Guildford.Games at the Global Game Jam 2023!
Earlier this year The Guildford Game Jam Team rallied together, split into teams and worked through multiple days & nights to create 5 b-root-iful games!
It was an exciting return to in-person meeting for the G.G Game Jam group - which truly is the best way to jam! For those who may not have encountered a game jam before, this is how it tends to go down:
A group of incredibly talented and passionate people get together - they're often a mixture of game developers, game players and budding devs. The theme of the Game Jam will be revealed and then the teams get to work. Snacks are provided, creativity flows and everyone has a great time! Around 48 hours later, each team presents the game they've made to everyone else... et voila! The game jam is complete!
We were thrilled to receive sponsorship for the game jam from the British Film Institute (BFI), which allowed us to hire a venue and offer aforementioned snacks to the jammers! The collaboration with the BFI was perfect - as games are very much experiencing a shift to more cinematic, group activities - and as with all sponsors who join us from beyond the realms of Guildford, it's always awesome to see anyone outside of the industry showing an interest in Video Games! A huge thank you to the BFI for getting involved and ensuring the Game Jam could go ahead!
So, back to this year's G.G jam - organised by Alyx Jones, Liam De Valmancy and Kevin Davey - all prominent figures in The Guildford game dev scene and passionate game jammers! The event was organised coincide with the Global Game Jam and the theme was 'Roots'. In total 16 jammers joined the jam, and got to work on creating 5 games in keeping with the theme.
You can find full info on all the teams here: https://globalgamejam.org/2023/jam-sites/guildfordgames-ggj23/games
The Guildford Game Jam community is so important as it gives anyone interested in or involved in game development a chance to come together and be creative. I always learn something new at every game jam and it's great to sneak a look over jammers shoulders and have them show you how and what they've done, it's so valuable and most of all just great fun to let loose and make whatever kind of game you can dream up quickly!
And now (drumroll please) on to the games! It's astounding to anyone unfamiliar with game development that a playable game can be created over a weekend - but it's doable! As long as a team is in tune, has some great ideas (as well as the ability to triage!) and uses their skills and expertise wisely - it can be done! And 'be done' it was, the 5 games created at this year's G.G Game Jam are...
Humongous FungusTeam | Size: 4
Play as an aspiring humongous fungus and use your roots to seek nutrients and grow your mushroom empire!
/root access | Team size: 6
It’s 21XX. The outside world is largely uninhabitable. Most in-person interaction has been replaced by an interconnected VR network that interacts with neural implants. You're a tree-park designer who's about to go rogue...
Darkroot | Team size: 1
Escape an ever growing evil root entity that will never stop chasing you!
Play Darkroot now!
The Trees have taken over... | Team size: 3
The Trees have taken over's description simply reads "Tree Stuff", and frankly we could all do with a little more tree stuff in our lives. Trees are great, so check out The Trees have taken over... now!
Roots: A short story about transportation through time | Team size: 3
Roots is a simple game that tells the story of transportation. You play as root of the tree, that slowly digs underground to discover the "roots" of a town.
And that's a wrap on the most recent G.G Game Jam, but if the games have got your creative juices flowing - why not get involved in a game jam some time? Follow us on twitter (@GUGameFest) or drop us an email (hello@guildford.games) for info on any upcoming events!