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Christian Lopez Manzano
In March last year, the Rey Juan Carlos University hosted the first edition of 'Games University' on the Fuenlabrada campus: a series of conferences and workshops that aims to link and generate synergies between the board games sector and Design . In this new year 2020, and after the success of its first celebration, 'Games University' has been reorganized.
This seminar, which takes place from January 17 to 24, aims to publicize the professional sector of board games and the professional possibilities it offers to students linked to the arts and design, although you can also participate at any person interested in the subject. Despite the attractiveness of this sector and the fact that it is in full development, it is an area little explored by students for their professional future, which is why "with this activity we intend to arouse the interest of young people in this field so that they also contemplate it as a possible professional opportunity”, says one of the organizers of the event and professor at the URJC, María Luisa Walliser.
“The implementation of these initiatives is essential for the University to integrate into society and bring reality closer to students. The University cannot remain isolated from the rest of society”, explains Professor Walliser. The teacher herself also affirms that: "the complementary training greatly enriches the profile of a professional in a more transversal and broad way".
The seminar is organized by the Degree in Integral Design and Image Management, promoted by Alberto Rivera, a URJC technician, with the collaboration of The Covenant collective, to which he belongs, and Designers per Inchl, Association of Integral Design students of the URJC. In addition, professionals such as Oscar Arévalo and Raquel Puerto from Gen X or Jens de Fries, RRSS communicator along with professors of the Degree in Integral Design of the University: Mónica Garrié-Faget and Pablo Prieto, professors of Graphic Design, or Miguel Ángel Calvo, professor of Construction, or professor María Luisa Walliser.
The opportunity to create a board game
During the week that this activity lasts, professionals from the sector will explain to the participants what the world of board games is like from different perspectives: user experience and gameplay, design, production and publication. In this way, the seminar will be structured in 6 sessions, which will last a total of 20 hours, in which three types of dynamics will alternate: demonstrations and product testing, talks by experts, and practical sessions during which work will be done on the proposal design. As a novelty this year, the proposals developed during the practical sessions will be presented on the last day of the seminar. The best will be chosen from all of them and, as a prize, a prototype of the idea will be developed.
The theme chosen for this second edition of 'Games University' will have to do with the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) proposed by the UN. The motto will be “Objective: Improve the world, playing” and, through it, the teams will have to creatively reflect on how to playfully address the main challenges that concern today's society.
The inscriptions of this second edition have already surpassed that of the last one and are still open. You can access them, the program and all the information about the speakers, times and dates of the seminar sessions this link.