This game jam is inspired by the Mobo Game Jam, which is a global game-making challenge created by Kucheza Gaming, Edu360, WaterAid, Ukie education’s Digital Schoolhouse, and Into Games.
Teams of up to six students from across the country will be set the task of making the best game possible, with groups scoring better by adhering to the theme of the brief on water.
Each team will receive an industry mentor who has volunteered to guide them through the process. These mentors will be available at various times throughout the day online or via phone, with extra emphasis placed on helping teams meet the theme. Ukie’s bi-annual student game jam draws from a pool of 3,000 students from 40 different institutions across the UK. Last year had 65 teams comprised of 380 students.
Registration:
If you would like to register a team for the Ukie Student Game Jam then please do so here. Deadline 5:30 pm, 15th of March.
When: Tuesday, 23rd & Wednesday 24th of March
The game jam takes place over two days to allow students to take a break. It is encouraged that students take time off in the evening of the 23rd to get food, chill out, sleep and start again in the morning of the 24th.
Where: Remote
Anywhere they’re able to work as a team and create their game. If you’re struggling to find a way to get your team together, please speak to your course leader or mentor. We appreciate the COVID-19 crisis is imposing restrictions on groups meeting, so we urge you to be conscious of the Government's rules for the safety of yours and others.
Theme: Water
Judging Criteria:
- Concept – How well does it match the theme?
- Creativity - How creative and unique is the game?
- Playability - Is it fun and challenging enough to play?
- Visual impression - Does the art style suit the game?
- Narrative - Does the game's story work and flow?
- Replayability - Is it compelling and does it have high replay value?
- Soundtrack - Does the audio fit the game?
The Problem – consider these issues when designing your game:
785 million people don’t have access to clean water close to home. That’s 1 in 10. As a result, 578 million people in the world – one in thirteen – have no choice but to drink dirty water. This can have serious health implications. Around 310,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases caused by poor water and sanitation. That's over 800 children a day, or one child every two minutes.
Our changing climate is making life harder for the world’s poorest people who are already struggling to get clean water. Globally, temperatures are rising and the weather is becoming more extreme and varied. Droughts, flooding, and tropical storms are all increasing as a result of climate change and making it harder for people to have access to a reliable supply of clean water.
Since 2000, 1.8 billion people have gained access to clean water. However, at current rates of progress, everyone in least developed countries won’t have clean water until 2060 and everyone in sub-Saharan Africa won’t have safely managed sanitation until 2403. This is 373 years behind schedule.
Find out more about the water crisis here and see how climate change is making it worse here. You can also check out our WaterAid Explains YouTube series to learn more.
WaterAid (This game jam is being run in partnership with WaterAid)
We are WaterAid, the international not-for-profit making clean water, decent toilets, and good hygiene normal for everyone, everywhere. Our mission is to transform the lives of the poorest and most marginalised people by improving access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene. With the help of our local partners, we work with communities in 28 countries across the world to build low-cost, sustainable solutions that meet their needs.
Check out our UK website and WASH Matters website to learn more about our work on water, sanitation, and hygiene, and take a look at the technologies we use to help solve the problems people face around WASH.
Hashtag:
Tweet your progress throughout the game jam to @UkieStudents using the hashtags #Mobojam
Winners Announced:
Monday, March 31st via a press release, social media, and email.
Awards up for grabs:
- First Place Award - (Winning team!)
- 'Mentor of the Planet' Award (given to the best mentor – voted for by the teams)
- Social Champions Award (given to the team that drives most engagement on Twitter using #Mobojam
Submissions:
All games need to be submitted by 5:00 pm on March 24th at the very latest - please email Leon if you are having difficulty.
- Games must be submitted via itch.io on the Ukie Student Game Jam page here by 5:00 pm on the 24th of March.
- When submitting a game on itch.io please title your game with your team name as well as the name of the game – E.G ‘Team A – Water Slide’. This will make it easier for the judges to find and mark your game.
- Please also upload a gameplay footage video of your game to YouTube and post the link to your video in the description of your Itch.io submission page.
- Please also submit a short paragraph about why you created the game on your itch.io submission page.
- If you are having issues, then please contact Leon@Ukie.org.uk.
Prizes TBC
Judges TBC
Rules:
- Students must be registered to Ukie students and a team to take part
- Work can only commence at 9:30 am on the 23rd and you must finish/submit at 5:00 pm on the 24th of November
- Students can use any game engine they choose to create their game
- Students can use free open-source content but must reference where they got it from
- Students/teams must not infringe on any copyrighted works and any caught doing so will be disqualified
- Students must let their lecturer(s) know where they’re intending to make a game
- Only students registered and submitted as a part of the team can take part
- Games must be submitted via itch.io on the Ukie Student Game Jam page here by 5:00 pm on the 19th of November.
- If you are having issues, then please contact Leon@Ukie.org.uk.
- Enjoy yourselves!
For any questions please contact Leon.