This year’s theme was an audio clip of a heartbeat, which participants were required to incorporate into their game designs.

Around 45 students sectioned off into eight teams to create their own games this weekend as a part of GGJ, Dan Sosnowski, president of Spartasoft said. The teams worked from 5 p.m. Friday until 5 p.m. Sunday, when the groups then had the chance to present their creations to one another.

Sosnowski, a computer science senior, and his team created a game similar to the popular mobile game “Temple Run” called “The Magical and Horrifying Adventures of Squiff.” Squiff, the game’s protagonist, travels through different levels attempting to avoid obstacles such as rocks and fire hydrants.

Players’ fingers must remain on the F and J keys on a computer keyboard while the keyboard keys used to make Squiff jump and duck constantly change as the level continues. The tempo of the heartbeat remains playing in the background and increases as the player makes it farther into the game.

“The heartbeat increases over time, which makes playing the game more nervous and more frustrating in a way,” said Carrie Cole, vice president of Spartasoft, who worked on Sosnowski’s team. “We’re kind of hoping the player’s heartbeat will also increase when they play it.”

Louie Zedan, a computer science sophomore and member of Spartasoft, led his team in creating the game “Transmogrify.” Zedan was inspired by modern fashion and haute couture’s current trend in displaying what he calls a dystopic matriarchal society. He refers to the characters in his game as “tyrants,” and the concept of the game is to display their power struggle.

“The title of the game was supposed to represent the transition of power from one nation to another,” Zedan said.

In “Transmogrify,” players control a character dressed in black who travels through a dark room, trying to find the beating heart. When the player collects the heart without getting hit by one of the “tyrants” dressed in white, the game advances to the next level, Zedan said.

Both Sosnowski and Cole said the event creates much more than just video games. Sosnowski said GGJ helps to build relationships between game developers across campus.

“I’ve participated in GGJ since I was a freshman, and being paired with upperclassmen to learn more and make connections has been helpful,” Sosnowski said. “As long as we keep a strong community of game developers at Michigan State, I just want to help them grow.”

Cole, a graduate student studying telecommunication, information studies and media, said GGJ gave her the chance to explore different ways of designing video games than she is used to.

“This time I really wanted to do 2-D art all in crayons,” Cole said. “It was a doodlefest for the weekend. I never get that opportunity for that elsewhere.”

Cole and her teammates designed the game’s levels by drawing different objects and locations on paper, then scanning the pictures into her computer to use in the game.

MSU students aren’t the only ones participating in this global event. Last year, the GGJ had 242 locations in 47 countries, creating more than 2,000 new games, setting a new Guinness World Record, according to the organization’s website.

Spartasoft has participated in GGJ since the organization and event was established in 2008, Sosnowski said.

“It’s a nice break from the usual class projects you have to do,” Sosnowski said. “It’s nice to just kind of throw ideas out there and see if the idea turns out to be anything good without getting a grade on it.”