The game jam was amazing! This post contains all/most of the pictures and videos that we took during the game jam. You can find a playlist of all the videos on the club's YouTube channel.
Showing posts with label Game Jam: Spring 2013. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Game Jam: Spring 2013. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Robot 3000X - The Combines' Game Jam Entry
This game was created during our recent game jam by the team called The Combines. Our team was composed of four people: Cindy Trieu, Lauren Anglin, Shien Hong, and Livio De La Cruz.
Since the theme of the game jam was "evolution", our game is about a little robot called Robot 3000X which evolves from a simple box of switches to a self-aware life form. Because everyone knows that self-aware computers are highly dangerous, this triggers the lab's automatic defense systems, so it's up to the player to help Robot 3000X make his great escape out of the lab. It's almost like an infinite-running game where you're constantly gaining new powers as you keep going.
This game was made using Stencyl, and while the levels were not procedurally generated, there are a lot of glitches in there that might make you think otherwise. I think the glitches made the game more fun, since it was almost as if the game itself had evolved to become self-aware.
Click here to download the game.
The download link includes both the original files that we had at the end of the game jam, and a fixed version of the game which was created a few days after the game jam had ended. The .swf files are the executables that you would run to play the game, while the .stencyl files can be imported into Stencyl if you want to see how exactly our game was made.
Overall, I loved working on this team. While we may have been too big for our own good, we also seemed to be having more fun than everyone else. We weren't afraid to goof off even as the clock kept ticking, and we left the game jam feeling like we had all become really good friends.
Monday, March 11, 2013
Mutated - Team Ctrl+F+U's Game Jam Entry
This was the winning game during the Spring 2013 Game Jam. I was made by Team Ctrl+F+U, which included Patrick Wilkening and William Wilson.
This game took the theme of "evolution" and twisted it into the idea of mutation. The premise of the game is that you are fighting viruses that are trying to mutate your DNA, and you defend yourself by shooting particles at the incoming viruses. It's part rhythm game in that shooting a particle also places a note, and the control scheme is reminiscent to a musical keyboard.
The game was programmed using XNA, and even though Will had to leave after the first night, they were still able to finish the game several hours early before the game jam ended.
Click here to download the game (Windows only).
The file includes an executable as well as a folder that contains some assets that the game needs to run properly.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Spinning Ducks' Game Jam Entry
This card-game videogame was made for the Spring 2013 Game Jam by the Spinning Ducks Team, which included Tyler Wallace, Youhao Wei, and Dilan Jenkins.
In this game you make monsters of various levels fight each other in an attempt to bring your opponent's health points down. The game was made using GameMaker.
Click here to download the game (Windows only).
The above link includes a file that will install the game to your computer.
Thursday, February 14, 2013
Game Jam Timeline and Advices
Schedule
Friday (Feb. 22nd):
6:00 pm is the preferred arrival time of the jam. Coming early gives you time to socialize with other attendees, and will be helpful toward team-forming later on. We'll also be serving dinner at this time.At 7:00 pm, the theme will be announced, and the timer officially starts. That's the time to discuss with others jammers, and present your personal pitches to others. As the ideas become mature, settle in with a team whose idea you like and start prototyping!
If you wish to set up early, the room will be open anytime between 10am and 4:30pm.
Sunday (Feb. 24th):
The timer ends at 7:00am, which will be the deadline for submission to the Game Jam dropbox folder. After all the entries are in, each team will show off their results in the 36 hours, and we will hold a vote for the best games of the Jam.After the winners are announced, we will have a breakfast to celebrate the end of the Jam and return to our usual Sundays.We will be recapping the Game Jam on Monday, so if you missed out on anything, make sure you come to catch up!
Peculiarities
The IEEE room does not have good cell signals, and doors to the ECE building will be locked during the Weekend. Please put down the room phone-number so you don't get locked out: (520)626-7324.
If you wish to spend the night at the Jam site, please bring your own blanket, jacket, and/or sleeping bags.
There will be about 3 tower PC's in the room for free use. If you want any software pre-installed, please contract us in advance.
Advice
Team Size
Do not form teams of more than five. The communication efforts involved to direct a large team will come at considerable expense in efficiency.
Ideally, one person should be working on the program, one person should be working on the graphic, and one person should try to piece everything together.
Scheduling
Get the game foundations set up by bedtime the first day, so you can jump directly to a good workflow by the time you wake up. Get at least six hours sleep on the first day! Alertness on the second day is extremely important.
In the last five or six hours of the Jam, don't try to add any new features unless your game is near complete. Also, use placeholder art!
Game Design
The most valuable way to learn about design is play-testing, and every attendee is a potential play-tester! The first-and-foremost priority should be to make sure that the game is fun, so take any chance you get to show your game to other designers!
Rapid-development Tools
While having tools like Game Maker and Construct is not required, they certainly make your life much easier. Avoid developing 3D games if you don't have considerate amount of experience in the area.
The upcoming meetings on the 18th will discuss the Jam in more detail, including helpful resources for creating or finding images and sounds, and a brief overview of rapid game development tools.
Happy jamming!
Friday, February 1, 2013
Announcing UA Game Jam 2013!
What is a "Game Jam?"
For those who are in the dark, game jams are usually 48-hour
game-creation events, but vary in duration from 24 to 72 hours. The events
often welcome newcomers and experienced developers alike. These events are both
competitive and co-operative, as entrants form their own teams during the
event, and friendly compete with one another to produce the best game within
the time-constraints. The games are constrained by one or multiple themes
announced at the beginning of the Jam, but aside from that, entrants are given
maximum freedom to build any game they want.
Why Game Jam?
As the advantages of game jams gain recognition, more and more
game jams are held around the globe. You may have heard about the recent Global
Game Jam, which attracted over 10,000 individual participants; or the Ouya Game
Jam, an unusual 10 day jam that produced 166 game prototypes for the new
console. So why are game jams so popular? Gamasutra recently had an article on
why you should join a game jam. Let me mention some of my own: Game Jams allows
you to forge friendships in multiple disciplines, ones that may well last
beyond the event. They also allow you to take the first steps in creating your
own game, and even better: it forces you to create a game in merely days! No
more indefinitely-long game projects. Finally, game jams are fun! Just scroll
down to our last meeting summary, and you will see a proof of that.
The UA Game Jam
Despite the popularity of game jams, many students of the UA
never participated in a game jam. This is a pity, since UA is a huge repository
of multidisciplinary talents. The UA game jam hopes to change that!
Participation is welcome to all UA affiliates regardless of
skill and expertise. The event is without charge, though we welcome any
donation.
Since the event will be held during the middle of the semester,
we reduced the duration to 36 hours. We will be starting the timer at 6p.m, but
we encourage you to arrive at 5pm to enjoy some social time with fellow
entrants, whom you may be forming teams with later. The development phase ends
at 6am, after which we will display each of our game creations, vote on the
best games, and enjoy breakfast before biding farewell.
The event will be held in room 105 of the Electrical and
Computer Engineering building, where the IEEE Club and Gamedev club hold their
meetings. Large nearby classrooms will also be open for use (and for sleeping),
and food will be provided for the entire duration for the event. To make sure
we provide enough food and room and electricity to you, please fill out a RSVP
form if you are going to attend!
(Stay tuned next week for a quick game jam survival guide!)
Monday, January 14, 2013
Game Jam Availability Check
Hey everyone!
About two months ago, I posted on the facebook page about the upcoming Global Game Jam (GGJ). For those who don't know, Game Jam is a competition where game designers, artists, and Foley artists come together for 48 or 32 hours to create games based on a common theme. GGJ is an annual world-wide Game Jam, the progress of which is moderated through the GGJ website.
This year, we decided not to register UA as an official location for GGJ. This decision means that we also have the possibility of holding our club's own Game Jam.
I will elaborate on Game Jams in the following weeks. For now, we are looking for people's availability during the semester. Whatever your talents or backgrounds are, I strongly encourage you to vote. Game Jams are great opportunities to for newbies and veterans alike to gain experience in the field of game design.
GGJ will be happening on the weekend of January 25-27, and there is possibility that we still participate. After voting on the link below, if you have any questions or comments, post them under this entry or on the doodle poll, and I will do my best to address them.
