Taguspark campus hosted the Global Game Jam – an international creative videogame marathon – from 25th to 27th January, for the third consecutive year. According to professor Carlos Martinho, from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering (DEI), member of Técnico Game Lab and member of Global Game Jam organizing team “We have been attracting an increasing number of participants, maybe because we have been recognised internationally in 2018 and we have collaborated with other institutions from Lisbon, such as Faculdade de Bela Artes da Universidade de Lisboa and “A Ludoteca”.

“This is the largest Game Jam worldwide. More than 860 jam sites spread over more 100 countries participated in this year’s edition”, explains professor Carlos Martinho. The Global Game Jam challenges the participants to develop a game in 48 hours on a topic that is disclosed at the beginning of the event. This year, the topic was “what home means to you”. “Although the team composed of members from Técnico/Belas Artes have won an award for the best project, this marathon is not a competition between teams, but an event that promotes the relation between technology and creativity in a multidisciplinary context”, says professor Carlos Martinho.

“The projects presented here can go far beyond the Global Game Jam”, stresses professor Carlos Martinho, highlighting the importance of the event “that allows to explore an intrinsically multidisciplinary area”. According to the Técnico professor “a Game Jam is probably the most romantic way of creating video games”.