After its tremendous success last year, Jamchester – the UK’s biggest ever professional game jam – has announced its grand return to thestudiomanchester later this month. 2016’s event saw over 200 game-buffs descend on the venue for 40 hours of game-creating. This year, the organisers are hoping to attract even more professional game developers, independent studios, and student teams, in hopes of creating more than 40 top quality games.
Taking place on 23-25 June, thestudiomanchester will open its doors once more to welcome indie developers and gaming fanatics in the hope for it to be bigger and better than last year. Last year’s Jamchester created quite a buzz within the games media, with Alphr featuring the gaming jam, as well TheLADbible, the home of entertainment and viral video. Some of the games developed last year went on to receive some great recognition: for example, “Trump: The Bricktator” was released on mobile by Silo Black Games and fellow competitor “Best In Show” by Torque Studios attracted over 1.5 million views on YouTube.
Jamchester provides the chance for participants to network with other gaming fanatics, learn new skills and most importantly, test the boundaries of modern-day game-coding while having fun! Julian Kettleborough, Commercial Director at thestudio, is looking forward to welcoming Jamchester back, saying:
“The event is like no other and is a pioneer in the game development industry. Here at thestudio we pride ourselves on standing out from the crowd and being at the forefront of innovation, so I can’t think of a better event to showcase that than Jamchester. Manchester has been named as a contender for the UK’s games development capital, and with that we’re proud to sponsor the event that helps put the city on the map for just that! The whole team and I hope that this year is even more successful than last and we can’t wait to try our hand at some of the games that emerge from it!”
This year also continues with its special philanthropic twist, as Jamchester has teamed up with charity partner from last year, Special Effect. This collaboration will once again see all the proceeds from ticket sales going towards supporting gamers with disabilities.
Chair of Gameopolis, Simon Smith who has worked in the gaming industry for 15 years said this in the lead up to Jamchester:
‘’After a sold-out first year with over 200 attendees, we’re excited to continue Jamchester in 2017! We had some awesome feedback from the professional gaming developers who attended and we look forward to welcoming even more to Manchester this summer!”
For more information about the event and to snap up your ticket, head to www.Jamchester.org.uk, and to find out more about what else thestudio has in store, go to their website at http://studiovenues.co.uk/.