Otago Polytechnic’s information technology and design departments have opened their doors for the sixth annual Game Jam event, which began yesterday.
With help from polytechnic staff and students, 22 creative young people from around Otago dived into the world of game development and worked together to showcase their individual talents.
Otago Polytechnic information technology principal lecturer Grayson Orr said the immersive game development event was aimed at giving the students a taste of the projects they could be tackling if they pursued a degree in the subject.
Gaming initiatives worked on yesterday included the usual reflex-heavy action, immersive role-playing and creative sandbox-type games.
But many moved away from those categories, in favour of more logic-based puzzle games.
Logan Park High School pupil Leo Cornelius, 16, said he hoped to learn some new skills that would help improve a game he was working on at home.
‘‘I’ve always wanted to create a game that has lots of replay value — something that you can play over and over again.
‘‘I’m working on a game with puzzle elements, called Myconaut.
‘‘It’s a 2-D puzzle platform that involves finding seeds around a big open world.’’
The main character was a fungi, who looks like a small mushroom person, he said.
The workshops continue today and will wrap up tomorrow afternoon.
