RVCC-Electric, Frenetic, panicked, and creative were just a few words Bill Crosbie, site coordinator for the annual Global Game Jam(GGJ), could pull out to describe this event. And he’s not alone. Many students and faculty leave with plenty of mixed emotions from excited to completely exhausted.
Raritan Valley Community College hosted a site for the GGJ, Friday night, Jan. 28th where people from all over the world put their technology talents together, and created about 1500 games.
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| A picture of one of the games created during the Global Game Jam |
The Global Game Jam started in 2009. RVCC joined in 2010, and hosted sites in 2010 and 2011. Crosbie said it spun out as an outgrowth of desire from members of the gaming community, particularly professionals, to work on something non-commercial, in a specific time limit.
Game Jams prior were only local until Susan Gold, founder and director of GGJ, decided it’d be great to have everyone worldwide participate in this event. The idea then became a project of the International Game Developers Association(IGDA).
The rules of the game are as followed:
- 40 countries
- 6000 participants
- 48 hr time period
“It’s a lot of sleep deprivation,” Crosbie said. “And probably an over consumption of coffee. People are a little crazy towards the end.”
RVCC’s site consisted of 55 participants from RVCC, Mercer County College, Rutgers, Bloomfield College, and NJIT. Crosbie said RVCC had a rather diverse group of returning alumni and current students, pushing out 11 of the GGJ games.
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| One participating group of the GGJ from RVCC. They are the creators of the game "Heat Death for the Microtouch" |
Games Included:
On GGJ’s website, all of the games are published allowing viewers to play them. All creators receive credit for their efforts and some receive rewards for outstanding work. RVCC also allowed students to present their work at the NJ International Game Developers Association meeting.
Still no matter how crazy, this event is huge. So huge, that next year’s competition is already set to take place January 27-29 of 2012. With minor changes made for entrees, the Global Game Jam expects to have a major increase in the amount of participants, as well as games created.
-Kimberly Hill
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