62 participants and 14 new games: the highlights of Plarium Game Jam #6

Creating a game in two days without a single developer on the team, hand painting more than 40 3D figures for a board game, and solo-developing a game for the Playdate mini-console: these were just a few of the incredible feats accomplished by the participants of the sixth Plarium Game Jam!

This year, the much-anticipated event had a charitable focus, with the entire prize fund put towards aid for Ukraine.

Plarium Game Jam is a fast-paced game development competition held for employees of Plarium’s Ukraine and Poland studios. Over two days, participants work in teams to develop games based on a theme chosen by their colleagues, and then present their creations to the audience and a jury.

Regardless of if they’ve been directly involved in game development before, the event gives employees an opportunity to try out new roles. They can become a game designer, an artist, or a developer, even if it’s just for a few hours. And that comes against the backdrop of the Jam’s atmosphere of full-on fun, and freedom to create within the theme of the event.

Anyone from across Plarium’s studios can take part in Game Jam, regardless of their experience. Among the participants are both newcomers who have just joined the company, and seasoned jammers who have not missed a single event.

This year's Jam brought together 62 participants who created 14 unique projects, each centered around the topic “Everything is connected”. The teams really took this to heart, as we saw in their games how they connected a variety of worlds, mechanics, devices, and even districts of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.

To that end, one of the games let players try their hand at managing the Kharkiv power grid under conditions of limited electricity supply. Another team came up with an intellectually challenging, motion-based VR game where players had to flip tiles in the correct order to solve the mystery of the Mayan pyramids.

Meanwhile, our solo participant developed a Playdate game where the main task was to turn off unnecessary electrical appliances, and leave on only those which were absolutely necessary – all on a tiny 400*240 pixel monochrome display.

Elsewhere, one of the teams created a board game, proving that great games don’t only come in digital formats. Over the two days, they hand painted over 40 figures that were made with a 3D printer. Here’s a shot of one of the team members in action:

The theme of connection was also reflected in the event's atmosphere, with game presentations and the awards ceremony streamed live online. Plarium colleagues gathered in fan zones at our Lviv and Warsaw offices to watch and cheer for the teams, or tuned in from around the world. In total, a record 500 employees watched the broadcast. Those viewers, together with the jury, chose the winners in the Best Game, Most Original, and Best Visual categories.

We dedicated the entire award fund to the support of Ukraine, with the winning teams receiving cash prizes that the company donated to charitable organizations of their choice. These were: the Markus Foundation, UA House, 12 Guardians, Come Back Alive, and Children of Heroes.

During the broadcast, viewers also took part in a quiz. We converted their correct answers into financial aid for psychological support programs for soldiers run by the Veteran Hub.

All in all, it was a fantastic Jam, and we’re already looking forward to the next one!