goParker

Global Game Jam was back this weekend just passed. This year the theme was Roots. There was a modest turnout, but games were made and fun (and learning) was had.

After a long pandemic hiatus, yesterday saw the return of the Bored? Games! Christmas Bash. Once again collaborating with the student Gaming Society and the Card and Board Game Society. There were mince pies and everything.

It always seems to take a while for me to get around to writing about this event.

Once again Hull teams took to the field in the UK and Ireland Programming Competition. This year we had a bumper crop of teams applying their brains to some fun algorithmic puzzles. The format is classic: each team can have up to 3 members and are given 1 computer and 0 internets to solve up to 12 secret programming puzzles in just 5 hours.

http://ukiepc.info/2022/

On Saturday we hosted a programming and algorithms competition where teams of up to 3 would pit their wits against the 8 programming puzzles and try and solve as many as they could in just 3 hours.

We had teams from across the degree levels, from our first year certificate stage all the way to our masters level.

Last weekend Climax Studios, a game development studio based out of Portsmouth, hosted a game jam in support of the mental health charity Mind. They invited our students to take part and, since we were about due another game jam anyway, we hosted a local jam site in our labs and ordered in some pizza.

This Saturday, just passed, we once again hosted a local site for the UK and Ireland Programming Competition (http://ukiepc.info/2021/).

We had one valiant team enter the fray.

This post is a bit of a two for one.

Firstly, I thought that I would say hi to all the new students joining us this week at the Department of Computer Science and Technology at the University of Hull.

Today I presented a session in our new students induction called “Building Your Brand” which was broadly about how to develop your profile in a way that supplements everything that you are explicitly learning on your degree programme. In preparing for it I came across something that led me to an interesting diversion.

This is a bit of a while coming, mostly down to the need to generate Mobile Devices content each week. Better late than never.

Back in mid October we once again took part in the UK and Ireland Programming Competition. We fielded teams for the first time last year and this year doubled our entries with 4 teams. Each team can have up to 3 members and are given 1 computer and 0 internets to solve up to 12 secret programming puzzles in just 5 hours.

http://ukiepc.info/2019/

Another academic year has whizzed by and it always seems to accelerate to a final sprint in the summer. Subsequently, the new year is upon us and we have just finished Induction (Welcome/Fresher’s) Week for the 2019/2020 intake. The grand finale to the week is the student’s introduction to the Bored? Games! events: The Festival of Daring and Excitement.

Here is a little account of what went on.