ATLANTI-CON GAME DEVELOPER’S JAM

4:00pm Friday September 28, 2012 through 6:00 pm Sunday September 30, 2012

Danger Room Greenwood Inn and Suites Corner Brook, NL

SPONSORED BY:

Atlanti-con Video Game Design Program College of the North Atlantic

What Is A Game Jam?

A game jam is an organized 48 hour event for rapidly prototyping game designs

For this Game Jam, an overall game theme is announced 2 weeks before 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

Original Content

Upon popular request, this game jam will focus on creating all original assets such as art and audio

Table top games and video games!

This game jam will include development of video games and table top (board) games!

It’s your choice

Benefits Of Game Jams

Indie game developers can develop and present ideas without publisher restrictions

Exposes game developer hobbyists and students to an opportunity for collaboration

Inspires individuals to innovate

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

How Do I Participate?

As an individual

You are encouraged to network on ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam Facebook group page beforehand to meet other participants

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

How Do I Participate?

Teams It is suggested to form teams beforehand but not

necessary

You may be a “floater” , show up and see who wants your help during the jam

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 with game development software

Headphones

Graph paper, index cards

Pencils and erasers, coloured pencils, markers

Ruler

Outside snacks and beverages are not allowed in the Danger Room

What should I bring for developing board games? Suggested Items Paper, Cardstock, Graph paper Scissors Tape Glue stick Index cards Pencils and erasers, coloured pencils, markers Ruler Dice Outside snacks and beverages are not allowed in the

Danger Room

The Game Preproduction Process

Preproduction can start as soon as the game jam theme is announced on September 14 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

2. Research

Search the internet for similar games to avoid repetition

Search for game play and art references

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 game mechanics

Suggested Steps For The Preproduction Process

6. Early prototypes

Use placeholder graphics or game pieces

Don’t fall in love with any idea or feature

Be prepared to kill the whole idea or beloved features

Consider starting over if it’s not working out

The Game Production Process

Production of the game starts at the event on Friday September 28th at 4:00 pm in the Danger Room at Atlanti-con

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 new 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 ASAP, and often

Play test often for usability, functionality, and balance

Expect many rounds of feedback and iteration

First year CNA Video Game Design students will be stopping by as play testers on Saturday and Sunday

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

Create a short questionnaire to gather feedback and to ask for other comments

Suggested Steps For The Production Process

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

The Game Jam will be closed from 1:30am – 7:30 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 crowd during the closing ceremonies on Sunday Sept. 30th from 5:00pm – 6:00 pm

Janice Hertel will introduce the games, show some images from the event, and briefly explain the process to the audience

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

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.

www.atlanti-con.com

Each game jammer will need to purchase a weekend conference pass for $15.00

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

Thanks

We look forward to an awesome event!

Contact: Join the Facebook group

ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam