Regional collaboration for serious games

“Universen” is a magazine for Uppsala University employees. Issued six times a year, ~7100 copies are sent to the homes of all employees and other interested parties. In the first issue of 2018 our colleague Lina Sors Emilsson is interviewed about her course Product Development for Games, 15 credits (5SD952).

Lina Sors Emilsson at the Gotland Game Conference 2017
Lina Sors Emilsson at the Gotland Game Conference 2017.

The interview is unfortunately entirely in Swedish, but she’s talking about how we use this course to have game design students work with external “real-world” concerns, such as; crisis management, Gotland’s water shortage, job market access for the differently abled, and so on. For the first iteration we worked closely with Region Gotland and local industry to come up with realistic concerns and evaluate the student output.

If you’re gifted with the Germanic languages you can try reading the full interview below, or on Issuu.com. You can even browse the full Universen archive at uu.se.

The course is a part of our international Bachelor Programme in Game Design and Project Management. You can apply to the program via universityadmissions.se! The international application deadline is 15th of january, while Swedish applicants have until April 15th.

Universen nr1 2018, page 17

More games to San Francisco!

The 2018 Game Developer’s Conference will once again feature the alt.ctrl.GDC exhibition – an area at the GDC dedicated to games that use alternative control schemes and interactions. Applications are sent in from developers around the world, and twenty games are selected for the exhibition. Our students snagged three of those nominations for 2018, and last year we earned two spots. 🙂

Gamasutra has the complete lineup of games from all around the world, and have also begun interviewing each team.

If you are at the GDC in March, make sure you swing by, speak with our talents and try out their crazy contraptions:

Pump the Frog (7 Holy Frogges)

Pump the Frog at the Swedish Game Awards
Pump the Frog at the Swedish Game Awards

Pump the Frog is a 2d-puzzle-platformer where you control the Frog and your environment, roll, slip and squeeze around the levels, devouring any fly in your path!
Alt.Ctrl.GDC Showcase: Pump the Frog!

Yo, Bartender! (Kraken)

Yo Bartender! at the Gotland Game Conference 2017
Yo Bartender! at the Gotland Game Conference 2017

Yo, Bartender! puts you in the shoes of a modern day bartender mixing cocktails in a bustling city. Survive the night rush by mixing and serving as fast as you can while making sure you always have the orders right. For more info, read the interview – Alt.Ctrl.GDC Showcase: Yo, Bartender

Grave Call (Totally Not a Game Studio)
Grave Call is a time-based, asymmetrical multiplayer game based on communication between two players, one is buried alive and one is a police dispatcher. A phone holds clues for the coffin’s location, which has to be identified before the phone battery runs out. Check out their interview – Alt.Ctrl.GDC Showcase: Grave Call

Getting ready to be buried in the Grave Call coffin at the Gotland Game Conference 2017
Getting ready to be buried in the Grave Call coffin at the Gotland Game Conference 2017

Emergency dispatch operator, trying to locate the victim.
Emergency dispatch operator, trying to locate the victim.

De skapar spel med betydelse för Gotland

Our local paper covered the output of our course Product Development for Games (15 ECTS). The article is unfortunately entirely in Swedish, but the course sees game design students take on real-world issues from external stake holders. This year we saw them tackle issues like crisis management, Gotland’s water shortage, job market access for people on the autism spectrum, and so on.

You can read the full article online.

The course is a part of our international Bachelor Programme in Game Design and Project Management. You can apply to the program via universityadmissions.se! The international application deadline is 15th of january, while Swedish applicants have until April 15th.

Dataspel som blir mer Àn underhÄllning

SĂ„ kallade ”seriösa spel” Ă€r nĂ„got som blir allt vanligare. Studenter i speldesign pĂ„ campus Gotland har tagit fram ett spel som ska ge arbetsgivare bĂ€ttre förstĂ„else för personer med funktionsnedsĂ€ttning.

SVT Nyheter 2017-12-15

The course they are talking about is part of our international Bachelor Programme in Game Design and Project Management. Do you want to apply game design to real-world issues? Apply to the program via universityadmissions.se! The international application deadline is 15th of January, while Swedish applicants have until April 15th.