Ukie’s annual nationwide student game jam kicks off today with 14 teams and mentors competing for the student trophy and Mentor of the Universe award, making it Ukie’s biggest game jam yet.

The jam, which is sponsored by NextGen Skills Academy and Square Enix’s Collective, sees teams from seven institutes from the Student Membership network pairing up with industry mentors and creating a game within 36 hours around a theme, which will be revealed just before the jam begins.

Dr Jo Twist, CEO of Ukie said “Our Student Membership scheme has grown significantly in the last year and it has been really great to see how much it is helping inspire and support our industry’s future superstars. We are so excited to be partnering with NextGen Skills Academy and Square Enix collective for our biggest jam ever. The opportunity to work with industry professionals and start building a network whilst in education is invaluable for our students. We are committed to improving the skills pipeline from 8 to 80 and now that we have tax breaks for the industry, it is important to nourish our growing sector. Good luck to all the teams competing.”

Gina Jackson, Managing Director of Next Gen Skills academy said “We’re really excited to be a sponsor of this year’s Ukie Student Game Jam. Developing the next generation of digital creators and preparing them for the workplace is at the very heart of NextGen Skills Academy’s ethos. We’re huge supports of the opportunity game jams give students to start turning creative ideas into physical products, turning imaginations into real-life skills.”

“I’m really proud that Square Enix Collective is supporting the Ukie Student Game Jam once again,” said Phil Elliott, creator and project lead for Square Enix’s ‘Collective’ platform. “These events are fantastic for encouraging the teams to go through the whole process of creation – and experience first-hand some of the challenges of commercial game development.”
The winning game jam teams game will be an exclusive pitch on the front page of Square Enix’s new project “Collective”, get six months free membership to Ukie if they go on to establish a studio and more unannounced prizes.

The results of the game jam will be revealed on Thursday 14^th May.

Teams from the following Ukie student institutes will be competing in the jam:

• Brunel University London
• Goldsmiths, University of London
• London South Bank University
• The National Film and Television School
• North West Kent College
• Norwich University of the Arts
• Staffordshire University