As part of the ??? Game Jam students in the Game and Media Entertainment Developers (GAMED) organization were challenged to create a game in up to 48 hours under an unknown theme. Participating students learned their theme by finding a note under their chair. Students also had the opportunity to participate remotely, they were sent their theme through a Discord server.
The challenge showed off students’ creativity and development skills through the games they created. According to the itch.io game jam page, a total of six games were submitted. These consisted of various themes based on the student’s assignments.
Brian Michael, the president of GAMED, created “Turncoats,” a card game that involves choosing a suit, choosing cards to attack and trying to survive to win.
Other creative games that were submitted to this game jam include: “Out of the Blue” by Cameron Aron, “48 Hours in Andersen 1230” by Manachanamus and drews128, “Scope Cobra” by BrandonMW11, “CruciFiction (Mari0 Ae Mappack)” by TheCrushedJoyconITCH and “Wisdom by the Fire” by TheWander.
The GAMED organization later playtested the games that were submitted for the game jam. Two standout games included “Turncoats” and “48 Hours in Andersen 1230.”
Turncoats, as described by its creator Michael, is “essentially a card game where you try to get the most amount of cards on your side and battle out the enemy cards.”
“It was not perfect, but, you know, in a game jam you only have 48 hours to make a game, so you can’t expect perfection out of that,” Michael said.
“48 Hours in Andersen 1230” is also a well-known and attractive game. According to one of its creators Drew Schneider, “one of the interesting things that we did with the game is that we used actual recording, like recorded video and then put it into the game so that it’s sort of when you move around and stuff it actually like plays a video and it looks like real life.”
This event is just one of the things that GAMED has done throughout the semester. GAMED had a semester of immersement into game development, showcasing creativity, collaboration and growth. Throughout the spring 2025 semester, the GAMED student organization took part in a total of three game jams, including the Software Hackathon in the McGraw Hall auditorium back in March. They also collaborated with developers from Bradley University in February for the Crossplay Game Jam. Moreover, they have been learning about experiences from professional game developers and UW-Whitewater alumni about their experiences in the game development industry, as well as showcasing their game development ideas and projects.
Students have been gaining new, invaluable insights into the game development industry through various workshops and events hosted by professionals.
