Annual Global Game Jam at Mt. Sierra College brings out the genius

More than 70 college students came together at Mt. Sierra College in Monrovia on Friday, Saturday and Sunday to participate in Global Game Jam.
Global Game Jam was a competition for students to develop a video game throughout a 48-hour time period, working collaboratively to develop and complete and functional game.
Games were be in beta testing phase and near completion and students were in a final crunch mode, hastily uploading their game play pieces onto the official Global Game Jam website by Sunday’s deadline, said Tawny Hernandez, assistant director of career services for Mt. Sierra College.
Hernandez added that Global Game Jam has become quite popular.
“Global Game Jam is a worldwide event that has more than 400 sites,” she said. “The students have been here since Friday night creating games. They have 48 hours to create them. We have seven teams and 74 participants. There are six digital games being created and one board game. We also have a 3-D printer on-site that a student has built himself.”
She also said the games are extremely high-tech.
“It’s not Monopoly,” Hernandez said. “They’re building them from scratch. Whether it be 3-D models, the whole story telling behind it, the concept, it all has to be based on a theme.”
In addition, Hernandez said building the game is like test where they have to come up with the answers on the spot.
“They do not know what the theme is ahead of time,” she said. “They walk in Friday night ready to go and we unveil everything right there to them then and there.”
She added the students are all at different knowledge levels, making it that much more difficult.
“We have students who are in their first term participating and we have some alumni who have come back,” Hernandez said. “We also have two non-students to see what it’s like to develop a game to see what it’s like to come to school here.”
Hernandez also said each participant has a different job to do in the competition.
“They all have different roles,” she said. “One may be a programmer. One may be creating 3-D models. Another may be the writer. They all need each other in order to do this.”
She also said participating in the competition might also gain them employment eventually.
“It’s a definite portfolio piece that can help them get a job in the industry as well as challenging themselves to see if they are really ready to become a game developer,” Hernandez said.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

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