India Game Developer Conference (IGDC) Unveils ‘Game Connect’- Empowering Students and Cultivating Talent for India’s Game Development Industry
To spark the creative fire of game development through hands-on, college club level contests, the India Game Developer Conference (IGDC), South Asia’s biggest and most significant developer conference, has announced the launch of Game Connect. This is a smart collaboration between game developers, colleges and students to upskill, trigger interest and build a solid connect between industry and academia.
Any Indian college is eligible to apply, with a list of participants, name, email id, course being pursued and phone number. Student applicants of the concerned institute should attach a faculty member’s contact. Each game jam needs to have a minimum of 10 participating teams. To expand the network and create a culture of game development, IGDC requires every participating college to begin a Gaming Club and share the details.
IGDC will provide winner and participation certificates and the GameJam winners also get free tickets to IGDC 2024 and internship opportunities with leading game studios in the country. To guide registered colleges, IGDC provides access to pre-recorded tutorials on hygiene pointers of how to organise a game jam, and pre- recorded videos on game design and technology. Photos and post-event reports are also to be shared as per the IGDC format. The college will be part of the larger Game Connect discord community to help young minds interact with industry veterans.
Speaking on the initiative, Sridhar Muppidi, Chairman, IGDC had this to say, “The Indian Game industry is at a pivotal moment. We are starting to see exponential growth, however, for the industry to reach its true potential, we need a regular pipeline of talent to come into the industry and we believe that this can be achieved with getting students interested in the art of game development.”
As part of this hugely rewarding deal for students, IGDC will enable participants to explore internships with multiple game developer studios. This is bound to help students explore fantastic careers in the thriving gaming industry.
As part of the GameJam, IGDC gives a problem statement, resources and guidelines and the judging criteria to the college. Scoring will be based on the participating team’s originality of an idea, engaging gameplay and completeness of the app.
The big idea is this: Expose students pursuing multiple educational streams to the avenues of the gaming industry; equip them with the necessary tools to hone their skill sets and make them industry-ready. Designed exclusively for colleges in India, Game Connect is kicking off with a GameJam / hackathon that lets students dive deep and understand game design and development, unleashing their untapped potential.
