The University of Baltimore (UB), in partnership with the Universities at Shady Grove (USG), hosted the annual, worldwide gaming industry event, “Global Game Jam.” A 48-hour, weekend-long competition, which takes place concurrently at locations around the world, the event took place from Friday, January 23rd through Sunday, January 25th, at the USG campus.
| Keynote speaker, Bruce Nesmith, surrounded by participants in the 2015 Global Game Jam. |
This year more than 25 thousand participants in 518 jam sites distributed in more 78 countries created games simultaneously over the weekend. At USG alone, there were over 30 designers, developers and artists who competed in teams to create the most impressive video game possible in only 48 hours. Participants, ranging from high-school students to industry professionals, worked concurrently with groups around the world to prototype game designs and inject new ideas to help grow the game industry.
The 2015 Global Game Jam theme was “What do we do now?” USG narrowed the focus to a “Health theme” reflecting an interdisciplinary relationship between students from the Simulation & Digital Entertainment program and Healthcare programs.
The event kicked off with a keynote speech from Bruce Nesmith, game designer at Bethesda Softworks and lead designer on the top-selling release, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Nesmith delivered an informative and humorous talk about how he stumbled into the gaming industry. He offered advice and tips on how to secure a job in the gaming industry, "The best way to get a job is to show you can already do the job."
The winning team w
as selected on Sunday, January 25th. The winner of the Judge’s Award and the Audience Award went to “Second Chance.” The team consisted of high school students led by their teacher Derek Ritzenburg. The Second Chance members included: David Eluma, Samuel Eluma, Alex Saavedra, Jonathan Blackford, Princess Anyaibe, John Pierson, Owen Camua, Derek Ritzenberg, and Ben Wright.
Second place went to “SG Trauma Center.” The team consisted of UB students at USG. Team members included: Antonio Reid, James Alexander, Hiroshi Butler, Sean Neil, Nathan McClain, Adam Bratschi, Sharmarke Alisalad, Russell Allen, Matias Mesfin, Adam Davis, Leah Jennings, and Tori Young.
Each team had a chanc
e to present their finalized game to an audience of students, friends, and family. Attendees were invited to play the games and vote on their favorite game for the Audience Award. Andrew Volat, age 9 (pictured below), was among the attendees to play the games and
vote for his favorite.
Several teams hope to further polish their games for commercial launch, likely on a mobile platform. Whether it’s at next year’s Global Game Jam or during the months in between, all participants are looking forward to future gaming projects. Please click here for more information on the Global Game Jam.