by the GameBling team
Jamming over two days in February, five teams of researchers prototyped digital games with the goal of re-thinking and deconstructing slot machine games.
Working with a variety of creative software —including Unity, Twine, VR formats, and audio-based experiences— the jam participants put together an impressive selection of playable game prototypes. Most participants were first time jammers and, by sharing knowledge and collaborating with one another across disciplines, learned to use several game making tools and concepts.
This rapid, co-creative prototyping process deepens our understanding of how certain game mechanics are developed and mobilized during play. We are interested in further looking into how game jams can strengthen academic perspectives in game studies, gambling studies, and beyond.
Having counted this initial dive into these questions a success, the jam organizers plan to run additional GameBling Jams in the future.
For details about the project and the relationship between gambling and videogames, you can play through the jam’s introductory Bitsy game here: https://idun.itch.io/gamebling-game-jam-introduction
You can also play the games the jammers created here https://itch.io/jam/gamebling-jam
The event was made possible by the Technoculture, Art and Games (TAG) Research Centre, the HERMES Research Team, and the Pleasure Consuming Games Workshop Series.