The University of Baltimore’s (UB) Simulation and Digital Entertainment Program, in partnership with The Universities at Shady Grove (USG), hosted a site for the annual gaming industry event, Global Game Jam, January 27 - 29, 2012, at the USG campus. Seven teams totaling 39 designers, programmers, developers and artists worked around the clock to create the most impressive video game possible in just under 48 hours.
Participants at the USG site, ranging from high-school students to industry professionals, worked alongside groups from 244 registered sites around the world to challenge themselves and inject new ideas into the gaming industry. More than 2300 games were prototyped and registered on the Global Game Jam website during the weekend.
Power Up
USG’s event kicked-off with a highly anticipated keynote speaker, Bruce Nesmith of Bethesda Softworks. Nesmith, lead designer on top-selling project, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, delivered a motivational presentation on game design to help jumpstart the competition.
One twist to the Global Game Jam this year included an unexpected non-verbal theme. Participants around the world were presented with an illustration of an Ouroboros, a symbol of a serpent eating its tail, to guide their concept development. Many teams drew upon the cyclic and renewal themes commonly associated with the ancient Ouroboros symbol.
Top of the Game
At the USG site, the premier “Jury Award” was granted to The Space Team, a group of young game development professionals and former students at USG, for their polished project, StarSling. Self-described as “angry birds in outer space”, players launched a pod from a slingshot, using gravitational pull to make contact with a dead planet, awakening the planet and making it livable.
The game included six levels and incorporated impressive physics formulas – all developed and implemented onsite.
The judges praised StarSling’s consistency and completeness, noting that it is a marketable concept and that the team was able to deliver a project with zero bugs – an impressive feat in 48 hours.
“Game Jam gives us all a chance to have fun while practicing some critical skills that you need in this industry – teamwork, decision making, and concept development,” said David Noonan, a 2010 graduate of UB's Simulation and Digital Entertainment program at USG. “Practicing execution during 'crunch time' is extremely valuable.”
Two teams tied for the “Audience Award” based on anonymous votes from non-participants. Team Party Pig was honored for their project, Lava’s a Battlefield, a 2-player fight to overthrow the opposing player into a fiery lava pit. Sherwood Team 1, a team of Montgomery County High School students, tied Team Party Pig with their entertaining project, Over Growth, in which the player assumes the position of a Druid trying to defeat tyrannical demons and restore life to his land.
A New Development
Representatives of the Microsoft Windows Phone platform tapped into the Game Jam at USG this year to promote game development for their device. Four hard-working developers on team Adept Theory, another team of Sherwood High School students, took home brand new Windows Phones and Xbox games for their work to simultaneously develop their game for play on the Microsoft Windows Phone platform and a PC.