/

•From 2010 but most of the Jams run every year

•Highlights include

• Global Game Jam - Jan

• Ludum Dare - Aug

Contact

•Brian.McDonald@gcu.ac.uk

•scottishcodemonkey.wordpress.com

•Twitter: @BigBearScot

Links

•globalgamejam.org

•http://www.scottishgamejam.com/

•www.gcu.ac.uk