Pupils’ designs cross the Pacific
GAMES about escaping a dark foreign planet or a school full of evil teachers performing strange rituals are just two examples of what Dunedin and Japanese secondary school pupils came up with during the recent Cross Pacific Game Jam (CPGJ).
Teenagers from Dunedin spent 48 hours over the weekend at the Otago Polytechnic, where they were challenged to make games that could be played and finished within a minute.
Design lecturer Edwin McRae said the games the pupils made were very good.
‘‘I was really impressed with what they managed to produce in just a weekend and they were really impressed with themselves as well.
‘‘It’s awesome to see just the overall standard increasing every year, just as the students get more experienced making games, and it starts here with these students.’’
The Dunedin and Japanese pupils used messaging social platform Discord to communicate ideas with each other.
Mr McRae said Discord made the exchange of ideas a lot easier.
‘‘Despite the language barrier they’re able to share games back and forth.
‘‘A team over here was really excited when they saw people in Japan were playing their game.’’
CPGJ Japan project manager Hagino Baker said it was a great opportunity for Japanese pupils who would have never had an opportunity to connect with New Zealand pupils.
‘‘I was a little bit worried about the cultural exchange bit but it just happens organically and it’s really great to see it.’’
Columba College pupils Anise Maclean and Juliette Mcdonald made a game about crash landing on a dark planet and completing mazes to find a fragment of their ship to escape.
Juliette said it had been an ‘‘eye opening’’ weekend for her and she looked forward to making more games.
‘‘You don’t actually think you can do this in two days, but then you actually do it.
‘‘It makes it seem way less intimidating.
‘‘I want to be part of the game development team — like the whole pipeline, I want to make assets and animations and the designs.’’