UW-Whitewater’s Media Arts and Game Development (MAGD) program has a student group GAMED (Game and Media Entertainment Developers) that held their first-ever virtual Game Jam on April 24-26, 2020. During this 48 hour period from Friday at 5:00 p.m. to Sunday at 5:00 p.m., three groups of students (13 total participants) created three different video games. Here are links to the three games created: https://engineereddreams.itch.io/i-know-you-are-what , https://lebrra.itch.io/indiana-duck, https://zaidisx.itch.io/the-watcher
The student organization GAMED has been in existence since 2012. The organization has grown from about 10 members a few years ago to over 30 motivated and talented students. The Watcher, one of the games that was developed during the weekend of April 24-26 is quite popular and has been downloaded over 600 times; the group that created this game plans to make a sequel this summer. GAMED hosts Game Jams approximately three times per semester for students in the club and on campus. This organization has greatly increased the student experience in game development which offers real world experience and will help students as they pursue a career in game development. Students also participate in the Global Game Jam once a year that is a much larger scale and involves people from all over the country that work to develop a game with the same topic in 48 hours.
Game Jams help game developers learn what it takes to build a video game from start to finish. They build skills in learning how to work in a very limited time frame. Since Game Jams are often 48 hours it really forces prioritizing what needs to get done to achieve a minimum viable product and to build problem solving skills to overcome any errors that appear during the short development time frame.
Normally Game Jams have been held on the UW-Whitewater campus in person, with the exception of a Community Game Jam held in August of 2019. That was a week-long Jam that created a single player puzzle game that week. Here is the link to the game created. https://wesmcw.itch.io/cave-of-uncertainty
GAMED (Game And Media Entertainment Developers) is a student organization which gives creative students of all areas and skills a central place to make games. Whether you’re a developer, designer, programmer, artist, musician, audio technician, or are just interested in getting behind the scenes of video games – this is the place! We build up teams to collaborate on projects, help and support each other grow in personal endeavors, and put on periodic events such as game jams and charity gaming marathons to give members opportunities to add to their resumé and pursue their gaming goals. Whether you’re a seasoned vet or completely new to the scene, come have some fun, meet new friends, get some experience, and develop fun video games with us! For information, contact Jake – kleinja25@uww.edu or Wes – McWhorteWT14@uww.edu.
