Abstract:

Our study deals with a university course, Design and Development of Computer Games (GameDev), over 5 years (2018-2022), attended by 350 students. The lockdown period negatively impacted the course and student results, motivating us to change the teaching method through Game Jams. The new approach has had a positive impact on both student results and performance. In addition, it created space for other activities in cooperation with the industry, like Playtesting.

The original GameDev course included studying the methods and technologies needed to create computer games and gradually creating games in teams as a semester project. However, in the middle of one of the courses, in 2020, we were hit by a lockdown, causing various complications. E.g., the impossibility of implementing labs associated with creating paper prototypes or analyzing board games. Students needed help with time management and teamwork. The ongoing semester work thus turned into a several-day sprint at the end of the term in an effort to achieve the minimum results as quickly as possible. This was negatively reflected in the overall rating of students, including their GPA (Grade Point Average) - a decrease of 0.32.

We adapted to the new conditions by moving the design and game creation activity to the end of the semester. Students created games in teams in a short period, 2-3 days, and devoted themselves intensively to game creation during Game Jams, supervised by game industry mentors. This way, we created a large space during the semester for different activities. As the education was online, experts from other EU countries could join the lectures. Together, we could direct attention to existing game analysis and aspects of game-dev. This motivated students to acquire new knowledge in a quality way before the Game Jam's implementation.

One of the most significant benefits was the space to collaborate with game creators who allowed students to do Playtesting. It is about testing games in early-access versions, communicating with the game industry, and gaining vocational experience and contacts. Thanks to these activities, later students could approach the creation of their games at Game Jams enthusiastically. Despite the short time, their games were at least as good as those of the pre-Covid period, created throughout the semester. After analyzing the overall results of the students, we noticed changes in the GPA values - an increase of 0.41.

Covid-19 affected all sectors of life and significantly impacted the field of higher education. In our study, we will describe how we used the negatives and threats of the lockdown in favor of inventing a creative environment for a university course and cooperation with the game industry. In our case, Game Jam is the culmination of a semester full of exciting activities and collaboration.

The article will also describe Game Jams' detailed process and organization, including tutoring aspects and examples of student outputs. Related Work will be included too.

References:
[1] S. Matthews, R. Thomas. "Virtual Game Jam: Collaborative Pathway to Serious Games for Health". International Journal of Serious Games 9(1), 2022.
[2] R. Aurava, M. Meriläinen. "Expectations and realities: Examining adolescent students' game jam experiences". Education and Information Technologies, 2022.
[3] R. Contreras-Espinosa, J. Eguia-Gomez. "Game Jams as Valuable Tools for the Development of 21st-Century Skills". Sustainability 14(1), 2022.

Keywords:

Game jam, playtesting, game design, game development, higher education, lockdown, COVID-19.