Student Innovations at Game Jam Scores Multiple Wins

Erin Graham

Team Collection of Individuals, made up of game design and development students Andrew Jameison, Carl Browning, and Ryce Hazard, won second place with their text game Connected’In, a comedic take on the drudgery of LinkedIn and job applications. “The current job market is pretty brutal,” the developer post reads. “Connected’In is meant to satirize [LinkedIn] posts, and the atmosphere that has created them.” Players are tasked with a mad-libs style gameplay, churning out buzzwords in posts to garner as many followers as possible.

Nexus.GG awarded Team Hook Hand Car Man Fan Club with the Nexus Award, which recognizes the best project that features a strong connection or theme related to influencers. The team’s game, Scare Parts, was developed by both game design and cybersecurity students Josephine Caradonna, Dylan Clauson, Ariel Cthwe, Pilot DesLauriers, Gator Flack, Kai Gidwani, Katie Hellmann, McKenzie Lam, and Leah Torregiano. Scare Parts’ premise is “inspired by a 4chan Tumblr repost story, where the original author wrote a horror short story,” the developers log reads. Gameplay involves two roles–Driver and Support–and both must trust each other to escape through the woods from the cursed Hook Hand Car Man.

Fourth year new media and interactive development student Nick Will took home the Oakley Award, which “recognizes a Wolfjam participant who embodies the spirit of community and fosters a positive atmosphere.” As for honorable mentions, the game jam sponsor, Wolfjaw Studios, rewarded RIT teams five out of the eight prizes, bringing home an RIT sweep!