Gamers across Scotland travelled to Elgin this weekend to take on a unique challenge.
Moray Game Jam saw 17 teams race against the clock to create a board game or video theme from scratch in just 48 hours.
Participants were only informed of the theme – ‘when the planets align, anything can happen’- when they arrived at UHI Moray in Elgin on Friday March 7.
Board game Celestial Garden was awarded the top prize by the judging panel.
It was developed by team No Loading Required, made up of Alysa Thomson, Scott Simpson, Alex Murray and Cari Watterton.
Alysa is from Edinburgh, while the rest of the group are from Dundee. They slept over at the college and even under desks as they tried to finish their game on time.
Alysa said: “We’ve been sleeping under the tables. We slept in the room where we were making the game.
“It just means that when we’re tired, we can crash but others can stay up and make the game.
“I think I got a three-and-a-half hour sleep last night!”
Meanwhile, Andrew French from Stikkz Media’s game Pastel Planets was crowned best video game.
Andrew, from Lossiemouth, developed a game where players use their spaceship to align planets, which all have different gravitational pulls and move at different speeds.
However, there’s also an entity trying to blow up the planets.
‘I went to the first Moray Game Jam with no experience, now I’ve won’
Andrew told The P&J: “You get people travelling up from all over Scotland for it.
“It’s a good Game Jam. It’s absolutely great for beginners too.”
Members of the public also had their chance to give their verdict on the games.
Team Lobsters, made up of Lesley Oman, Sam McCready and Theo Addison, received the People’s Choice award for their board game The Prophecy.
Theo said: “I usually struggle to get used to people, but the Game Jam forces you to work as a team.
“We’ve all worked really well together.”
Meanwhile, team Openly Game Men was victorious in the People’s Choice category.
Matthew Jenkins, Michael Brown, Charlotte Waller and Finlay MacDonald, all from Moray, worked together to create their game Duck-stronaut.
Elgin gamer’s first game jam fuels hope to work in the industry
Will Atkinson, from Elgin, created his game Proved Dad Wrong at his first ever Moray Game Jam.
Will explained: “The father tells the son: I’ll let you run away and become a game developer when the planets align.
“He doesn’t believe in you, so it’s your duty to prove him wrong by aligning the planets and fulfilling that challenge.”
“I’m old enough now and I’m interested in game development, so I thought to give the Game Jam a try and see what happens.
“Even today, just seeing kids sitting down and enjoying my game is the most rewarding part of all of this.
“Being able to turn that into a career would be amazing.”
Here are some pictures from the day…
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