When a group of first-year students from NSCC Truro Campus enrolled in the Nova Scotia Global Game Jam competition in Halifax, they didn't expect to win one of the event's most coveted awards. The annual event, organized by Dr. Rina R. Wehbe, HCI4Good, and Shift Key Labs, took place in January 2024. It invited post-secondary students and recent graduates in game development to come together and create innovative and entertaining games within 48 hours. This year, four students from NSCC Truro Campus William, Koal, and Ryan, all first-year Game Programming students, along with Aidan, a first year Game and Interactive Art student brought their skills together to create a now award-winning game called Troubleshoot'.
Leading up to the event, the students knew they wanted to take part. "The whole point of the event is to have fun, make a game and see what comes of it. If you fail, you learn from it, but if you do well and get a game out of it - that's great," says William. "It's not solely a competition - it's a way to bring people together in the industry," adds Ryan.
The theme of this year's event was "make us laugh, "inspiring the team to create a game with humour centered around universal computer jokes and common error messages. "The name of the game is Troubleshoot' because the concept behind the game is you are eliminating error messages. It's essentially the function of debugging, which is something that all programmers do and it's typically a frustrating and long process. Since creating the game, people often tell us We wish debugging was this fun,'" says Koal. But the game isn't just fun for programmers. "We included errors that not only computer programmers face - but ones that everybody knows - like a blue screen, for example," explains Aidan.
Each member had a specific role in the development process, ensuring that every aspect of the creation of "Troubleshoot" was covered. "We communicated really well and once we decided what we were going to do, we were all on the same page," says Koal.
Aidan Kinnaird, Koal Casler and Ryan LeBlanc accepting their Ubisoft Choice Award. Missing from the photo: William Boudreau.
"Troubleshoot" was reviewed by judges and the students were named the recipients of the Ubisoft Choice Award for the Most Well-Rounded and Best Executed Game, a testament to their skill and creativity. "It was the first award they announced, and they said, This game was voted in every category, and it deserves to win at least one award,' recalls Ryan. "It's one of the biggest awards you can win - when they announced our game, we were shocked," he adds.
The event not only provided a creative outlet for the students to showcase their talents and grow their skill, but also served as a space to network and build confidence. "It was an opportunity to get our names out there so anything more than that, we would all be happy," says Ryan. "Taking part was a huge confidence boost for all of us."
The team is now exploring avenues to further promote Troubleshoot, including the possibility of publishing it on Steam for free to increase their visibility and reach a wider audience. Those interested in playing Troubleshoot can download it for free.
As they reflect on their success, the team is already looking forward to participating in next year's Global Game Jam, eager to tackle new challenges and create more memorable experiences in game development.
