Game jam winners named

Following a gruelling 48 hours of game-making, the results of the annual Global Game Jam session, which took place at Vega campuses in Jo’burg and Cape Town from 26-28 January 2018, are finally out.

Vega, a brand of The Independent Institute of Education (The IIE), congratulates team RGB, made up of Tristan Thompson, Callum Taylor, Tiffany-Jade Hoon and Christie Edwards, whose multi-player top-down shooter game won Best Game Art at this year’s event.

Best Game Sound was awarded to team The HIVE, made up of Ross Adams, Zander Fick, Dewald Du-Toit, Tigran Ohannessian, Aidan Stokes, Joshua Krynauw, Keegan Bagnall and Darron Hardman for their top-down swarm builder game.

Transcoma, a multi-perspective puzzle game developed by Pierre Du Plessis, Verdanth Panchoo, Matthew Brett, Nicholas Brown, Benit Kadima, Wesley Proxenos, and Jialuo Chen, was chosen as this year’s Most Fun Game.

The Vega Game Jam forms part of the local leg of Global Game Jam® (GGJ), the world’s largest event of its kind, which takes place at various locations around the world. Considered a ‘hackathon focused on game development’, the event sees some of the most talented young minds come together to share their creativity and create unique video game experiences – all in no more than two days. The students each contribute a different set of skills and talents to the group from what they’ve learned in their respective courses and qualifications, including animation design and web development.

“It always gives us such great pleasure to watch how the students come into their own during the Game Jam sessions, and the way in which they work together to make magic happen,” says Robert Chrich, Academic Navigator at Vega.

“Participants are responsible for conceptualising, executing and presenting an entire game from scratch. While they do have the support of Vega navigators, the students are in the driving seat making use of their own intelligence, ingenuity and talent throughout the competition,” he continues. “Game jamming gives students first-hand insight into the game-making industry, which is incredibly vital for those trying to enter the job market.”

The Vega Game Jam provides a valuable platform for students to meet and network with other would-be game-makers as well as professional game developers in the industry, offering students the unique opportunity to learn and work alongside experienced developers. Participation in the Vega Game Jam also allows students to beef up their portfolios, which is particularly rewarding for students hoping to find jobs in the game-making industry.

To help the students find their feet, Vega also hosted a series of workshops to provide gaming ‘newbies’ with valuable insight into some of the mechanics of the development process, including helpful how-to tips on creating the various complex components that make up a game.

“This year marks the first time that workshops of this nature, specifically geared at participants who have no gaming experience, have been held in South Africa,” says Chrich. “What makes the GGJ event inclusive and interesting is that the students aren’t limited to creating digital games but can also develop their own board games and card games too, which means that anyone with an interest in gaming of any type can participate, as long as they’re over 18.”

For more information on the Vega Game Jam, photographs from the event and details on each of the games that were developed, go to Vega’s Facebook and Instagram pages. For those interested in making a career out of game-making, check out the IIE Bachelor of Computer and Information Science in Game Design and Development degree available to study at Vega, listed under Courses.