Dawson Game Jam 2014

The 2014 Dawson Game Jam was a three day event organized for CEGEP and University students as well as the local indie games community. Dawson Game Jams provide a creative and safe space for anyone passionate about making games with others and an opportunity to meet the members of the Critical Hit team (please see below) and industry mentors.

The 2014 Dawson Game Jam was a success with more 50 participants from Dawson, Concordia, and the indie games community. The theme of the jam was “Cataclysm”, and by the end of the intensive three day event participants had produced nine working games, including the game “Cataclysm Hunter”.

Photos

Dawson Game Jam, 2014

Critical Hit 2014 (Summer video game incubator program for students)

Critical Hit is an incubator that hatches experimental, avant-garde, unique, and otherwise innovative games that might not get made in a commercial ecosystem. It welcomes all aspiring makers, including students, indie developers, new media artists, and hobby developers. Each year, Critical Hit focuses on a new subset of game design, continually innovating and testing cutting-edge game development pedagogies.

Critical Hit was born from a partnership between Dawson College and Concordia’s Technoculture Art and Games (TAG) Centre and represents the vision of the founders of TAG, Lynn Hughes & Bart Simon, and Shawn Bell, coordinator of Interactive Media Arts at Dawson College.

Critical Hit 2014 was an outstanding success, with 16 participants chosen from Dawson, Concordia and the local and international indie games community as well as 40 mentors from the games industry.

Sixteen game prototypes were produced over ten weeks and culminating in a final showcase of six games hosted by Google Montreal.