Alum’s dreams become reality at Morrisville during Global Game Jam
MORRISVILLE — During one weekend each year, a special event brings alumnus Taylor McDowell back to Morrisville State College to follow a passion.
“Game programming is a dream of mine,” said McDowell, who graduated from Morrisville in 2015 with a bachelor’s degree in information technology: application software development. “I get to live that out through this.”
McDowell is referring to Global Game Jam, the world’s largest on-site game creation event which gives teams of artists, hobbyists, programmers and gamers throughout the world a chance to brainstorm, innovate, collaborate and develop new ideas for game design over the course of 48 hours.
GGJ, which celebrated its 10th anniversary this year, took place on campus Jan. 26-28. It is the ninth year Morrisville has served as a host site for the fast-paced international event.
McDowell has now participated in seven GGJ events at Morrisville. With every return, he seeks to learn something new that he can utilize in his career.
“I want to try to do something completely different each year,” said McDowell, a web developer at PAR Technology Corporation in New Hartford. “This forces me to think outside of the box and be creative, and I can bring (what I learn here) to my job and apply it there.”
This year was no different. After the unveiling of this year’s theme, “Transmission,” McDowell and two fellow jammers partnered on-site to create a role-playing card game. It was McDowell’s first venture into the genre, which helped him focus on artwork and game design.
The event also bonds him and community members who share his passions, such as teammate Kyle Hill, a Hamilton resident participating in his third game jam.
Fueled by pizza, snacks and soft drinks, the team worked on its attack-and-defend card game—the objective: outlive other survivors during a zombie apocalypse by sending out a transmission for help.
“You learn the importance of teamwork,” Hill said of the event. “We all have to help each other out.”
Associate professor Richard Marcoux, Ph.D., who helped Morrisville become a host site and has been involved with each event since, noted that a benefit of holding the event at Morrisville is that it allows alumni to stay connected with the college, no matter their current location.
“Global Game Jam is an event that connects Morrisville State College with the world,” Marcoux said. “During our second Global Game Jam, one of our alumni – and a veteran of our first game jam – skyped from Peru and reconnected with some of his fellow alumni, demonstrating that we truly live in a global village.”
“Several of our alumni have also returned each year during Global Game Jam to share with our present students their experiences with earlier game jams, connecting the past with the present,” he added.
GGJ has grown exponentially since its debut in 2009. The event saw 53 host sites across 23 countries with 1,650 participants then, before nearly doubling each of those totals in 2010, Morrisville’s first as a host. Last year, the event reached 701 host sites, 95 countries and 36,401 jammers.
Morrisville is excited to continue its participation in the worldwide event.
“We’re planning on making our 10th anniversary next year the best one yet,” Marcoux said.