Joining others around the world, area colleges to host global game-creating event

MORRISVILLE, N.Y. — Come Jan. 26, four Central New York and Southern Tier colleges will host a 48-hour game-building event that will also be taking place at hundreds of sites around the world.

Global Game Jam began in 2009 with 53 sites in 23 countries. Last year, it took place at 701 sites in 95 countries and attracted more than 36,000 participants.

Morrisville State College Associate Professor Richard Marcoux heard about its first year and decided to try it at his campus in 2010. For each year since, students and non-students have gathered at Morrisville for the event.

“It’s not a competition,” Marcoux explains. Instead, it’s a chance for those who’d like to make games to meet others with similar interests. The Morrisville event has drawn Morrisville students, individuals from around the area as well as several students from the Big Picture School in Lafayette.

“You don’t have to be a programmer,” he stresses. Global Game Jam draws interest from gamers, programmers, artists, hobbyists and others.

The Enitiative Global Game Jam event at Morrisville State College will start at 5 p.m. when participants hear the year’s theme. Past themes have included “waves,” “ritual,” and “deception.”

Over the following 48 hours, the participants will form into teams and try to create a game that ties into the theme. While most teams create video games, Marcoux says they can also create board games or card games.

As the 48 hours come to a close, teams will present their games and the computer games will be uploaded to the Global Game Jam website, where they will be available for play.

Registration is open to students and non-students 18 and older and is available at www.morrisville.edu/gamejam. The registration fee is $10 and includes a T-shirt, beverages, pizza, and breakfast.

Ithaca College and Syracuse University are also planning to host Global Game Jam events at the same time, as is Broome Community College, according to Global Game Jam’s website. Marcoux says that Ithaca and Syracuse began participating after visiting Morrisville and witnessing the success of the event.

Participants at the Morrisville site have created a variety of games over the years, including one that required the protagonist to save his dinosaur ancestors from an incoming asteroid, one that involved a hamster riding a wave and one called “Flight Team Phoenix,” about piloting a spaceship and eliminating alien enemies.

The college said it will be streaming live during portions of the event, which will be broadcast on Global Game Jam’s Twitch Central Channel.

Last year, Global Game Jam attracted 31 participants at Morrisville. Marcoux says he doesn’t know how many will attend this year because, “nobody signs up until that Friday.”

Contact McChesney at cmcchesney@cnybj.com