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Earlier in the Spring 2025 semester, students from ̨��SWAGUniversity’s Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems joined forces with peers from Parsons School of Design for an unforgettable game jam experience themed around scientific phenomena. The two-day event, named “Phenomenal,” was run by Seidenberg’s Game Development program Director Carmine Guida and Brad MacDonald from Parsons. They challenged 24 student developers and designers to create arcade-style games that explored the wonders of science—while also fostering meaningful cross-campus collaboration.

The game jam kicked off on Saturday at Parsons, where students from both schools met for the first time. Icebreakers and introductions laid the groundwork for interdisciplinary collaboration. Students formed small teams of three to four participants, blending talents from both institutions.

“While many of the students at both schools can do code and art, our students mostly focused on coding while the Parsons students focused on design,” said Carmine Guida.

Students made their own art and even music for these projects.

On Sunday, the event moved to ̨��SWAGUniversity’s New York City Campus. As teams dove into development, using the “Phenomenal” theme as inspiration to bring scientific ideas to life through gameplay, the students worked to transform their ideas into creative yet functional, playable games.

“The students really got into the developing of their games and we started to see prototypes emerge,” Guida noted. “By the end of the day, the students had completed games which can be seen on itch.io.” And you can give these games a try yourself at the link below!

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In line with the jam’s arcade-style directive, all projects were designed to be playable on a custom arcade machine located in the Design Factory space on the ninth floor of 15 Beekman. Some of the completed games are already featured on the machine—and can be played by anyone who wants to try them out!

What made “Phenomenal” particularly special was not just the quality of the work produced, but the spirit of collaboration it cultivated. According to Dr. Guida, the event surpassed all expectations. “This event was even better than expected!” he said.

Everyone worked so well together. They were great at dividing up the work and everyone was constantly working and doing things.

Perhaps even more exciting is what’s coming next. “These kids are staying in touch with each other and want to do more collaborations,” Guida added.

Events like “Phenomenal” show how powerful experiential learning can be when paired with curiosity, creativity, and community. By stepping out of their comfort zones and collaborating across disciplines, students didn’t just build games—they built lasting connections and new ways of thinking. And for many of them, this jam was just the beginning.