London Games Festival 2012
A hand selected group of five pro journalists, five pro game developers and five student developers will take part in a unique experiment as part of London Games Festival 2012. It will challenge the way they think about the pressures of creating and critiquing video games possibly forever, making one another understand each others responsibilities.
The Developer and Press Swap Up 48 Hour Game Jam will begin at 5:00pm on Friday 5th October and run for 48 hours straight through until 5:00pm Sunday 7th October at Ukie’s London HQ. This is such a brilliant idea though i mean it’s basically giving each other a taste of their own medicine, their chance to see what it’s like one the other side of the wall.
Individual journalists will be paired with the students to form “Hack Developers”, required to build a game in two days. Meanwhile the pro devs will become “Hack Journalists”, reporting on the teams’ progress, conducting interviews and writing scoops.
The Hack Journalists’ coverage will be posted on the Develop website and culminate with a review of the finished games.
Event co-organiser and Mobile Pie creative director Will Luton said: “The idea came to me when I was writing a blog to deadline for Develop at this year’s GDC. I thought ‘we always bitch on journalists but these guys have a tough job’. It was a small leap to swap the roles in a hack, I put it to twitter, the response was insane and Ukie and Develop pitched in to make it happen.”
The developers’ and journalists’ progress will be judged by industry luminaries and after the deadline winners will be decided and named as MCV and Develop Developer and Press Swap Up award winner, with the final games uploaded online for the public to play.
“Developers and journalists often think they could do each other’s jobs better – now it’s time to find out,” says Kirsty Payne, festival director, London Games Festival.
Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie said: “The London Games Festival gives us a great excuse to get journalists and developers collaborating and putting their money where their mouth is. They will be under pressure, and they will be under scrutiny and we can’t wait to see what these highly talented professionals and students come up with.”
The London Games Festival Developer and Press Swap Up is presented by Mobile Pie, Ukie, MCV and Develop.
