In just 72 hours, 25 students comprising six teams developed three new video games and three new board games during Illinois State University’s inaugural Game Jam, March 19-21.
Faced with an overarching theme of “reading,” Game Jam participants were challenged to make reading and storytelling fun, social, and active within a game. After considering information about the topic for the first 24 hours, teams worked together virtually on Day 2 and finished their projects in the Creative Technology game design room on Day 3. One team, fueled by late-night creativity and pizza, stayed until 4:30 a.m. to complete their game.
“The time limit creates this rapid fire, passionate focus where you don’t have time to second guess your ideas or lose momentum,” said Simone Downie, an assistant professor of Creative Technologies and art who organized the Game Jam. “It creates a bond between teammates. It makes you care.”
Games were judged by visiting alum Mason Bates ’19, M.S. ’22, a video game designer with Naughty Dog. During his campus visit as part of the David B. Williams Visiting Artist Series, Bates also gave a talk titled “The most important part of game development” and led a professional development workshop for students.
In addition to Bates’ feedback during the Game Jam, members of the public who came to play the games, the participants, and game design faculty voted for their favorite games. A first-place board game and digital game were announced, with members of the winning teams receiving gift cards to Red Raccoon Games in Bloomington.
“I was personally impressed by all the games,” Downie said. “They all worked—even the digital ones! To come up with an idea so quickly and develop a mostly stable prototype in just a few days is a real accomplishment. The teams took the topic seriously and really pushed themselves to come up with unique concepts that embrace reading, stories, and imagination.”
Downie said she plans to organize another Game Jam next year, and it may even become a biannual event each semester rotating between serious and entertainment topics.
“The best way to get into the game industry is to make games,” Downie said. “Though our students have a fairly robust portfolio just by moving through our courses, participating in something like the Game Jam gives them the opportunity to make games that better align with their interests and personal voice.”
Winning board game: Friendly Fire (tentative name)
Players are given cards that represent parts of speech, such as nouns, adjectives, actions, and some funny phrases. They use these cards to string together playful insults. The words and phrases, such as “your mom” or “bamboozled,” keep the tone lighthearted. At the end of each round, players vote on who had the most creative insult.
Participants: Trinity Bauer, Aidan Mellon, Devin Wanda, Noelle Whitehead
Winning digital game: Underneath Their Covers
The team created a visual novel akin to a pane-by-pane, comic-book-style story with branching dialogue. Players interact with and romance characters from different novel genres, such as gothic and adventure books. As they get deeper into the story, they realize the librarian has gone missing, and they must enlist the help of these genre characters to solve the mystery. At the end, players can choose a character to officially “check out.”
Participants: Ani Carol, Justin Marrero, Rudy Mix, Skyler Rickard
