ATLANTI-CON 2 GAME DEVELOPER’S JAM

4:00pm Friday September 27, 2013 through 6:00 pm Sunday September 29, 2013 Room AS 383 Arts & Science Building Extension MUN Grenfell Campus Corner Brook, NL

ATLANTI-CON 2 GAME DEVELOPER’S JAM

Sponsored by: The Video Game Design program at the College of the North Atlantic

ATLANTI-CON 2 IGDA Newfoundland

Location

Arts & Science Building Extension MUN Grenfell Campus

Corner Brook, NL

Location

Room AS383

Room AS383

Third Floor

Arts & Science Building Extension

Parking

Parking on campus may be limited.

For parking info visit:

http://www.swgc.mun.ca/facilities/campus-enforcement/Pages/campus-maps.aspx

Game Jam Schedule

Friday, September 27 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Set up room AS383 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight - Game Jam – AS383

Saturday, September 28 8:00 am – 12:00 midnight - Game Jam– AS383

Sunday, September 29 8:00 am – 4:00 pm - Game Jam– AS383 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Clean up room AS383 and break down equipment – Set up room AS2026 for the presentation 5:00 pm – 5:50 pm – Game Jam Presentation –

AS2026

What Is A Game Jam? A game jam is an organized 48 hour event for rapidly

prototyping game designs

What Is A Game Jam?

For this Game Jam, an overall game theme is announced a fortnight prior to the event

Games are designed by small teams around each team’s interpretation of the given theme

Playable prototypes are rapidly designed, developed, tested, and iterated

The theme for this event is:

Optional Modifiers • Newfoundland • Speed • Stealth

Original Content

Upon popular request, this game jam will focus on creating original art assets

Audio may be original or royalty free, please respect copyrights and licenses

Benefits Of Game Jams

Inspires individuals to innovate

Indie game developers can develop and present ideas without publisher restrictions

Exposes game developer hobbyists to an opportunity for collaboration

How Do I Participate?

Join the ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam Facebook group for registration details

and updates on the event

Register for the Atlanti-con

Game Developer Jam event

by accepting the invitation

on Facebook

www.atlanti-con.com

Each game jammer will need to purchase a weekend conference pass

Please check on the Atlanti-con website for registration, travel and accommodations info

http://www.atlanti-con.com/default.aspx

How Do I Participate?

As an individual You are welcome to show up and team up with other

people at the start of the event. You may be a “floater” , see who wants your help during the jam.

However, you are encouraged to network on the Facebook

group page beforehand to meet other participants who are also looking for team mates.

Describe your skill set and what you have to offer to a game development team such as art, design, testing, programming, scripting, or audio.

How Do I Participate?

Teams

It is suggested, but not necessary, to form

teams beforehand

Small teams of 3 – 5 people tend to work better and be more organized than larger teams because communications are more efficient

What should I bring for developing video games?

Suggested Items

A laptop (or desktop computer and display) with game development software

Headphones

Graph paper, index cards

Pencils, markers, ruler

Small white board with dry erase markers

Snacks and beverages

Development Tools Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with Links to game engines that have free versions:

Game Engines

Game Maker: http://yoyogames.com/

Game Salad: http://gamesalad.com/creator

Unity: http://unity3d.com/unity/

Unreal: http://www.udk.com/

Development Tools Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with Links to development tools that have free versions:

Art

Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/

Blender: http://www.blender.org/

Audio

Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/

*You are responsible for using software licenses legally and appropriately for development

The Game Preproduction Process

Preproduction can start as soon as the game jam theme is announced on September 13 at 4:00 pm on the Facebook group

Suggested Steps for the Preproduction Process

1. Brainstorming

Collaborate with your team

Make a list of possible ideas

Consider scrapping the first 3 ideas and the obvious ideas to spawn more creativity

2. Research

Search the internet for similar games to avoid repetition

Search for game play and art references, but use original work in the game

Suggested Steps for the Preproduction Process

Suggested Steps for the Preproduction Process

3. Consider scope

Plan for a smaller scope than you think you will have the time for

Consider the skills and limitations of your team and the development tools

Cut non essential features

Suggested Steps for the Preproduction Process

4. Sketches

Concept art

Flowcharts

Level designs

Suggested Steps for the Preproduction Process

5. Write a Game Design Document to describe and organize ideas and elements such as story, concept art, and game mechanics

Suggested Steps For The Preproduction Process

6. Early prototypes

Use placeholder graphics

Don’t fall in love with any idea or feature

Be prepared to change the whole idea or beloved features

Have a back up version of your idea in case another team has the same game idea

Consider starting over if it’s not working out

The Game Production Process

Production of the game starts at the event on Friday September 27th at 4:00 pm in the Sciences room AS 383 at Atlanti-con 2

You are expected to wait until this time to start actual production

Suggested Steps For The Production Process

1. Emphasize meaningful game play (or fun) over polish Focus on one concept

Make game play fun in the first 15 seconds

Consider including simple instructions in the title screen then move quickly into game play, or integrate a quick in-game tutorial rather than starting out with a long back story

Use audio to create mood and for efficient and effective in-game feed back

The team can always decide to turn the game into an ongoing project and continue to polish the game beyond the jam

Suggested Steps For The Production Process

2. Play test early and often

Play test often for usability, functionality, and balance

Expect many rounds of feedback and iteration

Ask a member of another team to play test your game

Suggested Steps For The Production Process

3. Keep the player in mind

Games are made to be played

Observe play tester reactions

Do they understand what to do?

Make note of facial expressions and when they happen:

Joy

Frustration

Suggested Steps For The Production Process

4. Plan on taking breaks to eat, sleep, and shower

The Game Jam room will be closed from 12:00 am – 8:00 am

Tiredness often causes diminishing returns and bugs

When working in close quarters with a small, tight knit team, good personal hygiene is appreciated

Presentation

Games will be presented to the Atlanti-con 2 crowd prior to the closing ceremonies on Sunday Sept. 29th from 5:00pm – 5:50 pm in the Rodger Young room, AS2026.

Teams will have a chance to present a brief live demo of their game

Please invite your friends and family to see the presentation!

Who Owns The Work?

You and your team mates retain rights and ownership of your own work

You are responsible for: Using software licenses legally and appropriately

for development

Creating original assets for your game and using assets such as royalty free audio clips according to their legal use agreements

Documenting and including all team mates in the credits

Who Owns The Work?

Basically, your team is responsible for working out the details amongst yourselves

Intellectual property link for reference:

http://archives.igda.org/ipr/IGDA_IPRights_WhitePaper.pdf

If you have trouble with this link by

clicking on it, please type it in to

your browser.

Video from past events: Atlanti-con 1 Game Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5rm0l8pc98

Video from past events: Sci-Fi on the Rock Game Jam

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHVllQm-fM&list=PL96EBC5AD512B0834

Thanks

We look forward to an awesome event!

Contact: Join the Facebook group

ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam Message Janice through Facebook with any questions.