Game Jam at Ada
"Create a working board game and develop a Companion App in 3 days." - this was the exciting and challenging brief from King for this year's Industry Project for our Year 12 students. The Industry Projects at Ada are a unique opportunity for our students to work with Industry experts and see the usage of digital and communication skills in a business environment.
The briefing session on Day 1 was kicked off by Ada Principal Sarah Salimullah and Andrew Wright who joined us from the King office in Sweden. Drew shared some valuable hacks about how to get the best out of a "Game Jam" and introduced the students to the Rapid Prototyping Technique.
The teams set off for their creative brainstorms, planning and game testing sessions. A huge boost were the engaging workshops that the team of King volunteers delivered on Game Analysis, Game Ideation and Design, Agile Project Management, Public speaking & Video creation and Rapid prototyping techniques.
On Day 2 the "Game Jam" was in full swing: our students were working in groups of 5 in the roles of Project Manager, Games Designer, App Developer, Games Analyst and Presentation Lead.
The experienced King volunteers were on standby throughout the day to answer questions and guide the students through game concepting, logo creation, prototype and app development, and the testing phase.
It was so amazing to see the Year 12 actually trying out the games they had only just created and built!
On Day 3 we were lucky enough to be invited to the King headquarters for the final day of the Industry project: all 12 student groups presented their boardgame concepts and prototypes plus their Companion Apps to the senior judges at King. The judges wanted to see creative ideas, robust game designs, a working companion app but also evidence of how well the teams had worked together, how their communications skills translated into an engaging presentation and, most importantly, how you can find fun in the games.
"The games were glorious" "The students' teamwork was inspiring to see" "Great quality of work in only 3 days, and you all handled yourself so well in front of the judges" "So creative!" "Awesome." - these were just some of the judges' comments - we couldn't have been prouder of our students who were impressive in their team work and immersed themselves in this project and experience.
And the winners were "End game" - the Ada Year 12 students Stanley, Bailey, Jaydiene, Sana & Emmanuela did an amazing job with their Zombie-inspired game and won the industry project!
King is one of Ada's pioneering partners, and it has been so inspiring to see their ongoing support and the creative relationship we have with them manifest itself in this industry project with Cohort 8 of Ada - a huge thank you to the team at King for their time, sharing their knowledge and for inspiring our students!
