Nearly 40 Kent State students recently participated in the Global Game Jam at Kent State Tuscarawas. (Submitted)

New Philadelphia, Ohio - Students from three different campuses recently put their game-making skills to the test during the Global Game Jam at the Kent State University at Tuscarawas.  

Global Game Jam (GGJ) is a worldwide game-making event where creators gather at more than 800 sites around the world and make games based on a single theme over a 48-hour period. Kent State’s GGJ site was held the last weekend in January at the Tuscarawas regional campus and organized through a collaboration between the Kent State Modeling, Animation and Game Creation (MAGC) program and the Animation and Game Creation Club.  The site hosted nearly 40 students from the university's Tuscarawas, Stark and Kent campuses. Together, created eight different video games during the two-day game jam based on the jam's theme of "What home means to me."

The project results included "Going Home," a choose-your-own-adventure game about a woman working through her feelings as she comes home from college; "Woodcutter Adventure," a game where a woodcutter must gather wood for the winter without destroying trees that animals live in; and "Pending Failure," a virtual reality experience about watching horror movies with your family. 

GGJ is operated by the Global Game Jam, Inc., an international non-profit corporation based in San Luis Obispo, California, with a mission to foster game design and game education through innovative events. Last year, GGJ had 803 locations in 108 countries create 8,606 games in one weekend. 

For more information about the site a full list of games created by Kent State students, visit globalgamejam.org/2019/jam-sites/kent-state-university-tuscarawas-regional-campus/games.