Student Team From Northwood High School in Silver Spring Wins Top Prize
The Global Game Jam was the first collaborative effort of its kind taking place in the same 48 hours all over the world! Game enthusiasts from the Washington DC area joined over 1600 participants from over 53 sites in 21 countries around the world designing games to the theme of "as long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems". The weekend marathon sponsored locally by the University of Baltimore's Simulation & Digital Entertainment Program at the Universities at Shady Grove hosted independent, professional and student game developers.
Locally, 28 participants representing six teams completed at the Universities at Shady Grove in Rockville, MD. A student team from Northwood High School in Silver Spring, MD took the top prize for "best overall game". The Northwood High School winning team included Alex House, Casey Minnick, Aaron Scott and Gabriel Vargas. All completed games have been uploaded to the IDGA global jam site and will be on display at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco from March 23 - 27.
"All the teams participating in the game jam showed a high degree of creativity and innovation while working intensely to meet the 48 hour deadline," said Kathleen Harmeyer, director of the Simulation and Digital Entertainment program. "The University of Baltimore's SD&E program integrates the full range of concepts and skills needs to launch a career in game and simulation development. With its capstone development seminar, the Bachelor of Science program provides an ideal entry point for aspiring professionals."
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.
The Universities at Shady Grove is an innovative model for delivering top-quality college degree programs. USG is not one university; instead it is a collaboration of nine leading public universities in Maryland offering more than 60 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in Montgomery County. Established in 2000, USG serves more than 3,000 full- and part-time students.
Participating USM partners include: Bowie State University; Salisbury University; Towson University; University of Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore; University of Maryland, Baltimore County, University of Maryland College Park, and University of Maryland University College.