Bournemouth University students took part in a seven-day Game Jam to help create a game for AFC Bournemouth’s Junior Cherries.
BU are the official higher education partner of AFC Bournemouth, and students were tasked with creating an interactive game or app based on a specified brief set by the club. Teams comprised students from the National Centre for Computer Animation (NCCA) and Creative Technology departments.
The Game Jam event is held twice a year, and was organized by BU’s Creative Technology department. The event encourages students to think outside the box in the development of the game or app. This year, to celebrate the University’s partnership with the club's Junior Cherries programme, the club provided a brief for the students in an attempt to create a fun family-friendly experience for younger supporters.
Peter Allen, a Demonstrator in Games Technology at Bournemouth University, organised the event and said, “The Game Jam was a great success. We had eight teams who submitted a game and gave a presentation at the end of the Jam. Games were a mixture of mobile and desktop apps, all of which used the AFC Bournemouth theme and branding in different ways. Some teams incorporated the game of football into their work directly, some teams went for established game genres like infinite runners, and another team developed a 2D platformer where you played as the Cherries mascot.”
The Jam has now finished and the eight games have been submitted to the club, where staff and some of the Junior Cherries members will have the opportunity to judge the winner which could then be taken forward as a permanent addition to the membership benefits.
For more information about the partnership between Bournemouth University and AFC Bournemouth, visit www.bournemouth.ac.uk/afc-bournemouth
