1. When & Where is the Jam
2. Schedule
3. The Theme
4. The "Rules" for the Jam
5. Stuff You Should Bring

If you are an artist or musician coming without a pre-set team, please leave a comment, or email Owen, and I'll explain how I'd like this to work.

When & Where is the Jam

Sunday, April 15, 2012 - 9:00am - 6:00pm

The game jam is being hosted by ThreeFortyNine Coworking, who have sponsored the event by generously donating their office space for us to use. This is located at:

349 Woolwich St.
Guelph, ON
(map)

Note: The sign in front of the building says "Brainpark".

You can park behind the building, if you're driving. You can also park on Woolwich (on the west side) for free, if the ThreeFortyNine lot is full. Come in the front doors of the building.

Schedule

8:45am - Doors open - please arrive a little before 9:00 to set up your computer

9:00am - Owen will introduce and kick off the jam

9:00am - 12:00pm - Make a game!

12:00pm-12:30pm - Pizza lunch sponsored by Innovation Guelph

12:30pm - 5:00pm - Make a game!

5:00pm - 6:00pm - Walk around and play other people's games

The Theme

The theme for this game jam is: "The Trillium"

You are free to interpret that however you want. It can be literal, or figurative. Abstract or concrete. It's up to you! The theme is just meant to provide a point of inspiration.

Start thinking about your game design before the jam. Come to the jam ready to start building the game idea you have thought through. You do not have a lot of time to build your game, so don't waste valuable time on Saturday trying to figure out what game to build!

The "Rules"

1. You must make a new game, not finish an old game, or a game in progress.
2. You may build any genre of game that you want (platformer, puzzle, FPS, racing, abstract, minimalist, sailing, 4X, RTS, etc), though some genres lend themselves to short timelines better than others.
3. You may build a game for any platform you want (Flash, HTML, iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Xbox360, Virtual Boy, ZX Spectrum, physical board game or card game, etc)
4. You may use any game engine/infrastructure code you want (Unity, GameMaker, cocos2d, PhyreEngine, UnrealEngine, your own game engine, Flash IDE, etc), though I recommend using something you are familiar with.
5. You may prepare whatever infrastructure code you need ahead of time (and I encourage you to do this). You don't want to spend 3 hours writing a UI menu class on the day of the jam. Have that ready to go, so you can concentrate on making the game.
6. You may work solo or in teams. I recommend forming teams ahead of time, if possible, so you're not worrying about how you're going to handle source control during the event.
7. You (and your team) keep the rights to your game. The game jam makes no claims to ownership over any of the games created here. You should feel free to keep working on your game after the jam.
8. This is not a competition, there are no winners or losers. The goal is to have fun and make the best game you can in the time given. So have fun with it! Experiment, and don't be afraid to fail gloriously!
9. Try to create a complete experience before the jam ends. It's better to have a working small game, than the beginnings of a large game that doesn't run.
10. Remember that we're using someone's offices, so please don't make a mess, and clean up after yourself.

Stuff You Should Bring

1. A laptop - sorry, we can't provide any computers or monitors. If you have a laptop, please bring that, as we'll be fairly tight on space. If you must bring a tower, we can probably make it work, but only as a last-resort. 349 has WiFi for internet access that we can use.
2. A power bar - if you have a grounded (3-hole) power bar you can bring, please do so, as figuring out the power might be a little tricky. If you bring one, PLEASE put some tape on the cord with your name on it, so I know who to give it back to.
3. A water bottle or cup - There's a small kitchen in 349 where you can refill a bottle or cup with tap water. 349 also has coffee available, if you want coffee.
4. Snacks - If you get peckish, bring some snacks to eat. We will have a few snacks, but if you want someone specific, bring it.
5. Headphones - There will be lots of people working on games, so please bring headphones to do SFX/music work, so as not to disturb the others.
6. Your game idea!

That's It

I think that's about it! Phew! Thanks for reading through this. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email Owen.

The Trillium

Yes, the flower.

Remember, the theme is just meant to provide some contraints in order to provoke inspiration. Your idea can incorporate trilliums literally into the game design or art, or it can just serve as a jumping off point for an idea. At any rate, you have 9 days to think about what you want to make.

A reminder on the rules: think about your game, think about the design, but don't start writing code (or working on your board game pieces, if you're making a physical game) until the day of the jam.

If you haven't signed up yet, why not? Go do that now!

See you on the 15th!

Owen

The jam will be Sunday, April 15, 2012 and run from 9:00am - 6:00pm. More details are coming soon. In the meantime, check out the video of the games made at Game Jam 2.

Owen

(The music is "Popular potpourri" from the Album "PPPPPP" by SoulEye. Used with permission.)

I hope to see you at the next jam!

Owen

For my game at Guelph Game Jam 2, I decided to go analog and build a card game with real, physical cards. After 8 hours, I ended up with a quick little game called Monster Mages, heavily inspired by aspects of Dominion and Magic: The Gathering.

Since 8 hours really isn't a lot of time to build a game, I did a bit of prep work the night before by building a set of blank playing cards to use as templates. The design is based on the layout of cards from Dominion, with a card name across the top, a short description across the bottom, and the rest of the space divided evenly between a picture and long description.

I printed the templates on white 199 g/m^2 card stock from the local office supply store and cut out 216 blank cards by hand. Real playing cards seem to be a bit heavier (around 320 g/m^2), but the card stock seemed to work well enough for prototyping purposes. I also used a set of card protectors usually used by Magic players to make it easier to handle and shuffle my home made cards.

Before creating any cards, I wrote a bit of python code that would let me simulate my card game, so that I could try and make sure the game was fair. The contents of the card game are defined in a separate JSON file, which I was hoping would let me reuse the python code for future card game design work, but I ended up writing so much game-specific code into the python that it's not really feasable to reuse it.

If you're interested in building your own version of Monster Mages, you can get a deck list and rules from the project's github page.

Hi, I'm Owen Goss, the organizer of the Guelph Game Jams. For Guelph Jam 2 I decided to make a simple dungeon "crawler" type game called "Monster Dungeon". The original idea was that you'd be in a dungeon room and monsters would come at you. Different monsters would move in different patterns and would have different attacks. The player would have melee, ranged, and blast attacks. The goal would be to collect coins found in the room and survive as long as possible.

It turns out, my goals were a little overly ambitious for our 8 hours timeline. I was also using a Flash framework (Flixel - which I really enjoyed working with) that I didn't have any experience in. However, I did manage to get the basics in. Monsters move at random, and melee attacks do work for both the player and the monsters. You can also collect coins and health potions. However, I didn't get alternate movements, nor ranged and blast attacks. In fact, I finished the combat with about 1 minute to spare, so it was untested at the end of the jam. The result is that the combat and UI around the combat is kind of buggy and unintuitive...but it does work, and you can play a full game.

If you'd like to try the game, it is a Flash game and can be played in your browser here:

Monster Dungeon

The game is played only with the mouse; there are no keyboard controls. You have to switch to the sword every time you want to attack, because I accidentally set you back to the move state every turn. There is only one room, and the exits do not wrap (this was the question I got asked the most during demo time).

Good luck on your quest for coins!

Owen

1. When & Where is the Jam
2. Schedule
3. The Theme
4. The "Rules" for the Jam
5. Stuff You Should Bring

If you are an artist or musician coming without a pre-set team, please leave a comment, or email Owen, and I'll explain how I'd like this to work.

When & Where is the Jam

Saturday, January 21, 2012 - 9:00am - 6:00pm

If you were at the first game jam, please note the time change; we're starting earlier this time.

The game jam is being hosted by ThreeFortyNine Coworking, who have sponsored the event by generously donating their office space for us to use. This is located at:

349 Woolwich St.
Guelph, ON
(map)

You can park behind the building, if you're driving. You can also park on Woolwich (on the west side) for free, if the ThreeFortyNine lot is full. Come in the front doors of the building.

Schedule

8:45am - Doors open - please arrive a little before 9:00 to set up your computer

9:00am - Owen will introduce and kick off the jam

9:00am - 12:00pm - Make a game!

12:00pm-12:30pm - Pizza lunch sponsored by Innovation Guelph

12:30pm - 5:00pm - Make a game!

5:00pm - 6:00pm - Walk around and play other people's games

The Theme

The theme for this game jam is: "Monsters"

You are free to interpret that however you want. It can be literal, or figurative. Abstract or concrete. It's up to you! The theme is just meant to provide a point of inspiration.

Start thinking about your game design before the jam. Come to the jam ready to start building the game idea you have thought through. You do not have a lot of time to build your game, so don't waste valuable time on Saturday trying to figure out what game to build!

The "Rules"

1. You must make a new game, not finish an old game, or a game in progress.
2. You may build any genre of game that you want (platformer, puzzle, FPS, racing, abstract, minimalist, sailing, 4X, RTS, etc), though some genres lend themselves to short timelines better than others.
3. You may build a game for any platform you want (Flash, HTML, iOS, Android, PC, Mac, Xbox360, Virtual Boy, ZX Spectrum, etc)
4. You may use any game engine/infrastructure code you want (Unity, GameMaker, cocos2d, PhyreEngine, UnrealEngine, your own game engine, Flash IDE, etc), though I recommend using something you are familiar with.
5. You may prepare whatever infrastructure code you need ahead of time (and I encourage you to do this). You don't want to spend 3 hours writing a UI menu class on the day of the jam. Have that ready to go, so you can concentrate on making the game.
6. You may work solo or in teams. I recommend forming teams ahead of time, if possible, so you're not worrying about how you're going to handle source control during the event.
7. You (and your team) keep the rights to your game. The game jam makes no claims to ownership over any of the games created here. You should feel free to keep working on your game after the jam.
8. This is not a competition, there are no winners or losers. The goal is to have fun and make the best game you can in the time given. So have fun with it! Experiment, and don't be afraid to fail gloriously!
9. Try to create a complete experience before the jam ends. It's better to have a working small game, than the beginnings of a large game that doesn't run.
10. Remember that we're using someone's offices, so please don't make a mess, and clean up after yourself.

Stuff You Should Bring

1. A laptop - sorry, we can't provide any computers or monitors. If you have a laptop, please bring that, as we'll be fairly tight on space. If you must bring a tower, we can probably make it work, but only as a last-resort. 349 may have WiFi for internet access that we can use (I'm confirming with them this week).
2. A power bar - if you have a grounded (3-hole) power bar you can bring, please do so, as figuring out the power might be a little tricky. If you bring one, PLEASE put some tape on the cord with your name on it, so I know who to give it back to.
3. A water bottle or cup - There's a small kitchen in 349 where you can refill a bottle or cup with tap water.
4. Snacks - If you get peckish, bring some snacks to eat.
5. Money for pizza, or a lunch to eat. If I can round up a sponsor before Saturday, I'll send out an email to jammers.  Innovation Guelph is now sponsoring our lunch. Thanks, Innovation Guelph!
6. Headphones - There will be lots of people working on games, so please bring headphones to do SFX/music work, so as not to disturb the others.
7. Your game idea!

That's It

I think that's about it! Phew! Thanks for reading through this. If you have any questions, please leave a comment or email Owen.

Guelph Game Jam 2 Sign Up

I will be announcing this jam's theme about a week before the jam, so you'll have plenty of time to think about the game you want to make. Stay tuned to this blog, or our twitter account in the coming weeks for all the details.

Owen

Owen

You, in blue, have a big idea. Unfortunately, your rival in orange has one too. Move around using WASD and talk with the arrow keys. Fill up subjects' empty thought bubbles with blue to score points!

It's really just a poorly-disguised top-down shooter, but I had to work the "big" theme in somehow!

I used Python, Pyglet, Git and GNU Emacs on Arch Linux.

The Game Jam experience was somewhat humbling. I had many big ideas of my own, but ended up having to make lots of compromises to meet our eight hour deadline. I also found it really fulfilling. I've never written a game before, at least not to the point where it was a complete product. As much as "The Big Idea" isn't very fun to play it does finish. You can win. You can lose.

Having learned many newbie lessons I'm looking forward to the next jam. I fully intend to build a game that sucks half as much!

~Chris