We catch up with graduates from the National Film and Television School one year on from winning the Ukie Student Game Jam 2024.

Every year, the Ukie Student Game Jam brings students together for a fun and fast-paced challenge, encouraging creativity, collaboration, and innovative thinking. The 2024 theme of ‘integrity’ inspired a range of exciting games, including Taketh, Giveth - the winning entry from a talented team of students from the National Film and Television School (NFTS).

In this interview, we catch up with winners Ilena, Chester and Carrie to hear about their Ukie Student Game Jam experience, from rapid-fire brainstorming sessions to navigating last-minute submission drama. They share what it was like working with their industry mentor, the thrill of showcasing their game, and how the Game Jam has opened doors for their future careers.

How did you form your team for the Game Jam? Had you worked together before?

Ilena: Both are friends, so it was easy to ask to collaborate with them. I had worked with Carrie and Chester on previous projects and was impressed with their work.
Carrie: I was already friends with them both and had a great time working with Ilena before, so when they asked me, I was keen to take part!
Chester: I've worked with Ilena before in another game jam, but this is the first time I collaborated with Carrie. Since we were all students from NFTS, we were already friends.

“Our foremost objective was to have fun while making the game”

The theme for the 2024 Game Jam was ‘integrity’. How did you explore ideas for this prompt, and how quickly did you land on the concept for Taketh, Giveth?

Ilena: We kept it short and sweet. We spent about half an hour brainstorming.
Carrie: We spent some time deciding whether we wanted to focus on the mechanical definition of ‘integrity’ or the idea of ‘moral integrity’.
Chester: We tried to keep the brainstorming as short as possible and just run with the idea we liked best after suggesting only 2 or 3. When I think of game ideas I like to think about gameplay and mechanics first and that's the same for Taketh, Giveth. The mechanic of how the player moves was suggested and we just went from there.
Carrie: Ilena and Chester had the great idea to use a rotatable spaceship with thrusters as the core mechanic of the game. The ‘integrity’ element comes from the morality of resource management, with the player having to choose between ‘giving’ (which gained them points) and ‘taking’ (which helped the player survive).
Ilena: We received some notes from our mentor before jumping into starting the project. We knew that as we developed the game, we’d be able to build upon the metaphor of ‘integrity’. Our foremost objective was to have fun while making the game, so ideas came more freely.

“It was reassuring to know that we had a mentor we could turn to”

Your mentor was Robin Couwenberg, Audio Programmer at Playground Games. How did you work with him?

Ilena: Robin was a delight to work with, his guidance was crucial to us understanding the theme.
Carrie: Robin was so lovely and really helped us as we planned how to tackle the Jam.
Chester: Robin gave some great advice to get us started during our brainstorming session and throughout the Jam. It was reassuring to know that we had a mentor we could turn to if things took a wrong turn, such as the realisation we couldn’t submit the game unless Ilena (who was on a flight) was the one to submit it. [Note from Ukie: Only the creator of the team’s itch.io page for their game can submit it to the Game Jam.]
Carrie: As a composer and sound designer, I really enjoyed getting to chat to Robin about his experience working as an Audio Programmer.
Chester: His support also extends beyond the Jam. I’ve reached out to Robin to ask for some programming advice for my grad game.
Ilena: Since the Game Jam, we’ve reached out to Robin when we have sound questions, and he’s even been a reference for one of my job applications!

“It was cool to meet amazing people and feel like the games industry opened for us newcomers”

What was your favourite thing about the Ukie Student Game Jam experience?

Ilena: It was so much fun!
Carrie: It was a lot of fun working with my team to create a complete game in such a short length of time. It was very exciting seeing the team’s ideas become reality, and the Deliveroo voucher we got from Ukie for dinner was much appreciated!
Chester: The Game Jam was a blast! It's always a nice surprise to see how much we can accomplish in such a short time under pressure.
Carrie: Going to WASD to showcase the game was also an amazing experience. It was so nice getting to know the awesome team from Ukie, as well as meeting other developers and trying out lots of games.
Ilena: Getting to showcase our game (R.I.P. WASD) helped me meet insanely talented developers that I now get to call my friends!
Chester: I am grateful for the opportunities Ukie has provided us. The chance to showcase at WASD, participate in a talk, and connect with all the wonderful people at Ukie and other developers has been an unforgettable experience.
Ilena: It was so encouraging to hear the judges share their opinions of our game. It was cool to meet the amazing people at Ukie and feel like the games industry opened for us newcomers.

What was your biggest challenge during the Jam?

Carrie: Time was especially tight for our team because Ilena needed to fly back to America on the last day of the Jam and I had to be at a recording session in London.
Chester: The Jam is already quite short, lasting only 32 hours, and with the unfortunate timing of Ilena’s flight and Carrie’s recording session, that time was further reduced. This left us with just 1 day to make key decisions regarding gameplay, art, and music, and executing it out.
Ilena: We planned for it, so our whole project was scaled to accommodate for the day lost. It was exciting to be in the airport working on the tutorial from a cafe! When I was in the middle of the flight, I received a frantic message from Chester that I was the only one who could submit the itch.io page. I ordered an hour of Wi-Fi and waited for my computer to slowly connect. We were able to send in our game with a few minutes to spare.

What have you been up to since winning the Jam?

Carrie: Since the Jam, I wrote the music for Ilena’s gorgeous new game, Tulou, which was showcased at MCM Comic Con x EGX London in October 2024.
Ilena: Carrie wrote the music for Tulou and did a brilliant job! Yiren from Ukie also joined as a writer, and his lyrics can be heard in the opening and closing music.
Chester: I primarily focused on my grad game, The CONtractors, for the remainder of the year and had the wonderful opportunity to showcase it at MCM Comic Con x EGX.
Carrie: I finished my master’s in Composing for Film and Television at NFTS in January and am now working full time as a freelance composer/sound designer on a variety of projects including a new game, a documentary and a musical theatre production.
Chester: We revisited Taketh, Giveth and have successfully ported it to Android mobile, with plans to develop it further with some new features. I was also taken on board by Ilena to help continue the development of Tulou as a programmer.
Ilena: I'll be joining forces with Chester again in the upcoming year to revisit Taketh, Giveth and Tulou, to continue developing our projects. On top of establishing a small indie studio, I’ll be responsibly applying for producer and designer roles at games studios. 🫡

“It’s a super fun experience... just throw yourselves in!”

Is there any advice you’d offer to students taking part in the Game Jam this year?

Chester: Keep it as simple as possible. With such a short time limit the best type of games are ones that only have 1 mechanic but compelling gameplay or theme.
Ilena: Track your time and tasks. Keeping the project scaled to what is feasible within the time limit will keep the overall experience fun. Meet the Ukie team!
Carrie: It’s a super fun experience but can get a little hectic, so I recommend keeping an asset list that is shared with the whole team. This will help you keep track of when different elements of the game have been created and implemented. Just throw yourselves in!

Taketh, Giveth is available to play for free on itch.io. It was created by the team Reckless Ferrets for the Ukie Student Game Jam 2024.
Lead and Art: Ilena Yeru Pegan
Programmer: Yi Xin “Chester” Huang
Music and Sound: Carrie Penn

Take part in the Ukie Student Game Jam 2025

If you're a student:
If your institution is a Ukie Students member and you’d like to take part, please check your emails. A sign-up form and further information have been released directly to you.

If you work in the video games industry:
We are looking for mentors from the video games industry to support the student teams during the Ukie Student Game Jam 2025. Find out more and sign up to be a mentor here.

The Ukie Student Game Jam 2025 is proud to be in partnership with Playground Games, Scan Computers, Barclays, Discord and Epic Games.