{"id":2367,"date":"2010-02-19T08:28:21","date_gmt":"2010-02-19T15:28:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2367"},"modified":"2013-07-31T11:23:52","modified_gmt":"2013-07-31T15:23:52","slug":"all-games-and-no-sleep-help-tcnj-students-win-big","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/?p=2367","title":{"rendered":"All Games and No Sleep Help TCNJ Students Win Big"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure style=\"width: 350px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment wp-att-2369 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/p15teamyellowpic.jpg\" alt=\"tcnj team yellow\" width=\"350\" height=\"262\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Winners of the \u201cBest Use of Contest Theme\u201d prize at last fall\u2019s Philly Game Jam (L\u2013R): Jeff Rupert \u201909, Steve Testen (Drexel), Brian Bagdzinski \u201910, Samantha McLaughlin \u201909, Mike Testen \u201909, and Akash Barot (Penn).<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>What\u2019s the recipe for creating an award-winning video game? Mix four TCNJ students and alumni, the color yellow, and a generous amount of caffeinated soda, then let the ingredients stew for approximately 48 hours.<\/p>\n<p>This recipe for success helped<strong> Brian Bagdzinski \u201910<\/strong>, <strong>Mike Testen \u201909<\/strong>, <strong>Jeff Rupert \u201909<\/strong>, and <strong>Samantha McLaughlin \u201909<\/strong>, members of the team \u201cTCNJ Yellow,\u201d capture one of two major prizes at last fall\u2019s Philly Game Jam. The event was a game-development contest held in conjunction with the GameX Industry Summit in Phoenixville, PA.<\/p>\n<p>During the competition, teams of programmers and designers were challenged to create an original computer game in under 48 hours. Team TCNJ Yellow (which included two non-TCNJ members) called its creation Yellow. The game greets players with a screen covered in bare tree roots and branches. Players have to move along the trees and, using a glowing source of light, cause leaves and flowers to sprout. Players must collect enough red, yellow, and green light along the way to grow all of the plant-life in each level; however, obstacles along the way steal color from the player, adding to the challenge. The experience is reminiscent of both gardening and painting.<\/p>\n<p>TCNJ Yellow\u2019s concept for the game was inspired by the contest\u2019s theme, which was a quote from author James Michener: \u201cAn age is called \u2018dark,\u2019 not because the light fails to shine but because people refuse to see it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ten teams competed in the Philly Game Jam, and prizes were awarded for Most Innovative Game and Best Adherence to Contest Theme. TCNJ Yellow won for the latter, collecting a prize package valued at $9,000.<\/p>\n<p>In total, 22 students and alumni from the College took part in the Philly Game Jam. Making up the other two teams\u2014TCNJ Red and TCNJ Blue\u2014were seniors <strong>Anna Redding, Matt DiMatteo, Bryan Mayer, Walter Crestfield, Richard DeFrancisco, Anthony Vasta, Crystal Kan, <\/strong>and<strong> Vin St. John<\/strong>; juniors<strong> Chris Hallberg<\/strong> and <strong>Javas Shankar<\/strong>; sophomores <strong>Justin Dilks<\/strong>, <strong>Emily Calfo, Andrew Lohmann, Nate Chmielinski,<\/strong> and <strong>Richard Gebbia<\/strong>; freshmen <strong>Mike Murphy<\/strong> and <strong>Aaryn Trader<\/strong>; and <strong>Scott Kieffer \u201909<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cParticipating in the Philly Game Jam was a great experience,\u201d said St. John, a senior computer science major. \u201cThe experience was about cooperating with a diverse team and working to accomplish goals on a deadline and with limited resources. That requires communication, collaboration, and a willingness to learn.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What\u2019s the recipe for creating an award-winning video game? Mix four TCNJ students and alumni, the color yellow, and a generous amount of caffeinated soda, then let the ingredients stew for approximately 48 hours. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":2369,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2367","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-march-2010","category-on-campus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2367"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2367\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2367"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2367"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tcnjmagazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2367"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}