UK’s biggest professional game jam headed to Manchester

Manchester is to play host to the UK’s largest professional game jam to date this May.

Jamchester will be held at The Studio from May 20th to 22nd, with over 200 developers piling in to make a title from scratch across the three days.

The event, which claims to be the first of its kind, will be co-hosted by local organisations Gameopolis and HackManchester, which have held 24-hour jams over the last five years.

Teams of up to four will be invited to compete, with an overarching theme to be revealed at the start of the competition. Students teams will also be taking part.

Prizes handed out at the culmination of the jam will include awards for Best Game, Best Audio, Best Graphics, Best Gameplay, Best Tech Achievement, Innovation Award, Best Company Game and Best Student Game.

Among those judging devs’ efforts will be PlayStation VR’s Gary Napper, Creative Assembly’s Catherine Wooley, Microsoft’s Lee Stott, PlayStation’s Claire Blackshaw and local dev Alex Rose.

“We’ve created Jamchester to have fun and to showcase Greater Manchester on the national stage as a great place to make games,” said Gameopolis chair Simon Smith.

“In the past year alone our local game jams have produced Titan Souls, Sublevel Zero, Unbox and Super Rude Bear Resurrection, with more on the way. We welcome everyone to come along and be inspired by the creative spirit of our fantastic city.”

The event will also be supporting Special Effect by donating all ticket proceeds to the charity.