MY GAME JAM’S HISTORY

by Richard HoffmannJanuary 9, 2017

WHO AM I?• Indie App/Game Developer since 2010 (still starving)

• AR Producer 2009 & VR Producer 2013

• Guest Lecturer for Virtual Reality, Unity for Game Design Students @ SAE Institute London 2014

• Guest Lecturer for Virtual Reality hosted by UCL (University College London) & TIGA for video game Start-ups 2014

• Inspiration, muse & motivator to others

• Game Jam “Veteran” since 2012

MY GAME JAM TIMELINE• Global Game Jam attendee since 2012

• Guinness Book Record for the Biggest Local Game Jam in 2012, UK over 48 hours

• Game Hack at the Pinewood Studios, UK, 16th-17th November 2013

• First Train Jam 2014! Approx 52 hours from Chicago to San Francisco USA

• Co-Organiser Tobii-Eye Tracker Game Jam July 2015 Loading Bar London (UK)

• Founder & Co-Organiser Global Game Jam Hannover (DE) 2016 & 2017

GLOBAL GAME JAM 2011 - 2017

• Global Game Jam (GGJ) in SAE Institute London, UK

• 48 Hours over the weekend

• http://globalgamejam.org

• Founder & Co-Organiser Global Game Jam Hannover (DE) 2016 & 2017

GLOBAL GAME JAM HISTORY• Founding members of Global Game Jam, Inc.Zuraida Buter, Dustin Clingman, Elonka Dunin, Susan Gold, Foaad Khosmood,

Gorm Lai, Ian Schreiber.

• Meet Gorm Lai at Starbucks next to Charing Cross before my first GGJ in London SAE 2012

• Themes:

2009: "As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems"

2010: "Deception"

2011: "Extinction"

2012: An image of "Ouroboros"

2013: The Sound of a Heartbeat

2014: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are"

2015: "What do we do now?"

2016: "Ritual"

UK GAMES JAM BREAKS WORLD RECORD IN 2012

• 329 People

• Over 40 teams

• Hence over 40 Games

• Runner-Up (2nd) Winner

• in17 September 2012

• In the BBC News: http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-19622596

GAME HACK AT THE PINEWOOD STUDIOS, UK, NOVEMBER 2013

• N00Bs got results with Unity & Blender

• Teams showed games w/ Oculus DK1 & Leap Motion

• Best Catering EVER!

• http://www.pinewoodgroup.com/our-studios/uk/news/tiga-gamehack-returns-pinewood-studios

MOI

GAME HACK AT THE PINEWOOD STUDIOS, UK, NOVEMBER 2013

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GKM27Vr0So

MOI Again!

FIRST TRAIN JAM 2013

Adriel Wallick is an independent game developer (former Satellite builder!). In 2013 she traveled from Boston to Seattle via Amtrak’s Empire Builder to attend PAX Prime and decided that it would be super fun to jam on a train across country with her fellow game developers.

http://trainjam.com

TRAIN JAM EXPERIENCE• Approx 52 hours from Chicago to San Francisco (Emeryville) USA

• Caution: Awesome, but distracting view & sight seeing!

TRAIN JAM INDIE CELEBRITIES

• Phil Fish, Polytron

• FEZ Game, Indie Game The Movie

• Rami Ismail, Vlambeer

• Nuclear Throne, Ridiculous Fishing, Super Crate Box, Serious Sam: The Random Encounter & Luftrausers)

• Robin Baumgarten, Reactor & Line Wobbler

• Well-known indie developer, game jam veteran & creator of Line Wobbler - http://linewobbler.com

TRAIN JAM 2013 = AWESOMENESS

http://trainjam.com

MOI

The usual suspects ;)

MORE usual suspects ;)Polygon Team

PERSONAL NEXT MUST JAM

• Train Jam 2017 - http://trainjam.com

• Global Game Jam 2017 - INFINITY

WORD OF ADVICE & SOME WISDOM…

• The Team: Storming, Forming, Norming or iTEAM?

• Keep the game spec low!

• 24 or 48 hours are short! REALLY!

• You can always add more (features) later

• De-scope after the Brainstorming

• Don’t forget to HAVE FUN!

TRY NEWS THINGS & FAIL!• It is ok to FAIL! It’s fun and liberating too!

• Think Rovio & Angry Birds!

• Supercell: We Pop Champagne Every Time We Fail

• http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/rovio-overnight-angry-brids-success-51-failed-522587

• http://mashable.com/2013/11/13/supercell-apps-success/#FCBuClROSOq5

Steel Battalion revival attempt @ GGJ

NOW …YOU!

• YOUR GAME HERE

HAPPY JAMMING!

• Global Game Jam 2017 - 20 - 22 Jan 2017

• Ludum Dare 38, our 15th Anniversary: April 21-24 - http://ludumdare.com (Online Jam)

• HACKVENTION, Hannover Germany, CeBIT March 2017, TBD

• Angel Hack: http://angelhack.com

• Create your own @ https://itch.io !!!