Games Industry specialists attend a 2 day student Game Jam at LCC

Image by Ana Escobar.

A 2 day Game Jam recently took place at LCC as part of a student and mentor collaboration, where games industry specialists, together with MA Games Design students, mentored emerging gamers from the BA (Hons) Games Design course.

Game jamming is common within the gaming world as a platform for developers, designers, programmers, animators, sound artists and the like, to collaborate and develop game ideas, plan, design and test games within a short space of time.

Games industry specialists and mentors at the event included:

• Alex Roberts, Engineer from the National Videogame Arcade
• Alan Zucconi, Independent Game Developer
• Gavin Russell, LCC Games Design graduate and ex-Sony Game Producer
• Grant Howlitt, Freelance Games Designer
• Sophie Sampson, Games Designer from Matherson Marcault
• Mark Brown, Games Journalist and creator of Games Makers Toolkit

Watch the film to see how the Game Jam unfolded:

Hear what students thought about the Game Jam:

Jai Bunnag, MA Games Design student
“The Game Jam is a vital event for building a community across the Games Department at LCC. Not only were we brought together, we met on equal footing as fellow designers.

“The event has already served to break down the boundaries between the year groups; weeks later we are now seeing students engage and ask help from their seniors as well as their peers.

“It reminded us that games bring people together (late into permitted closing hours!), but also to look beyond our teachers and immediate peers for inspiration.”

Cameron Richards, BA (Hons) Games Design, third-year student
“Game Jams give us the best chance to collaborate with the other year groups, and the external mentors’ fresh perspectives are invaluable.

“It’s been a really positive experience and I’ve created some good portfolio pieces as a result!’’

Will Durrant, BA (Hons) Games Design, second-year student
“Game Jams are a great experience, really fun and a good way to work with everyone across the Games Design courses at LCC.’’

Jessica Worley, BA (Hons) Games Design, first-year student
“The Game Jam was a great experience and the perfect opportunity for different year groups to come together.

“Not only did I benefit from the learning, I also really enjoyed the social experience that came with it.’’

• Read more about BA (Hons) Games Design
• Read more about MA Games Design