Year 2 — Semester 1 / Jams and GDDs

We are now nearing the completion of our first semester with our new 2nd year cohort. It has been an exciting time and there has been a definite buzz in our studios with game ideas and pitches being shared and discussed on a daily basis. For many of our students this module (ARTD 2084, Games Design) will have been the first time that they have been given a free rein on making games designs in any subject of their choosing. For some this has been a liberating experience. For others this has been a somewhat nail-biting experience as their ideas have been put under the scrutiny of professional standards.

We began the year with weekly guest JAM sessions. Each week a professional from a different discipline held a workshop with a 3-day brief. The aims of these workshops were to give students a foundation in some of the more specialist knowledge of these fields and allow the students to draw influence from those fields to inform their own designs. We began with Character and Animation JAM hosted by Kieron Baroutchi. The students were tasked with creating a character taking inspiration from a walk-about in Winchester. In the animation JAM students took these characters and created an infinitely looping animation. Whilst most students used software to create these animations there were a few more interesting techniques also being used; notably individual sheets of paper, a mobile phone camera, and a Tupperware box.

Narrative JAM followed hosted by Calum Kerr focusing on ergodic literature and non-linear story telling. An RPG JAM followed, led by myself to introduce elements featured in the narrative JAM and how they might be applied when coupled with pure mechanics. There were certainly some interesting tales and adventures had as each team of students developed their own RPG system and ran a game with that system. To finish off the students created game artefacts using plastic moulding and sculpture techniques led by Chris Carter.

Rounding up the first half of the semester the students began their designs in full. Despite the issue of no good design document templates existing, students were tasked with scouring development and design blogs to create a list of common elements used by professionals in their work. At this point during the year the students chose their major and minor focuses for the project. The major and minor focuses allow students to choose their own paths for games design and explore different aspects of their strengths.

Once this had all been decided upon the students were then allowed to begin developing their ideas. Each week a trial by fire was held as games ideas were put before a peer review. The point of this exercise was to allow students to offer feedback, advice, and criticism. As a method it is excellent at spotting design flaws quickly.

After another month of design and a short Christmas break the students returned afresh to deliver short boardroom pitch presentations. This was an opportunity for the students to get one more piece of final feedback before the hand-in on areas their peers and myself thought could be improved upon.

Now we’re running into our arcade and these exciting ideas are going public. It will be interesting to see which ones will be chosen to go forward for final development.