Students in Brock’s Interactive Arts and Science and GAME programs will join their peers from Niagara College to participate in the world’s largest annual game creation event this weekend.

Organized by Tom Brown, who is both a Project Co-ordinator at Brock’s Centre for Digital Humanities and an instructor at Niagara College, the game jam will bring together students from both institutions to create new games and polish their skills.

Niagara College is a hosting site for this year’s Global Game Jam, which will have game creation enthusiasts collaborating from Jan. 27 to Jan. 31.

“With COVID-19 restrictions, I think socializing and collaborating online is even more important than ever for interacting between the programs and with alumni,” said Brown. “Through open-access channels and with volunteers chatting to participants as well, we hope it will nurture an atmosphere where participants are open to communicate.”

Students will be using Discord, a gaming-focused server which enables users to communicate directly via voice, video or text to co-ordinate with their team members. Brown and volunteers will monitor the channels to check in on teams throughout the Global Game Jam, as they would have on campus throughout the weekend.

The Global Game Jam has no winner — the event is held in the spirit of collaboration, rather than competition.

Global Game Jam is operated by an international non-profit corporation founded in California. For this year’s online event, teams from around the world may participate in any 48-hour period between Jan. 27 to Jan. 31. For details visit globalgamejam.org