From 3rd to 5th February, the Técnico Taguspark campus was the “jam site” of another international game development marathon, the Global Game Jam 2023 (GGJ23), hosting around five dozen students. The event was organised locally by Técnico Game Lab, with the support of FUNCOM, and in partnership with GameDev Técnico and the Faculty of Fine Arts of Universidade de Lisboa.

With the aim of creating a game with the secret theme “Roots”, for 48 hours, students worked in teams, explored their skills and put their creativity to the test. The Global Game Jam encourages collaboration and its events are not a competition.

Carolina Brás, a student of Computer Science and Engineering at Técnico and member of Técnico Game Lab, describes the event as “an opportunity for students to show what they are worth in a space where they feel comfortable interacting with other participants, asking for help and learning from each other”.

On the last day, in the afternoon, the students had the opportunity to show the final product of their work, in a game showcase. After evaluation by the jury, made up of three game designers from Funcom and professor Carlos Martinho, two of the five games developed were highlighted, “Retconnect-3” and “√Rootie & Twootie²”, and the respective student teams were awarded.

More information about the games developed on campus is available on the GGJ23 website.

For more than five years, Técnico Taguspark has provided a space for students to gather and participate in the Global Game Jam. “It is important that those interested in game development and creativity participate in initiatives like this one (…) Anyone can sign up (…) even if someone doesn’t have that much experience in game development, it’s a good opportunity to learn more about the subject with the other participants”, stresses Carolina Brás.