On Saturday, SMU Guildhall and its publishing and events arm, GameLab, hosted its inaugural Game Jam for incoming students in Cohort 27. The all-day event included eight hours of game development in which nine games were created.
The event followed Friday's new student Orientation and preceded the beginning of classes on Monday, August 21st. It allowed for new students to get acquainted with one another and with the Guildhall culture and team game development process.
"The event was built around bonding through the passion of making games," said Mark Nausha, Deputy Director of GameLab and production faculty at SMU Guildhall. "Everyone had an amazing time, and it was a perfect icebreaker and bonding experience for our new students. GameLab looks forward to building upon this and having additional game jams and other events in the future."
One of the games created was a card game, and the other eight video games were developed in Unity. Whether experienced in Unity or new to the system, everyone involved was able to contribute to concepting and developing a game within Unity. Students leaned into the fun, creative nature of the event by implementing wit and humor into many of the games.
More than 100 guests attended the Game Jam, which leveraged the strong community of the Guildhall family. Many alumni and existing students attended and passed on knowledge to Cohort 27.
SMU Guildhall and GameLab thanks the sponsors and volunteers who contributed in meaningful ways. CC Creations assisted with the donation of shirts for each attendee, and lunch and dinner was provided by Jimmy Johns and Hutchins BBQ.
About Game Lab at SMU Guildhall
GameLab is the publishing and events arm at SMU Guildhall, the #1 Graduate Program for Game Design in the world. GameLab facilitates the publishing of SMU Guildhall games, events such as GameJam and speaker series featuring industry leaders, community outreach, eSports, and a VR Lab.