Jump Start Game Jam

Students from UMass Dartmouth and MassDigi Collab are excited to offer another Jump Start Game Jam to all – especially to interested high school students, their parents or teachers – on June 4-6, 2021. The virtual event is free but preregistration is requested by June 3.===========================Students from UMass Dartmouth and the Massachusetts Digital Games Institute (MassDigi) are offering the Jump Start Game Jam to all – especially to interested high schoolers, parents or teachers starting – on Friday, June 4 at 5:30pm and running through Sunday, June 6. The virtual event is free, but preregistration is requested by June 3.A 48-hour game jam lets participants try their hand at creating a video game — from coding on up. “Our Jump Start Game Jam was made with first-timers in mind,” said Luke Klegraefe ’22 of UMass Dartmouth. “We know that a lot of high school students have a passion for games and that they are searching for fun, cool things to do and we thought a game jam might just hit the spot.”Those who sign up will also get the chance to hear some mini-talks from game industry professionals and others.”Creating a game is really an amazing experience,” said Robby Williams, a past MassDigi Collab student and recent Becker College graduate. “It opens up a whole new world. Every game jam I’ve taken part in has always turned out some great projects.”Additional UMass Dartmouth and MassDigi Collab students involved are Ryan Wickett, Mike Correia, Haylie Ingels, Mikey Schubert and Dan Denis.For participants, there will be a dedicated communications channel on Discord (click this link to join the server now!) with UMass Dartmouth and MassDigi Collab student members so that if anyone participating online has questions, wants advice or bumps into any problems they will be able to connect.All who participate will receive an introductory online game jam information “kit.” The “kit” will include some game jam basics, recommendations for free software and some game assets that they might need.This is the third JSGS and the second led by students from UMass Dartmouth and MassDigi.The games created during the jam will be posted online on Itch.io for all to play at the conclusion of the event.This virtual event is presented by UMass Dartmouth and MassDigi.