Category Archives: Glasgow

Once again on Wednesday the 12th and 19th of February, the Scottish game community and it’s denizens descended on Glasgow and, for the very first time, Dundee to play some of the great games created at this year’s Global Game Jam at our annual Play Parties. The Global Game Jam, for those who don’t know, is an event held across the world with teams of developers racing to create a game in 48 hours. This year Scotland played host to several venues, including Glasgow, Dundee, and Edinburgh.

This year’s jam was huge, with well over 200 jammers registered across all the venues, and all of the games which were produced turned out to be genuinely innovative and incredibly fun to play.

Attendees at the Play Parties were also given the chance to vote for their favourite game, and help it win the IGDA Scotland Community Choice Award. At the Glasgow site the stunning Prism Saga, from a pair of game jam virgins no less, swooped the award. Prism Saga is a shiny 3D platformer with two-dimensional freedom of movement, which is really fun to play. The developers of the game are hoping to expand it further, aiming for a commercial release to bring the title to a wider audience. You can play Prism Saga here: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/prism-saga

The winning game at the Dundee Play Party was the beautifully innovative Light in the Night. Light of the Night is an experimental game in which there is a small town enveloped in a fog, and by walking around you clear the fog away. This effect works really well, and the visuals are very impressive for a game created in just 48 hours. You can check out Light of the Night here: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/games/light-night

A massive congratulations is also due to the fantastic Timea Tabori, who received the inaugural IGDA Scotland Most Valuable Person Award for her outstanding commitment and service to the chapter over the past year. Truly well deserved, and a huge thanks to Timea for all she’s done.

Finally, although only two titles could be chosen, all of the games that I played at the Play Parties were great! There was some real talent showcased at this year’s jam, and we hope to see you at next years event! You can play the other games from the various venues at the links below:
Dundee: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/dundee-scottish-game-jam-abertay-university
Edinburgh: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/edinburgh-napier-university/games
Glasgow: http://globalgamejam.org/2014/jam-sites/scottish-game-jam)

A huge thank you to everyone who came and exhibited their game at either Glasgow or Dundee (or both!), and to everyone who came along and played them. We all had a fantastic time, and we hope you enjoyed the Play Parties as well. Thanks also to Dave Sharp for allowing us to use his photo from the Global Game Jam Glasgow venue in this post.

Don’t forget we have plenty of other IGDA events running throughout the year, with the next one being an evening of microtalks in Dundee on March 26th. More details and tickets can be found by clicking here.

It’s a new year, and to kick things off in style we’re hosting our annual Game Jam Play Parties, which allows jammers to showcase the games they created during this year’s Global Game Jam, as well as get feedback from other jammers and members of the public.

However this year we’ve decided to expand the Play Parties and host not one, but two events, giving you the opportunity to try out even more fantastic games. There will also be the chance to vote for your favourite game and help them win the IGDA Scotland Community Choice award at each event.

The first Play Party will be held in Glasgow on February 12th (that’s this coming Wednesday!) in the Admiral Bar. You can sign up for the Glasgow Play Party by clicking on the button below.

The second Play Party is in Dundee on February 19th, and the event is being hosted in association with the Abertay Game Development Society who have very kindly arranged for us to use Bar One in Abertay’s Student Centre. You can register for the Dundee Play Party by clicking on the button below.

We hope that you are able to join us in playing the brilliant titles that were produced during this year’s game jam at either Play Party (or even both!), and we look forward to sharing more details about our upcoming events soon.

It’s nearly that time of the year again. The nights are drawing in, the weather is getting colder and everyone is in good cheer. A time to eat food that you shouldn’t, to stay up late, to do whatever you like and be with the people you like the most.

That’s right, it’s nearly time for the Scottish Game Jam 2014!

The SGJ this coming year will be held at the Glasgow Caledonian University and the sister site at Abertay University Dundee on the 24^th to the 26^th of January.

If you’ve never heard of the Scottish Game Jam before, well shame on you, it’s only the biggest game jam in the country and is part of the biggest game jam in the world – The Global Game Jam. Every year amazing game developers get together for 48 hours to create some truly brilliant games such as last year’s Scottish Game Jam overall winner, Lub Vs Dub.

In 2013, over 38 titles were created, from artful story telling games; board games; horror games and even a networked text adventure! But, it’s not just the creation of the games which draws people to the Scottish Game Jam. The atmosphere in the building while teams are furiously creating their projects is intoxicating and one of the main reasons people keep coming back every year. There are games to play with your fellow developers, prizes to be won, pizza to eat and great banter all round.

So if you’re feeling creative, love making games and are a little bit mad, then join us at one of the two sites in January! You’ll need to sign up at your preferred site at one of the links below!

Register for SGJ in Dundee

Register for SGJ in Glasgow

Also don’t forget you can learn more about the Global Game Jam on their new site.

And that’s not all, following the jam, in February, IGDA Scotland will hosting a pair of Play Parties in both Dundee and Glasgow where teams can show off their games, play everyone’s games, and vote on their favourites. We’ll update you with the full details of these events closer to the time.

Last year the Scottish Game Jam had over 200 jammers in attendance making it the biggest in the UK and in the top 10 in the world. If you want to be part of what is always one of the best weekends in game development then join us at the Scottish Game Jam 2014!