Getting Our Game On

Posted: July 5, 2013 - 17:03 , by royal
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ROM Game Jam!  Foretelling the Past

From August 9 to 11, the ROM will be hosting a horde of keen electronic game programmers, designers, artists, coders and other wizards for our first-ever “game jam.”

Inspired by the age-old concept of the musical “jam session” in which a bunch of musicians gather together to create something new in a free-flowing and creative environment, the game jam does the same for video games. With the goal of a new game as the result, a jam creates an opportunity for committed, dynamic and inspired gamers to come together for an intense weekend of co-inspired, collaborative creativity. Key to their success is a well-defined subject area, a limited period of time and plenty of room for thinking outside the box. The experience is almost always intense!

For the first-ever ROM Game Jam, participants will be presented with a simple challenge: create a mobile game that animates and enhances the Museum’s exhibits. Not so simple perhaps is the intriguing theme within which they must operate: “foretelling the past.” Perhaps the first order of business will be to figure out just what that can mean.

Lead by Dr. Rae Ostman, Managing Director of ROM Ancient Cultures, this pilot event is being produced in conjunction with a few key partners: Gamercamp, the University of Toronto and the university’s  Game Development Club.

The experience continues after the weekend. Completed games will get play-tested by members of the public at the ROM in mid-October and will premiere officially at Gamercamp in November.

For this beta, the space will be very limited and open to teams ranging in size from one to four people. Since registration to the jam opened on July 5 we’ve been flooded with positive feedback. Twitter is abuzz with #ROMGameJam talk, and Wired UK recently published an article about our jam.

You can learn more on the ROM Game Jam web page, and we recommend you join us for a comprehensive info session at the ROM on July 12. Remember: Submit your application before July 15.