Storyworld Jam (4-6 July 2014)
The Storyworld Jam 2014 (SWJ14) was a three-day event which highlighted transmedia development. SWJ14 supported fifty participants and many submissions ranging from games, digital paintings, poems, and audio scores to the theme of “Cure”. The event facilitated a forty-eight-hour development time over three days: this was intentionally designed to encourage participants to take rest and work within reasonable hours.
The SWJ14 was created as a response to two phenomena. Firstly, Max and Gian participated in the European Cross Media Academy (EUCROMA) programme, which offered students at Abertay University the opportunity to work on cross-media production projects. Secondly, the SWJ14 was devised as a jam-like event that looked to include media creators from a discipline separate to game development. This was to encourage cross-media development within the format of a game jam.
A post-mortem of the SWJ14 highlighted the strengths and weaknesses of the event, and scope to explore for future events.
Outputs
Yanskel (James Wood, Natalia Sionek, Lukasz Gormula, Sam Cumming, Alberto Taiuti, Phil Harris, Brian Diamond)
“[Yanskel is] a dark story about a child’s journey to be accepted to receive a cure.”
Nostrum (Dario Seyb, Lee Gillespie, Remy Stuurwold, Jack Stollery, Rob Lloyd Small)
“Nostrum is a rhythmic spell-casting game centred around arranging candles and stones in order to heal ailments.”
Wilson the Wiener (Max Wrighton, Gian Dbeis, Hannah Drummond, Julian von Schmu)
“Wilson the Wiener is a short animation which follows a "cured meat" sausage in his attempts to save his damsel in distress while meeting tasty(?) friends along the way.”
Testimonies
“As the lines between interactive media blur the experiences people demand get greater. Whilst it is appreciated that not every game needs this cross media activity enough others do and people who understand each field and how they operate together are always going to be valuable. Notwithstanding this fact both film and TV and becoming more and more interested in the opportunities the games industry offers and events like this become invaluable in helping them understand what is required of them.” [Bleeding Cool]
“#SWJ14 has come to a close. Some incredible multimedia art was produced! We may not have created exactly what we set out to but I loved it!”
“And, I’m back in Berlin! Thanks for the great time in Dundee #SWJ14.”
Credits
SWJ14 was co-organised by Andrew Reid, Max Wrighton, and Gian Dbeis during their studies at Abertay University.