Video-game developers ready to jam

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

Youngstown Game Developers’ annual Game Jam – in which teams lock themselves inside the McDonough Museum for a weekend in order to create a video game prototype – will be March 31 to April 2.

The event is free and includes meals, but the deadline to register is March 24. Go to youngstowngamedevelopers.com to register and to see a list of things to take.

Although Game Jam is noncompetitive and no winner is declared, contestants will be eligible to win prizes that are useful to game developers.

The event begins at 6 p.m. March 31, with registration and a check-in dinner. Teams will be declared at noon Saturday. It is not necessary to form a team in advance; participants can form or join a group after they arrive.

The jammers can come as a group or join or make a group once the keynote is over and the theme is announced.

Forty people took part in last year’s inaugural Game Jam, and event organizer Kendra Corpier is expecting 50 — which is the maximum amount the museum can handle – this year.

The McDonough Museum is on Wick Avenue, on the campus of Youngstown State University. Due to the ongoing reconstruction of Wick Avenue, event-goers should park in the Wick Avenue deck, which is accessible from Walnut Street, near the MVR Restaurant.