UNIVERSITY NEWS LAST UPDATED : 09 FEBRUARY 2021
This January Birmingham City University hosted the 2021 Global Game Jam. The event took place on Friday 29 January through to Sunday 31 January.
The Global Game Jam is an annual and international 48-hour event in which participants work in teams to create a computer game from scratch. Participants are tasked with creating a game concept, producing original art and sound, coding and implementing mechanics and features and even playtesting versions to ensure the game is bug-free.
This year the University hosted the event online across Discord and Twitch.tv. The event was open to anyone interested in the process of creating games and 40 Birmingham City University students and staff participated in the event.
Throughout the weekend, 12 games were developed and submitted and BCU students featured in teams which developed seven of these games. More details are available with team credits and for download.
The event concluded with a judging session chaired by industry experts from Rare, Kwalee, Kumotion, Game Dragons and Live 5 Gaming. Rare and Kwalee also offered some supplemental gifts to the top three teams. The judges were impressed with the quality of the work created by each of the teams. "These games are all so fantastic, even given the time available, you should be very proud of your students." - Steve Stopps, Kumotion.
The winners are as follows:
- First place: Soul Seekers.
Gameplay footage is available to view. - Second Place - You've Woke Up Late and Have a 9am and Don't Want to Disappoint Carlo
This team consisted of four 2nd year BCU CGT students: Sam Prewitt, Nadia Nadeem, Sebastien Scaife and Xena Harris. Gameplay footage is available to view. - Third Place - Please, please, please, Won't Someone Help me with these Bags
Gameplay footage is available to view.
The event saw strong online engagement throughout the weekend, gaining 176 unique viewers and over 1000 chat messages over the duration of the launch and wrap-up events.
"I loved the GGJ this year, the event was still fun and lively as always. I even managed to branch out and meet new people and make new friends. The quality of the games this year was stunning! I cant wait for next year now too!" - Sam Prewitt, BSc Computer Games Technology.