In collaboration with the Computer Science, Engineering, and Advanced Technology department, the Student Success Center will be hosting Sindri’s Game Forge, a two-week-long game development competition for students.

Registration opens on Monday, Sept. 30, and the kick-off event will be held on Monday, Oct 7. The game jam is open to both individuals and teams of up to three participants, and offers a separate category for AI-assisted projects.

Competitors will have two weeks to develop an indie game using the Python programming language. The game will need to conform to three constraints revealed at the kick-off event. These constraints include a theme, a name that must be used for a character or significant game element, and a set of colors that must be used in the game’s design.

The games must be developed from scratch and the use of game engines is not permitted.

The development period will end on Oct. 21, and participants will need to submit their code and an accompanying report. The week following will be dedicated to code review and final preparations, concluding with the closing ceremony.

The masterminds behind Sindri’s Game Forge are Student Success Center’s Herminio Ibanez and the CSEAT Department’s Dorothy Pallotti.

The idea was first devised over the summer by Ibanez while trying to think of ways to foster greater engagement among students.

“I thought about what would be a fun way to engage computer science students and bring more attention to the classes and services we offer,” said Ibanez. He was inspired by one of his own hobbies: video games. “I love video games, so any chance to put that into an activity, I’m all for that.”

Ibanez approached Pallotti with the idea, who jumped on the proposal. “I really like doing different things. I like helping do events… When he brought me this, I said yes! Let’s do this!”

Sticking with the Viking theme of Del Mar College, Ibanez and Pallotti named the game jam after Sindri, one of the two dwarfs from Norse mythology that forged Thor’s hammer.

According to Ibanez and Pallotti, Sindri’s Game Forge will be the first of its kind at Del Mar College.

“This will be fun, this will be something unique to us, and show off the Del Mar College students’ skills,” Ibanez stated about the project.

For more information, contact Herminio Ibanez at hibanez@delmar.edu.