Game Jam

 Introduction 

A game jam is a type of competition in which participants compete virtually to see who can create the best video game from scratch. The duration of the event can often last anywhere from 24 to 72 hours. It was a digital gathering that took place from the 25th to the 27th of February, 2022. Participants are typically students, programmers, and game designers. There are game jams that are contests and game jams that are not competitions. The game jam that we participated in at our institution was a competition. In lieu of a project, this was a work that was completed on a voluntary basis. I

The Global Game Jam is an annual event that takes place at the end of January and can be found in more than 800 sites across more than 100 countries.

The goal was to create educational games that could be used for learning languages. The amount of time participants have to complete their games during game jams is often limited and can range anywhere from a few hours to several days. The purpose of this time limit is to replicate the pressure of a deadline and to promote creative thinking among the ideas that are developed by the teams participating in the game jam.

TEAM

Our plan was to design a Spanish language learning video game that could be played on a desktop computer, a laptop, or a mobile device; this would be in keeping with the theme. To play this game, you had to click on different cards and try to guess the proper word. For example, one side of the card would have a picture of water, and the other side would have the translation of the word "water." We went to this beach, this clothing store, and this restaurant.

On my squad there were a total of four people. Karen, another student at TU Blanchardstown, was also working with creative digital media like I was, and both of us were from the same school. Anna and Emma, the other two students, were both students in the Business and Language departments of TU Dublin.

Organisation and planning

Karen stepped up to the plate and was an excellent project manager. Her communication was crystal clear, and she was always fair. We came to the conclusion that the tasks should be distributed in accordance with our respective levels of expertise and experience. Anna and Emma were responsible for all of the translation work. Karen developed the PowerPoint presentation, which had the game's accompanying graphics, photos, and words. In addition to that, I designed some visuals.

Our very firs tmeeting was during the game jam session. We were tasked to design our logo and we decided to do this using Canva. Karen and I opened Canva and we discussed many designs and creatons. In the end, Karen introduced this interpretation and we all agreed on it. 

We interacted with one another through the use of teams, which allowed everyone to view the most recent information and updates. Additionally, we held online meetings, once again utilizing MS Teams.

Process / Production

 I was in charge of generating certain graphics for the game as well as including them in the game. When the game first started, I was the one who designed the primary map. The map from Dora the Explorer, which is a well-known children's program that teaches Spanish to young children, served as the source of my idea for this.

This was accomplished using Adobe Illustrator; first, using the curve tool, I drew the lines; secondly, using a wide variety of shapes, I designed the structures that are depicted on the map. I used the brush tool to draw trees, and I drew dresses and placed them into the map. I also drew trees.

I made an effort to include various characters that I had drawn using graphic software. After tracing over several cartoon images of female characters and a man waiter, I was able to build the figures of the people that were there. After that, I removed the photographs, and what was left was just a silhouette with human features. This required the use of a wide variety of tools, including the pen tool, the line segment tool, and the anker point tool, in particular. After that, I experimented with many options for the characters' outfits, hairstyles, and other accessories.

The map's graphics turned out really nicely. After using the snipping tool, I forwarded this to Karen.

However, I did experience some troubles. I tried saving the characters from Adobe illustrator in png format, but I was unable to do so. I did some research on how to accomplish this task, but unfortunately it was unsuccessful. Although I am not particularly skilled in graphic design, I am convinced that if I had been given more time, I would have been able to accomplish much more.

My tendency toward extreme perfectionism was the primary source of my problems. In retrospect, I see that I should have used the Snipping Tool to save the graphics and then forwarded them to Karen. The reason I did not do this was because I planned to simply use the graphics in the form of a png without a background, therefore that decision led me to not do this. When I think about it now, I see that this difficulty was not important and that it would have been possible to incorporate them regardless if I had expressed the concern. In the end, Karen decided to utilize photographs to illustrate the personalities and locales, and one of those images included a drawing of a dog.

Lessons learned, moving on to the next step

Working with this group certainly enriched my education in many ways. When it came to debating how we should plan our game and the logo, I did my best to cooperate with everyone else. Karen managed the project in a really efficient manner. Both Anna and Emma were able to communicate fluently in Spanish and shown a high level of proficiency in the language. In addition to that, they incorporated a large number of translations. It seemed to me that they communicated more effectively than I did. This is something that keeps coming up as a roadblock for me. Nevertheless, it is now much simpler for me to recognize where my shortcomings lie, and if I were to work on the same project again in a year's time, I would hopefully be able to communicate more efficiently and in a more timely manner. I really wanted to provide the team something amazing, but my perfectionism ended in delaying them, and in retrospect, it would have been better if I had just sent a snapshot or picture of the graphic instead. I did admit that I was having problems, and I really need to have explained whether or not anyone would mind if I shared snipping tools or screenshots, but I feared that doing so would be detrimental to the team's performance. If I had done this, I would have had more time to provide a wider variety of backgrounds for the various locales (i.e. shop, restaraunt, beach).