IGDA NEWFOUNDLAND SCI-FI ON THE ROCK Game Developer’s Jam 2013 5:00 pm Friday, April 26th – 5:00 pm Sunday, April 28th, 2013

At Sci-fi on the Rock 7 Trinity Board Room Holiday Inn St. John’s, NL

SPONSORED BY:

Video Game Design Program

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

Original Content

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

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 IGDA Newfoundland Facebook group for details and updates on the event

Register for the event by attending the event in the Facebook group

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 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, design, testing, programming, scripting, or audio.

How Do I Participate?

Teams

It is suggested to form

teams beforehand but not necessary

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

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

Outside snacks and beverages are usually not allowed in the Trinity board room due to hotel restrictions, you may want to bring snacks for breaks taken outside of the board room

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/

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/

*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 April 12 at 5:00 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

Don’t fall in love with any idea or feature

Be prepared to kill 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 April 26th at 5:00 pm in the Trinity Board Room at Sci-Fi on the Rock

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 develop 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

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 will be closed from approximately 1:30am – 7:00 am

No one is allowed to stay overnight in the game jam room

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 Sci-Fi on the Rock conference attendees on Sunday April 28th from 5:00pm – 6:00 pm in the Larson Room

Invite your friends and family to the presentation

Janice Hertel and Keith Makse will introduce the game jam, 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 or using assets 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.

http://www.scifiontherock.com/

Each game jammer will need to purchase a weekend conference pass for $40.00

Enjoy the conference too! It starts at 2:00pm on Friday April 26th

Please check on the Sci-Fi on the Rock 7 website for info

Thanks!

We look forward to an awesome event!

Contact: Join the Facebook group

IGDA Newfoundland