The conclusion of the Game Jam

It has been a very busy and explosive day here at Orleans as both team show utter desperation to ensure completion of the projects. Both games were completed successfully despite a few shortcomings which thankfully did not necessarily affect the outcome of the games.

Winning by 14 votes to 10, I offer my my congratulations to the team of "SATA", made up of three students who created a simple "shoot the ball" style game whereby the user set power and angle and the element of randomly placed items will either send the ball afar or stop it in its tracks. Users were scored by the total distance the ball travelled.

Upon the giving out of certificates, I was deeply grateful for the end of the week speech by the director of the School who offered his thanks for my attendance and applause from all of the students. I am slightly disappointed I never really was able to spend time with the other students as they and the staff as well as the Game Jam participants are all a fantastic group of people showing great hospitality and friendly personalities.

On my final night here in France, I am finally due to try some French cuisine after having 5 McDonalds dinners/lunches in a row for each day. I have enjoyed my stay here despite it being a short one and am very much looking forward to returning for another stay on different circumstances but also hope to help host another Game Jam event here.

I will end this post by stating what I think about the School, the students, the staff and the location. The first thing that comes to mind is "Sympa". Which I will leave for you to translate.

- Jamie. 

Game Jam Event Day 4

The deadline is fast approaching and both teams are starting to panic a little with the time remaining. I tried my best to assure everyone that things will be fine! :) I have however warned everyone that today may be the time to move on from anything complicated and focus on the little things such as menus, instructions and the like. I think it will be exciting come 11am tomorrow.

A lecturer had asked me to help another class out today for a short while with their game coursework. Their tasks were to create a labyrinth style game using the C programming language within a console application. I was impressed to see first year students rapidly progressing in their programming skills so quickly.

On a personal note, I have formed somewhat of a relationship with the coffee vending machine in the hall. It has given me the best coffee and hot chocolates in my life! Furthermore, my week was already made complete after being treated to an Indian meal in the city centre yesterday evening. Also, having at this stage ..still... not tried local French food, I have had my fourth McDonalds lunch meal in 4 days......

My blog is late today as I decided to wait until now to post it as the School held a charity event earlier this evening where the school was visited by a local charity to have a tour around the school. Not resisting the opportunity, we gave the visitors a chance to play the games and I'm sure they left with smiles on their faces.

I look forward to tomorrow and have already grown close to the students here and we continue to have a good laugh throughout the day. I have very much enjoyed my time in France and will hopefully be able to visit again in the future.

Game Jam Event Day 3

Both games for both teams are starting to look great. Both are taking shape and are now pretty much playable. The teams both had English lessons today where I was asked to help give feedback on their presentations this morning and was able to give a small lecture on training to break into the industry.

Now that we are in the mid point in the week, I am happy with the progress the teams are making for their projects and as the deadline on Friday looms ever closer, I have no doubt that the games will be ready on time.

Myself and other students here in Orleans are off out for an Indian meal for dinner tonight and will also hopefully be able to sample some local beer ;)

Day 2 of the France Game Jam Event

The second day of the Game Jam event has drawn to a close and both teams have made a significant amount of progress.

Both games are now beginning to take shape and I am getting more and more impressed with the dedication and commitment all members of each team are showing. With just under 2 and a half days remaining until the Friday deadline, I am excited to see the hopefully finished projects and will be able to set a score for everyone to beat!

Seeing each member work on their part of the projects has me itching to get involved somehow so have instead forced myself to work on some of my own projects.

The students here are amazing. Their pleasant, good humoured personalities has made me feel very welcome indeed and am happily getting to know each member individually and hopefully will have them form a team to participate in the Portsmouth Game Jam event next June.

Last night, I visited the local supermarket and purchased some bits to make dinners for the week and will hopefully be able to sample the local French lager some time soon :) A planned visit to an Indian restaurant is also on the cards and will look forward to also trying some local French cuisine.

- Jamie.

And we're off!

The Game Jam event in France has begun and both teams are hard at work on creating their games for this coming Friday. With one team of 3 and another team of 4, it will be exciting to see what the teams will reveal come the end of the week.

As a visitor of the School, I have to admire the high level of hospitality shown by the staff with their tours around the school, meeting fellow computer science students keen to develop their skills, coupled with their pleasant and friendly attitude.

I was happy to see that the teams upon the conclusion of the initial presentation immediately broke off and began work on planning and designing their projects using in depth discussions and diagrams and layout drawings on the provided whiteboards.

With only the first day complete, I look forward to seeing how the teams do on the coming days.

- Jamie.