Moray Game Jam: Play games made in 48 hours this weekend at UHI Moray in Elgin
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MORAY'S face-paced game development contest returns this week – and the public will have a chance to play the finished articles.
The Moray Game Jam on Friday, with more than 30 teams tasked with building a brand new video game or board game in just 48 hours.
Teams are not told the contest's theme ahead of time – forcing them to think on their feet to make sure their projects meet the brief.
David Patterson, principal of game jam host UHI Moray, will launch the contest and announce the theme at Noon on Friday (March 15) at the Alexander Graham Bell Centre.
After the 48 hectic hours come to a close, Expert judges will pick a winner on Sunday – when the public will also have a chance to try and vote on final creations during the Gaming Playground event from 2pm to 4pm.
Now in its seventh year, more than 58 game development whizzes from across Scotland have entered this year's game jam.
In total, 25 teams of between one and five people are bidding for the video game glory and seven teams for the board game contest.
Entries from previous years have even turned into fully-fledged commercial projects.
"The Moray Game Jam is now a popular event in the annual calendar of events run by UHI Moray," Mr Patterson said.
"It consistently attracts individuals from across the country and we are grateful for the support of the judges who are all experienced in the industry and our sponsors who are vital to making the event the success it is.
"We look forward to a fun and vibrant weekend."
Alongside the game jam itself, a number of workshops on Saturday, from 10am, will see industry figures share knowledge about game development and related subjects.
Workshops include "How your Game Jam Game can make you a millionaire" hosted by founder and director of the Scottish Games Network and Scottish Games Week Brian Baglow.
Mr Baglow is also one of the experts tasked with judging the event.
AI researcher Gary Groves, from the Scottish Association for Marine Science will deliver a workshop named "Rules are Fun", with Finlay McDonald from Code Wizards hosting an introduction to free 3D modelling software Blender.
This year's game jam judges also have a wealth of experience, including: Laura Cress, a streamer and journalist specialising in gaming and tech; co-founder of Elgin firm Hunted Cow Games, Andrew Mulholland; Martin Thomas, chief technology officer at Code Wizards.
Also joining the judging panel is computing lecturer Christopher Acornley from UHI Perth and Dr Malcolm Clark, UHI Moray's deputy head of curriculum for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics).
Mr Patterson also praised the wide range of sponsors behind the event.
Local sponsors for 2024 include The Little Lunchbox, Hunted Cow Games, Lifestyle Magazine and the Northern Scot..
Also supporting the event are Code Wizards, the Scottish Informatics and Computer Science Alliance (SISCA), J Thomson Printers and StikkzMedia.
