Regina video game creators cram during worldwide event

Coders and programmers in Regina are spending their weekend collaborating to create video games from scratch.

Kai Hutchence, one of the organizers, said the spirit of the weekend is self-improvement.

"Nobody is likely to make millions of dollars on these but they're a great way to test your skills, build your knowledge, meet other people in the community," he said.

Each team has 48 hours to develop a video game which Hutchence calls "absolute madness," considering games are usually created in one to two years.

It's a big challenge to think of something that's cool, but also doable in that short span of time.- Adam Mann

The deadline has resulted in lost sleep for some of the 50 Regina participants who stayed the night at the school to work on their projects.

This year's theme is "Transmission" which has taken many different angles among the team including communication, hacking and health.

"If you nail a good theme, the creative juices just start flowing," said Hutchence.

Each person brought their own computers, desktops and tablets. Some even brought mixers for creating a soundtrack and microphones for voicing.

When the games are revealed on Sunday, there will be no prizes or ranking of the teams. Hutchence said the goal is simply to complete the task.

Participant Adam Mann said the finish line is not an easy one to reach.

At his last game jam in Saskatoon he said his team overstretched their resources.

"We had these big, grandiose ideas and ran out of time very fast," he said. "It's a big challenge to think of something that's cool, but also doable in that short span of time."

Jessi Sandham, one of the only female participants, said she got into to game creation by experimenting with coding.

"I was in a bit of a bad place so I decided: I'm going to prove that I can do something and get myself out of this slump, and I did," she said.

One of her friends approached her to sign up for the event. Their team is creating a short horror game about a radio station run by aliens.

"We've had a couple of hiccups, well maybe more than a couple, but we're doing our best. Even if we don't get it done we'll have done something that we otherwise weren't going to do," she said.

She said the small number of woman at the event was no surprise.

"It's a sad state of affairs. People are trying to make coding more accessible to women and make it less of a boy's club, but it still very much is a boy's club," Sandham said.