Cameron University’s Center for Emerging Technology and Entrepreneurial Studies (CETES)  will be one of the 450 locations for the Global Game Jam; an event that takes place around the world on Jan. 24 to Jan 26.

Kevin Harris, the lead organizer for Lawton’s Global Game Jam alongside Director of CETES Arun Tilak came together through Harris’s wife, an instructor at Cameron, during one of CETES’s Tech Night events held on campus.

According to Harris, the event is to not only help people to network and develop skills, but also a chance for people to create a game and experiment with it and have fun.

“What people do is they gather together and create a game based on a worldwide theme,” Harris said. “The game is meant to be playable and released in that 48 hour time period.”

The games the participants will be able to develop are digital, card and board games.

Harris states that the theme is kept secret until the keynote address is delivered at the beginning of the event. This is to allow participants to try new things and prevent enterprising individuals on working on their game early.

“It’s about getting together, having a lot of constraints and using those constraints to guide your development,” Harris said.

When Harris approached Tilak about the idea of having the event at CETES, Tilak stated he thought it was a great idea as the event promoted the mission of CETES for not only Cameron, but the community of Lawton as well.

According to Harris and Tilak, the Global Game Jam is open to not just Cameron students, but the community of Lawton as well.

“There are lots of people in Lawton who are telecommuting, who have the skill set, but don’t have a platform to network and that is what we are willing to provide,” Tilak said.

Tilak hopes that members of the community will create connections and share ideas with other members. He also hopes that Cameron students that do participate in the event will begin creating networks with those members of the community.

“The function of a university is education, but eventually students will go into society and work,” Tilak said. “With Cameron we are trying to create a link with the community and economic development.”

Harris states that this is the Global Game Jam’s sixth year since its inception in 2009. This is the first year that Oklahoma has participated in the worldwide event. Cameron University’s CETES Center is one of two locations in the state hosting the event.

The games will be available to the community to try out and play on Jan 26., at 3 p.m. During that time all games will also be uploaded on the Global Game Jam website.

Harris states that the collaboration of the CETES center and Tilak was instrumental on having this event work and be brought to the Lawton community.

The Global Game Jam will kickoff Friday, Jan 24., at 5 p.m., at the CETES center. For more information about the event you can contact the CETES Center at 580.581.5447. You can also visit the Global Game Jam website for more information about the event.

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