“How many here are students?”

That was one of the first questions asked at this year’s Global Game Jam held at Ateneo De Manila University. On the 29th to 31st of January this year, a collective of game developers from across the world organized a series of local gaming meets to mentor a new generation of game developers. At the Ateneo Game Jam, out of the 150-or so attendees, around 70 percent or so of them raised their hands – students.

THE JAM BEGINS. Karlo Licudine speaks at Day 1 of The Global Game Jam at Ateneo De Manila University. (Photo credit to IDGA Manila.)

The response surprised many, especially the person who asked it: IGDA (Independent Game Developers Association) head Karlo Licudine.

“We’ve been running Global Game Jam (GGJ) for a while, and it’s the first time we’ve had this many participants – so much, that even though people were still asking for tickets, we had to cut off the number of attendees per site.” he said. “Usually those who come and participate are professional studios or developers.”

Global Game Jam is a yearly event held for aspiring game developers. After signing up and registering as solo or part of a team, participants have 48 hours to conceptualize, execute, and present a game. Usually following a prompt or theme, game designers from all areas of game creation huddle together and work to beat the clock and come out with a product.

GAME DEVELOPER AT WORK, DO NOT DISTURB. People from all kinds of video game development gathered to create their game – programmers, writers, and artists. (Photo credit to IGDA Manila.)

The Philippines has been participating in the jam for about five years and has experienced a significant boost in participants due to renewed interest in game development in recent years. This year’s sites were up to eight from the previous two, an increase necessary to accommodate the growing number of people. The jams this year were held at:

• Ingenuity Davao (Davao Del Sur)
• UIC-ICTDIF (Davao City)
• GGJ for Boardgames, Ludo Boardgame Bar and Bistro (Makati)
• North Luzon GGJ, ICTNT Atrium Bar and Cafe (Tarlac)
• Ateneo De Naga (Camarines Sur)
• North Luzon GGJ, (Nueva Ecjia)
• Microsoft Philippines (Makati)
• Manila Game Jam (Ateneo De Manila University)

The Start Of Game Development Courses

Being an internet-cafe driven country, the sight of students playing online or video games is no strange sight to the public. Boasting an impressive number of dedicated fans of MOBAs — Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (like Dota 2 and League of Legends) alone, the Philippines has a considerable player-base of people who play games of all kinds. Despite this, game development here was historically slow.

Emphasis on “was.”

In 2014, the Commission on Higher Education released CMO 02, otherwise known as the “Policies, Standards, and Guidelines for Bachelor of Science in Entertainment and Media Computing”, establishing the field of BS E-MC. Created primarily to provide colleges with a concrete education track that would increase student expertise in entertainment and digital media creation, BS E-MC would eventually lay the foundations for the schools that offer Game Development as part of their curriculum today.

TRAILBLAZERS. The College of Saint Benilde has led the field in video game development in the Philippines. (Photo credit to CSB.)

Foremost among these is the College of Saint Benilde, which offered Bachelor of Science in Information Technology (BS-IT) with Specialization in Game Design and Development in early 2009. It marked the first 4-year college course in the country that was made specifically to address the growing demands of game creation in both global and local scenes. Other schools soon followed suit. Here are other schools in the Philippines offering Game Development Courses:

• The UP Information Technology Center: Game Design and Development Track
• iACADEMY (Ayala Avenue, Makati):  BS-Game Development Program with Specialization in Game Programming and Design
• Far Eastern University -East Asia: BS-Information Technology with specialization in Animation and Game Development.
• Cosmopoint International Institute of Technology: Digital Animation and Game Development

Global Game Jam 2016

Karlo Licudine expects more people to come in during the next years of Global Game Jams. While the mainstays still enter year after year (for example, several people from established game development houses like Secret Six and  Synergy 88 were present), it’s not too unrealistic to imagine more and more students taking the lead in the field of game development.

“We have not made a final tally yet, but there were a total number of a 150 sign-ups in the Ateneo site alone,” he says. “That’s around 130 or so participants and around 34 games.”

With the theme being “Ritual” for 2016 (and last year’s being “What do we do now?”) gamers and game developers gathered for the weekend. A busy weekend couldn’t be a better description: after the theme revelation, brainstorming, conceptualization, coding and uploading, the same number of participants left the site exhilarated, exhausted, and exalted.

A SHORT BREAK. Game jammers rest and recover between sessions, a sight commonly seen for the three day event. (Photo credit to IGDA Manila.)

In total, the weekend managed to produce 34 games in total from the Ateneo site. A good number of them created by students who had sacrificed what would’ve been a weekend’s worth of rest, catching up with friends and schoolwork, to join an event that hailed the creation of one of the marvels of the 21st century: videogames.

Game Development Is No Longer Just For The Established Game Developer

Unlike the past decade, game development in the Philippines is no longer limited to those who have chosen it as a profession. Options were both limited and expensive to maintain back then: most people who have grown up to become game developers started out from engineering, information technology;courses that never focused as much on the game development track as the specialized courses did.

But suddenly, with the directive of CMO 02, gamers now had an avenue to study and develop the skills that they would apply to the games they loved to play and the network started to grow.

GAMERS AND DEVELOPERS TRIUMPHANT. After three days of game development, Ateneo site’s Global Game Jammers leave in high spirits – for both themselves and the future and game development. (Photo credit to IGDA Manila.)

Events such as ESGS, gatherings such as the Global Game Jams and organizations like IGDA and Game Developer’s Association of the Philippines could finally let our own game developers flourish.

READ: ESGS Coverage 2015

Suddenly, the gamers of one country could finally make something instead of consuming them, allowing their artistic and technical skills to come to light. In a growing market such as the gaming industry, that’s something sorely needed.

Game creation, as well as gaming itself, is one of the most boundless and and innovative fields that we have come up with in the past century. From consoles to PCs, more and more people are playing games, and there is a demand for better and more quality. People such as students and events like the Global Game Jam not only give Philippines a better chance of standing with game development giants, but also to leave their mark on the world.

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