Winners of Ukie and Sharkomb’s Collaboration Game Jam visit Sharkmob’s new offices in London

Winners of Ukie and Sharkmob’s 2021 Collaboration Game Jam made their prize trip to Sharkmob’s new offices in London for their bespoke developer experience this April, after delays due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The talented team of students, Teeth For Hair, won the Game Jam back in 2021 with a fun stylised take on the collaboration theme with their two player platformer puzzle game; Ogre Time. Teeth for Hair’s four members included Dragos Moldovanu-Tonita (Programming), Greta Nedelcu (Art & Animation), Dragos Damian (Level Design & Sound) and Emily Perry (Programming) who are students from Staffordshire University in the UK and the National University of Theatre and Film "I.L. Caragiale’’ in Romania. The team was mentored in the project by Andreea Mitea, Game Designer at Sharkmob.

Ukie’s bi-annual student game jam, draws from a pool of 4,000 students from 40 different institutions across the UK. There is usually 80+ teams comprising of 380+ students creating games across the UK, but in 2021, each student team will be a mix of students from different countries; which was a first for the Student Game Jam. Working as a team remotely from different countries means teams will need to understand how to successfully collaborate with one another.

The prize for the four winners was a three day trip to London that included a special bespoke developer experience tour of Sharkmob’s new London office, located at 80 Strand in the heart of the city where each student had the chance to shadow their own Sharkmob mentor and gain insight into the game development process. They also got to take part in a series of sessions held by the Art, Design, Technical and Narrative teams at the studio, where they were given an introductory presentation to each department on processes and studio activities and given the chance to playtest Sharkmob’s game builds and give their feedback. The Sharkmob recruitment team also held a CV and interview skills session workshop and there were plenty of opportunities for the students to chat and network with Sharkmob team members from across the studio’s different departments. In the evenings, the students got the chance to explore the city and check out activities at this year’s London Games Festival.

Emily Perry, student at Staffordshire University studying a Bsc in Computer Games Development said: “I really enjoyed the trip! It was nice being able to see how a studio works in practice, as I’ve never had the opportunity before, and it really opened my eyes as to how things work in industry. I particularly enjoyed the playtest - not only was it fun, but it gave me an idea of what an in-production game might look like. I think it’s really interesting to be able to see what a team of people can do when putting their heads together. It was great making more connections in the industry and talk to some of the different teams about their jobs and what they do and learn more about their actual roles. I’m really happy with everything I learned over the trip!”

Dragos Moldovanu-Tonita, student at I.L. Caragiale University of Theatre and Film studying a master degree in Art of Game Design said: [/b"I had a great time on the trip, I found it both relaxing and exciting, not only as a tourist visiting a foreign country, but also due to the fact I got to meet and spend time with many wonderful people in London. My favorite part had to be the playtest of the new title that was still in development and especially the feedback session that followed. I especially enjoyed the back-and-forth discussion with industry professionals, who created a great friendly atmosphere. The most useful aspect was seeing the office environment in the gaming industry. I have had discussions with experienced people in the industry before, but this was the first time we got to see these people in their natural habitat, among their colleagues, using the tools they love and experiencing the atmosphere that they actually work in on a daily basis. I was already planning on joining the gaming industry before this trip, but seeing this kind of work environment made me that much more excited about it"

James Dobrowski, Managing Director, Sharkmob London said:[b] “International cooperation is often a key part of making games - especially AAA ones, and we really hope that the Teeth for Hair team got a flavour of that during the Game Jam itself and on their trip to visit us this April at our new London studio. It was wonderful to have them here and we hope they go on to join the games industry after their studies.”

About Sharkmob

Sharkmob was founded in 2017 and has offices in Malmö, Sweden, and London, UK. The studio develops AAA quality games for PC and console, using the Unreal Engine to power its ambitions of taking multiplayer games to new heights. Sharkmob is working on three major projects: Bloodhunt - a battle royale set in the Vampire: The Masquerade universe currently in Early Access on Steam; and two proprietary, unannounced projects.