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If you love fruit pie, turn over now.
Picture this — Grandma is about to make her famous fruit pie when a monkey steals her bucket full of fruits.
Her grandson gives chase, but the naughty monkey climbs a nearby tree and starts throwing the fruit down at him.
The aim of the game is for the boy to catch as much of the fruit as possible and ferry it to his grandma’s kitchen, so she can bake her pie.
The problem is the monkey is turning even more mischievous and starts to throw the occasional fish or rock — things the boy has to avoid catching, because they make for unpleasant-tasting fruit pies and broken bones.
Bayfield High School pupil Matthew Gray said the game idea seemed like a pie-in-the-sky dream when they came up with it last Friday night, but he was surprised 48 hours later when he and his team-mates had turned it into a fully fledged working game.
He was one of about 16 year 12 and 13 pupils who gathered at Otago Polytechnic for the Dunedin Schools Game Jam at the weekend, where mentors from the local game industry as well as staff and senior students in the polytechnic’s bachelor of information technology programme were on hand to guide participants and offer advice and feedback on the games as they progressed.
"It’s been really interesting," Matthew said.
"It’s definitely given me more confidence to pursue a career in the gaming industry.
It had also been great to work with like-minded people, he said.
"It’s been really good to work with a team. Just sitting at home, doing it yourself, is very anti-social."
Otago Polytechnic information technology principal lecturer Adon Moskal said the event was a great way for budding game designers to foster friendships, increase their confidence and create opportunities within the game development community.
The Dunedin Schools Game Jam was a golden opportunity for pupils to see if game development might be a pathway they could follow into the New Zealand games industry’s bright future, he said.