IGDA NEWFOUNDLAND

Game Jam The evening of April 20th through the afternoon of April 22nd, 2012 At Sci-fi on the Rock 6 Holiday Inn St. John’s, NL

SPONSORED BY:

Video Game Design Program Media Arts Centre College of the North Atlantic

What Is A Game Jam?

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

An overall game theme is announced at the start of 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

Benefits Of Game Jams Indie game developers can develop and

present ideas without publisher restrictions Exposes game developer hobbyists to an

opportunity for collaboration Inspires individuals to innovate

How Do I Participate? Join the IGDA Newfoundland Facebook

group for registration details and updates on the event Register for the event

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, however you are encouraged to network on the IGDA Newfoundland 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, programming, scripting, or audio

How Do I Participate?

Teams It is suggested to form teams beforehand and

register as a team Small teams of 3 – 5 people tend to work better

and be more organized than larger teams because communications are more efficient

Development Tools Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with Links to games engines and development tools 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/ Flixel: http://flixel.org/

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

Art Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/ Blender: http://www.blender.org/ Audio Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ Indie Game Sites TIGSOURCE.: http://www.tigsource.com/ Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/ Chevy Ray http://chevyray.com/tools/

What Should I Bring

A laptop with game development software Headphones Graph paper Pencils and erasers One small white board with dry erase

markers for each team Snacks and beverages (if allowed in the

venue)

Suggested Steps For The 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 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 Process

4. Sketches Concept art Flowcharts Level designs

Suggested Steps For The Process

5. Early prototypes Use placeholder graphics 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

Suggested Steps For The Process

6. Play test ASAP, and often Play test often for usability, functionality, and

balance Expect many rounds of feedback and iteration Consider trading play testing time with other teams

for valuable feedback from people outside of your group

Suggested Steps For The Process

7. 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 Process

8. 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 Process

9. Plan on taking breaks to eat, sleep, and shower It is unhealthy to work for 48 hours straight Tiredness often causes diminishing returns and

bugs When working in close quarters with a small, tight

knit team, good personal hygiene is appreciated

Suggested Steps For The Process

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

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_Whi

tePaper.pdf If you have trouble with this link by

clicking on it, please type it in to

your browser.

Thanks

We look forward to an awesome event! Contact: Join the Facebook group