Another MADJAM video game making event has happened and this time we’ve taken first place with the game MindSwap! This MADJAM event was sponsored by http://unity3d.com/ and the theme was “A meeting of minds.”

The game features two mice who have to work together to solve a series of puzzles. The game is played with two players who have to work together when the mice’s minds swap. The swap changes the controls and the players frantrically try to coordinate moves through the puzzles.

Play the game online from the offical MADJAM website.

http://madjam.ca/game/26 The site no longer exists.

The blistering cold of Alberta’s winter is finally making itself known, thus heralding the end of a fantastic year of game development for Edmonton.

On December 5th, we hosted the final MADJAM event of 2015, giving our participants a chance to celebrate their achievements and reflect on the major changes we’ve witnessed in Edmonton’s video game industry over the past year. During the closing ceremony at Startup Edmonton, we crowned the top three MADJAM point earners and therefore winners of the year-long event. It was a tight race right until the very end: only five points separated our fourth and third place participants.

Third place was awarded to Dominic Sabatier, a curly-haired game design student from Edmonton Digital Arts College and a generally hip dude. He will receive a year-long Toon Boom Harmony Advanced Licence, three months towards a Startup Edmonton Shared Membership, a Houdini Indie Licence, and a publishing opportunity with MADSOFT Games. You can check out Dominic’s MADJAM profile including all his MADJAM games here.

Second place was awarded to Mathew Hale, an occasionally bearded former University of Alberta student and rebel without a ’t’. He will receive a year-long Toon Boom Harmony Advanced Licence, six months towards a Startup Edmonton Shared Membership, a Houdini Indie Licence, and a publishing opportunity with MADSOFT Games. You can check out Mathew’s MADJAM profile including all his MADJAM games here.

First place was awarded to Walter Gordy, a very smiley programmer-turned-game-developer who happens to be surprisingly likeable for an American. He will receive a Unity 5 Pro Licence, a year long Toon Boom Harmony Premium Licence, one year towards a Startup Edmonton Dedicated Membership, a Houdini Indie Licence, and a publishing opportunity with MADSOFT Games. You can check out Walter’s MADJAM profile including all his MADJAM games here.

After the prizes were given out and many pictures were taken, we had a chance to relax and play some of the latest builds of this year’s MADJAM games while enjoying a slice of pizza, courtesy of the director of MADSOFT Games, Andrew-David Jahchan. It was lovely getting a chance to chat with everyone about their games and their hopes for the future of Edmonton’s game development scene.

To be perfectly honest, when we moved to Edmonton from Montréal back in 2013, we never could have imagined how strong how resilient this community would become. We created the MADJAM game jams as a means to grow game development in the region, to bring eyes to Edmonton’s talent. And if you’ll allow us to be cocky for a moment, we think we’ve done just that. Over the four MADJAM game jams of 2015, we saw 151 participants come out to create 38 innovative, weird, and wonderful games. Some of those games are currently still in development, such as Little Hellions and No One Was Here. We hosted 16 speakers and gave away over $25000 in prizes to our participants. We also displayed MADJAM games at six local events over 2015 including EEK! Fest, GDX, Animethon, K-Days, TWOSE’s Dark Matters, and EDAC’s Evolving Fall.

We would have never been able to do any of this without the support from our wonderful sponsors. To Unity, Houdini FX, Microsoft Canada, Toon Boom, GitHub, Startup Edmonton, Northlands, and Edmonton Digital Arts College (EDAC), we offer our sincerest thanks. You are truly making a difference here in Edmonton.

We also want to acknowledge our fantastic partners at the Game Discovery Exhibition (GDX) and Extra Life Edmonton. You helped showcase the talented MADJAM participants and their games, and unfailingly spread the word for each of our events. Your support has been stupendous and we can’t wait to work with you again next year.