Sunderland College and Hartlepool Sixth Form College Students collaborate for Global Game Jam Event

Students from both colleges recently took part in ‘The Global Game Jam’ (GGJ), which is the world’s largest game jam event taking place around the world at physical locations.

The students were tasked with creating games in teams, to the theme of ‘what home means to you’. They were given around 17 hours to take their game from inception to a playable product. The event allowed the students to develop their skills in teamwork, communication and time management. The event allowed them to condense projects that would normally span over weeks, or even months, into less than 2 days which is excellent to see.

Antony Cain, Sunderland College Lecturer said:

“This was our 4th Global Game Jam at Sunderland College and the students impress me more and more each time. We have fun, fully playable and animated games made in under 2 days! It’s great to see the students so invested in game development and creating together.”

Daniel Chapman, NextGen Level 3 Diploma in Games, Animation and VFX student added:

“The whole experience was fantastic. It was great working in a studio like environment to create something so quick. I’m super happy with what myself and the team created over the weekend. I look forward to the next one and pushing my skills even further.”

Marcia Deakin, Games Partnership Director – NextGen Skills Academy continued:

“I loved the games from the Global Game Jam. Having worked for games publishers and having judged game jams at a graduate level, I can say that the work from the students was of an amazing standard. Best of all, they looked fun and were actually playable! Good work all round.”

The college runs this event every year and are already looking forward to the next similar event taking place in July.