News Article

A number of students and graduates of College of the North Atlantic’s (CNA) Video Game Design program will be taking part in a game development jam as part of Atlanti-con later this week on the province’s west coast.
 
Atlanti-con is the newest convention in Atlantic Canada which focuses on sci-fi, fantasy, comics, gaming and anime. The event runs from Friday, Sept. 28 through Sunday, Sept. 30 in Corner Brook.
 
During the convention, CNA is sponsoring the Game Developer’s Jam, a 48-hour organized event for rapidly prototyping game designs where small teams design a video game based around an overall theme. During the 48 hour time-frame, teams will have the choice of creating a video game or table-top board game, which will be developed and tested.
 
“The organizers of Atlanti-con saw the International Game Developers Association Newfoundland game jam I helped run at Sci-Fi on the Rock (in St. John’s) last April and invited me to run a game jam at Atlanti-con,” says Janice Hertel, instructor of the Video Game Design program at CNA. “The purpose of the game jam is to inspire students and game developer hobbyists to be innovative and create a game prototype in one weekend. It is an opportunity for collaboration.”
 
According to Hertel, students from CNA’s Video Game Design, Recording Arts, and Digital Animation programs will be designing and creating original games while students from the Film and Video Production and Journalism programs document and report on the event. Registration for the game jam is open to adults in the local game hobbyist community, which includes students from CNA and Memorial University.
 
Games will be presented to Atlanti-con patrons during the closing ceremonies on Sunday from 5-6 p.m. Hertel will introduce the games, show images from the event and briefly explain the process to the audience. Teams will then have a chance to present a brief live demo of their game.
 
"We are happy to have the support of CNA and they have provided us with our crowns for the King and Queen in the North as well as bringing game jam to our convention to expose gamers to the experience of what it takes to build a game from the ground up,” says Jeff Keeping, co-executive director of Atlanti-con. “This is an exciting venture for everyone involved and we look forward to developing further science fiction and fantasy themed events with CNA."
 
For the full schedule of attractions and events including special guests, panels, contest regulations and vendors for Atlanti-con 2012, visit www.atlanti-con.com.
 
-30-
 
Media Contact:
 
Glenda McCarthy
Public Relations Assistant
College of the North Atlantic
glenda.mccarthy@cna.nl.ca
709.643.6408