Students of the Department of Computer Science (DCS) made a good account of themselves in the just concluded Global Game Jam Manila held last January 29-31, 2010 at the UP Information Technology Training Center (UP ITTC). The DCS students won runner-up honors in the Jury's Choice Award for their Wii-based "Color Blunder" game.

Composed mostly of senior computer science majors, the WSG (or Web Science Group) was the only team to develop two innovative games in just 48 hours. The Wii-based "Color Blunder" used Bluetooth technology while "Trash Talk" applied optical/object recognition via a webcam. Both games were the only entries that used augmented reality and external gadgets.

"Their games were quite novel. They used multiple modes of interaction for game players. The game players can interact with the computer thru a webcam or Bluetooth enabled gadgets and they were able to complete the game in a short span of time," said Dr. Jaime D. L. Caro, UP ITTC Director. "I'm proud that despite the fact that they were competing with some professional game developers they still stood out and showed creativity and programming fluency," he added.

The game "Crease," an engaging and graphically rich paper-folding game developed by professional game developers took the Jury's Choice award. "There are actually no winners or losers in this fun-filled activity. The awards were given just to inspire the participants and to add fun to the event," said Ryan Sumo, International Gaming Developers Association (IGDA Manila) head and game jam organizer.

Some 32 local jammers joined the first staging of Global Game Jam in the country, "ranging from students to hobbyist to full fledged game development professionals, all bound by a love of making games," Sumo said. They were joined by close to 4,000 other global jammers in 35 countries.

The Filipino game jammers were able to turn in 10 games within the allowed time limit and restrictions and in accordance to this year's theme of deception. "Many of these (games) really are just experiments or fulfillment of a goal to make games. There were a few though, especially the award winning "Crease" that I definitely think have market potential. Ultimately it will be up to the participants to decide what to do with the games, since it is their copyrighted property," said Sumo.

The game jam was a showcase of creativity in the local gaming industry. "It's showing the world that we have a talented pool of game developers that rival anyone in the world," Sumo said. "I hope that game jam helps to sow the seeds of the future of Philippine game development, helping to create a burgeoning industry that rivals the BPO sector," he added.

Game development in the country is still in its infancy because of astronomical costs and logistics. But Sumo says Filipino game developers can compete in the realm of indie and casual games where the field is wide open. I think that Philippine game developers are on equal footing with anyone in the world. The Manila Game Jam is one way of proving this not only to the world but to the participants themselves."