Jamfuser, the annual game jam set up to help potential Tranzfuser applicants to hone their development skills, took place right across the UK last month.
Jamfuser saw 27 teams take part in what was a game jam that straddled the leap weekend (29th February), and so was appropriately themed around the term “Leap”!
Graduate games developers, particularly those with an interest in applying to this year’s Tranzfuser competition, were encouraged to sign up to the weekend-long game jam back in January. Teams could work from Local Hubs or remotely in any way they chose, with the essential criteria set out by UKGTF that all valid entries had to be submitted by a set deadline. Jamfuser 2020 saw Tranzfuser Local Hubs Staffordshire University, the University of Plymouth and the University of South Wales house teams right across the weekend.
Teams were tasked with creating a single player game completely from scratch in just 72 hours and, in their own creative ways, adhere to the theme of “Leap”.
Deborah Farley, Head of Talent and Outreach at UKGTF, said:
“Jamfuser 2020 has proven that no two game jams are quite the same! Last year was our first ever game jam and we learned a lot about what goes into making a jam a success. This year we’ve seen a huge surge in demand for the jam and we’re very hopeful that the sterling efforts put in by the Jamfuser teams will translate to excellent applications to join this year’s Tranzfuser competition.
Our judging panel were a mix of those from industry background, Tranzfuser alumni, journalists and academics. All were blown away by the quality of submissions to Jamfuser 2020!”
The winning submission is from Team Monkey Hat Games with DreamHopper!
DreamHopper
‘While jumping freely with his family, a little grasshopper breaks his leg and loses his way. All is not lost, however – when he discovers that through the power of dreams, he can ‘leap’ once more! Now he must traverse through new and scary environments to reunite once again with his family!’
Alex Turnbull from Monkey Hat Games, said:
“We are stoked to have our game be voted the best overall! This continues to motivate and push us futher to develop more polished experiences. The competition was incredibly strong from everyone else involved in the jam.
It was a fantastic experience for everyone in the team, we had a super fun time over the weekend making the game and chatting to the other teams. This game jam had helped reinforce our compatibility in working together as a team – I couldn’t ask for a better group to be working with.”
All games submitted to Jamfuser can be downloaded here. All teams that completed the game jam will be awarded Jamfuser Game Jammer Open Badges.
New to this year, the UKGTF Twitch channel will demonstrate all games being played very soon. Keep an eye on our Twitter for more details about when that will be!
Tranzfuser 2020 has just opened for applications. See the Tranzfuser website for more information.