Interested in making a game and being part of a global experiment in creativity? SUNY Morrisville is once again serving as a host site for Global Game Jam®, the world’s largest game jam event, taking place Friday, Jan. 26-Sunday, Jan. 28.
During the worldwide event, participants are given a central theme and just 48 hours to create a video or board/card game.
During the fast-paced “jam session” teams of artists, musicians, hobbyists, programmers and gamers are given a chance to brainstorm, innovate, collaborate and develop new ideas for game design. Registration for the SUNY Morrisville site is open for students and non-students over the age 18 of all skills levels.
The event begins at SUNY Morrisville on Friday, January 26th, at 4 p.m. in Charlton Hall with registration, a videoconference and unveiling of this year’s theme. Final game submissions are due at 4 p.m. on Sunday, January 28th, followed by a game creation preview and weekend wrap-up.
Teams, some of which are formed on-site, spend 48 hours brainstorming and designing a new video or board game from scratch without any outside help. All finished GGJ games are archived on a website for everyone to play.
Some of the games participants at the Morrisville site have created include: Traps: The Spanish Adventurer (a journey to prove capability as an adventurer, by collecting all of the gold); Ex-Extinction (Sir Captain Rawrington must save his dinosaur ancestors from the incoming asteroid onslaught); Flight Team Phoenix (pilot a phoenix spaceship and eliminate alien enemies) and Cardiac Canyon (a hiker tumbles down a cliff and must follow his heart to lead him through the dark and back to his camp).