Students create video game during worldwide event
Lindsey Kilian, '13 | Staff reporter
Issue date: 2/12/10 Section: News
Global Game Jam is a worldwide event, sponsored by the International Game Developers Association, that gives people around the world the opportunity to create video games. Participants are given 48 hours to create whatever kind of game they want.
GGJ was founded in 2008 and the first jam was held Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, 2009. It had over 1600 participants and was held in 23 countries, in which 370 games were produced. This year, the GGJ had 138 venues and was held in over 39 countries. Professor Richard Marcoux, leader of Morrisville's division in GGJ, says they hope to have over 1000 games this year.
Students kicked off the event Friday Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. with 12 24-count packs of Mountain Dew and high hopes. There were about 15 students and lots of support from faculty behind this year's jam. MSC got into the GGJ because Marcoux, an IGDA member, signed them up. With support from faculty in the business department as well as the Computer Information and Technology department, the school was all set. Marcoux started to recruit students and got a $12,000 grant from the school to purchase the equipment needed.
Students stayed up almost the entire time. Michael Borba, a senior in the application software development major, says that he stayed up almost all 48 hours and only got four hours of sleep on Sunday.
"It was really tiring to stay up for so long," says Ken Stokes, a senior in the Application Software Development major, "I had bloodshot eyes most of the time while working there."
Jason Kaczmarsky, a junior in the web development major, says "We, my girlfriend, Jessica Tobin and I, didn't actually stay up the whole three days. The first night we got about nine hours of sleep and the second night we got around five. Nonetheless, we were tired from constant work on the game while we were awake."
Several game makers, including Game Maker 7, Flash, XNA and C Sharp, were used to make the games codes. Students didn't need much experience to participate in this year's GGJ, just a want to experience something fun and new to the college. They even used musicians for background music.
There are no winners in GGJ, just the pride of seeing your finished project done and for the whole world to see. Once GGJ is finished, all games go online for everyone to play. You can even change codes to make the games a little bit different. For MSC, the students were split into teams. One team's game idea was a Spanish Adventure game where the player needs to prove that they can be deceptive and a capable adventurer.
"The game is called, 'Alterobot,' a combination of "alter" and "robot." We named it this because you play as a robot whose goal is to collect data chips in each level by altering the environment and getting from platform to platform," commented Kaczmarsky about the other game.
Stokes did the programming, codes, animation and the artificial intelligence for his game. Stokes said he's known about this event for at least three to four months and has been preparing since last semester. Stokes says that "everyone I have talked to has enjoyed the game and was addicted to it for quite some time."
Another student involved is senior Edgar Linian, who they call the "Jack of All Trades." He does graphics, sounds/audio and anything else they might need help with. "We plan on keeping the game 2D and aiming for more of a platform idea," Linian says.
Most students who participated were CIT majors; however, students don't need to be in the same major to take gaming classes. Currently MSC has four game design classes in the School of Business. You can take a 100 Level class that is about creating games without programming. Many teachers, Marcoux included, are trying to create an interest in students to start making codes and programming games.
Alterobot can be found here, and Traps: The Spanish Adventurer can be found here.
GGJ was founded in 2008 and the first jam was held Jan. 30 through Feb. 1, 2009. It had over 1600 participants and was held in 23 countries, in which 370 games were produced. This year, the GGJ had 138 venues and was held in over 39 countries. Professor Richard Marcoux, leader of Morrisville's division in GGJ, says they hope to have over 1000 games this year.
Students kicked off the event Friday Jan. 29, at 5 p.m. with 12 24-count packs of Mountain Dew and high hopes. There were about 15 students and lots of support from faculty behind this year's jam. MSC got into the GGJ because Marcoux, an IGDA member, signed them up. With support from faculty in the business department as well as the Computer Information and Technology department, the school was all set. Marcoux started to recruit students and got a $12,000 grant from the school to purchase the equipment needed.
Students stayed up almost the entire time. Michael Borba, a senior in the application software development major, says that he stayed up almost all 48 hours and only got four hours of sleep on Sunday.
"It was really tiring to stay up for so long," says Ken Stokes, a senior in the Application Software Development major, "I had bloodshot eyes most of the time while working there."
Jason Kaczmarsky, a junior in the web development major, says "We, my girlfriend, Jessica Tobin and I, didn't actually stay up the whole three days. The first night we got about nine hours of sleep and the second night we got around five. Nonetheless, we were tired from constant work on the game while we were awake."
Several game makers, including Game Maker 7, Flash, XNA and C Sharp, were used to make the games codes. Students didn't need much experience to participate in this year's GGJ, just a want to experience something fun and new to the college. They even used musicians for background music.
There are no winners in GGJ, just the pride of seeing your finished project done and for the whole world to see. Once GGJ is finished, all games go online for everyone to play. You can even change codes to make the games a little bit different. For MSC, the students were split into teams. One team's game idea was a Spanish Adventure game where the player needs to prove that they can be deceptive and a capable adventurer.
"The game is called, 'Alterobot,' a combination of "alter" and "robot." We named it this because you play as a robot whose goal is to collect data chips in each level by altering the environment and getting from platform to platform," commented Kaczmarsky about the other game.
Stokes did the programming, codes, animation and the artificial intelligence for his game. Stokes said he's known about this event for at least three to four months and has been preparing since last semester. Stokes says that "everyone I have talked to has enjoyed the game and was addicted to it for quite some time."
Another student involved is senior Edgar Linian, who they call the "Jack of All Trades." He does graphics, sounds/audio and anything else they might need help with. "We plan on keeping the game 2D and aiming for more of a platform idea," Linian says.
Most students who participated were CIT majors; however, students don't need to be in the same major to take gaming classes. Currently MSC has four game design classes in the School of Business. You can take a 100 Level class that is about creating games without programming. Many teachers, Marcoux included, are trying to create an interest in students to start making codes and programming games.
Alterobot can be found here, and Traps: The Spanish Adventurer can be found here.