SwkGDC 3.0 meet in Kuching showcases best local game developers

KUCHING (Aug 20): The Sarawak Game Developer’s Community (SwkGDC) had just concluded its third annual ‘SwkGDC Game Jam’ at Tegas Digital Village here.

The three-day programme included technical workshops covering topics like ‘Game Design’, ‘Arts For Games’, and ‘Unity and Unreal Engine Development’, said Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) in a statement yesterday.

The main event was a ‘hackathon’, where 49 participants were split into teams tasked with developing digital video game prototypes in less than 48 hours.

This year’s ‘Game Jam’ was supported by Tegas Digital Village, SDEC, Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC), Microsoft Xbox and GamesHQ Malaysia.

Themed ‘Motion’, it involved participants seeking help and guidance from a roster of industry mentors hailing from across Malaysia.

The participating studios included Moredoor Interactive, Kloena Digital, Rez Studios, Twilight Foundry Games, and Metronomik.

On the final day, presentations and ‘play-testing’ sessions were open for the public to attend.

Eleven teams presented their prototypes to a public crowd and also panel of judges, who ranked each game and picked three winning teams.

The panel of six judges comprised representatives of Tegas Digital Village, SDEC, Microsoft Xbox, two ‘Game Jam’ mentors and a local developer, Nerdook Productions.

The three winning games are ‘Chicken Express’ by BeeBeeBoopBoop, ‘Lightspeed’ by KentangSoft, and ‘Specter Sight’ by The Holiday.

The winning teams will have the opportunity to showcase at the ‘Level Up Play’ hosted by MDEC, to be running this Sept 13 to 15 at Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.

Additionally, SDEC would also be covering the teams’ travel and accommodation costs, as well as sponsoring free conference passes to Level Up KL, taking place from Oct 1 to 3.

This year’s ‘Game Jam’ listed more than 70 registrations, including those from students, game enthusiasts, and working professionals from all over Malaysia.

Before ending the three-day programme with a play-testing session, participants and attendees were treated to a sharing session by Jun Shen Chia from the Xbox Global Expansion team for Southeast Asia, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.

Reflecting on the event, Jun hailed the event as ‘an incredible experience’ for Xbox to participate in, as he had the opportunity to meet passionate and talented students and early-in-career developers.

“Xbox is highly supportive of events such as these, as it aligns very well with our mission to empower and elevate developers that want to share their creativity with the world.

“I was impressed by the support from institutions like Tegas and SDEC, and have no doubt that the Sarawak game development ecosystem will thrive thanks to such close collaboration between community leaders like CtrlD Studio, and the local government agencies.

“I can’t wait to see where SarawakGDC and the game developer community in Sarawak go next,” said Jun.

All prototypes submitted to the SwkGDC Game Jam can be played for free via https://itch.io/jam/swkgdc-game-jam-2024/entries.