URJC students awarded at the Global Game Jam 2019

URJC students awarded at the Global Game Jam

Three teams with members of the Video Game Design and Development degree have been among the winners of the Madrid venues of this global competition for the express creation of video games.

Raul Garcia Hemonnet

The games 'Towerson', 'warm' y 'Welcome Home', developed by students from the Rey Juan Carlos University, have won the Technology and Best Narrative awards (the same category in two different venues), respectively. The first two at the headquarters of the Complutense University and the third at the Francisco de Vitoria University.

La Global Game Jam is a global event in which video game enthusiasts meet for 48 hours to develop a video game, in teams or alone. It is a meeting in which fun and pressure merge, "you have a great time and you have a very bad time," says Diego Sánchez, a third-year Video Game Design and Development student and head of 3D Art and music at the 'Towersona' game, an original concept that mixes the 'tamagotchi' or 'Nintendögs and cats' style pet game with combat strategy.

The theme of the games that the 47.000 contestants divided into 9.000 teams throughout the world had to develop was the house, the home. As Diego Sánchez explained, "we wanted to capture that idea through the affectionate relationship that we establish with a pet, while giving it an original touch by mixing elements of strategy".

The contestants met this topic on Friday, January 25 at 6 in the afternoon and got down to work. They delivered their video games to the jury, made up of people from the video game industry, on Sunday the 27th at 3 in the afternoon.

In addition to 'Towersona', the video games 'Warm' and 'Welcome Home' have also won awards, proposing totally different approaches to the 'home' concept. The first is, in the words of the team, "a game about people who find it hard to find warmth in their own home." It has been developed by students Martin Ariza Garcia, Pedro Casas Martinez and David Martinez, from the degree in Video Game Design and Development. For its part, 'Welcome Home' is a game in which a ball is made to travel through a series of puzzles set in settings reminiscent of childhood. Its development has been the task of the students Laura Suonpera Lozano, Nicolás Morales Baera and Pablo Rodríguez Vicente, also from the same grade.

All the winners, five per venue, have received an award and video games for PC and consoles.