Thanks to everyone for an amazing weekend.  Words fail for now, suffice to say I’ve had some great feedback already and am blown away by 28 Games 107 Jammers 2 Days.

Special mentions to the award winning teams:

Tasters’ Taste and Jammers’ Jam de Jam:

Omelette Boris (http://www NULL.kumobius NULL.com/omelette-boris/): Very Bean’s Quest, a fun and engaging 2D platformer where you turn from chicken to egg to chicken. The level of finish and overall polish of both graphics and gameplay on this game amazed the judges. To quote one of them; “ship it”.

Tom Greenaway (programming), James Greenaway (art), Ivan Neeson (programming)

@kumobius

www.kumobius.com (http://www NULL.kumobius NULL.com)

Sean Affleck: (audio)

@clickclique

Matt Scorah: (art)

@scozdawg

The whole team worked on the game design created level designs.

Most Fun:

Streams (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2012/streams): once it clicks with you, there’s no goingback, it’s like digital skipping

Hu Hu Chen, Edward Whitehead, Leonard Frankel, Andrew Maxwell and two other wonderful people who have used pseduonyms, I’ll update this bit when I have the info.

Most Surprising Spread:

Seasonal Sci-Flies (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2012/seasonal-sci-flies) by Aaron Cox, Matthew Dodd and Daniel Su

Tarty Art:

Whirlstrom (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2012/whirlstrom)by Shelley, Bianca Gibson, Alex Fraser and Campbell Barton

Farty Art:

Burn (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2012/burn)by Jarrod Lowery, Benn Lockyer and Sunny Koda

Smoothest Spread:

We had an amazing group with subgroups, and were tempted to choose the creators of Milk Blister (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2012/milk-blisters) (my first game credit, so proud!) which included all of us, but instead was awarded to The three-in-0ne team headed up by the design brilliance of Harry Lee.

Thanks to our media friends for visiting and sharing the jam love, it was an amazing weekend without major dramas, which may have disappointed some looking for an angle, but as an event manager is exactly what I look for.

More info and updates with all the games after a bit more sleep has been caught up on.

All the games can be downloaded to play from the GGJ12 website. (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/og/games/16924/list)

I thought I’d share a list with you

Firstly, make sure you’re registered – jammers need Eventbrite registrations, friends of IGDAM need to have let giselle@igdamelbourne they’re coming along. If you’re not registered, you can’t jam.

Getting There

• Make sure you’re registered – jammers need Eventbrite registrations, friends of IGDAM need to have let giselle@igdamelbourne they’re coming along
• Ideally you arrive around 3pm on Friday 27 January at Beth Gleeson Building, La Trobe University, Bundoora, 3086 (http://maps NULL.google NULL.com NULL.au/maps?q=la+trobe+university,+bundoora&hl=en&ll=-37 NULL.703652,145 NULL.048714&spn=0 NULL.073205,0 NULL.154324&sll=-25 NULL.335448,135 NULL.745076&sspn=42 NULL.067662,79 NULL.013672&vpsrc=0&hq=la+trobe+university,&hnear=Bundoora+Victoria&t=m&z=13&iwloc=A).  If you can’t make it that time, don’t stress, get along as soon as you can, we’ve got all weekend, but heres the basics for Friday:
• Free parking is in car parks 1 and 2 in the WHITE bays only (please try to car pool where possible)
• Car park 2 is closest
• If you’re going by public transport, plan your journey with metlink (http://metlinkmelbourne NULL.com NULL.au/), closest transport is the Plenty Road tram and Macleod Station on the Hurstbridge line

What to bring

“Pack like you’re camping” – Caswal P

Things to remember:

Hardware/software – whatever geekery you need and have licence for. NO additional screens (besides laptops) allowed.

A swag – something to soften the floor and keep you warm – the sleeping quarters are COLD
Pillow and sleeping bag or the like
Towel – NEVER forget your towel – there will be showers available during daylight hours in the Union Building and it’s a great chance to stretch your legs
Soap/toothpaste/toothbrush/deodorant. Hairbrush is optional, the rest aren’t
Change of clothes – there’s more than 100 of us living communally for the weekend, be kind to your fellow jammers
Any favourite foods/drinks. You will be well catered for, but we can’t cater for everyone’s foibles.
EAR PLUGS for the light sleepers (trust me on this).Your favourite toy.
A CUP/MUG  for tea/coffee, preferably a spill-proof travel mug.

And a sense of creativity, an ability to roll your sleeves up to work as a team and make something wonderful.

Check out Rebecca’s advice on what to bring when jamming too (http://www NULL.convictinteractive NULL.com/?p=226), she’s got some top tips.

What’s happening when?

Friday

• 2:30-3:45pm  Registration at Beth Gleeson Building
  All jammers and guests must be signed in on site, so look for Giselle, Tom Killen, Fiona Murray, Obe Bradford, David May or James Rhodes to register your arrival. Late arrivals are accepted as long as they’re registered, but sooner is better.
• 4:00pm Welcome talks and discussion panel in West Lecture Theatre 3
• 5:00pm THE THEME REVEAL – West Lecture Theatre 3
• 5:30pm Team forming and brainstorming
• 6:00pm Back to the lecture theatre for elevator pitch and finalising teams
• 7:15pm Dinner – Pizza and Gelato outside the Beth Gleeson Building
• 8:00 – all going to plan it’s jamtime

Saturday

7:30-10:00am: Breakfast

12:30pm: Lunch

3:00pm: ALL GAMES MUST BE REGISTERED AT HTTP://GLOBALGAMEJAM.ORG

7:30: Dinner

Sunday

7:30-10:00am: Breakfast

12:30pm: Lunch

3:00pm: ALL GAMES MUST BE UPLOADING BY THIS TIME

4:00pm: Taste test time

5:00pm: clean up time

6:00pm: Head to the Eagle Bar, Union Building for a well earned drink, BBQ and awards presentations.

All media and games sector enquiries about visiting the event should be emailed to giselle@igdamelbourne.org

See you at the jam

The Global Game Jam is  primarily (http://globalgamejam NULL.org)collaborative, not competitive. The focus of the weekend is for everyone to make great games. However we’re game makers, so we can’t resist the urge to spice things up by making it a bit competitive and so in the interests of fun and of recognising excellence we do award prizes for several categories.

To reflect more accurately the role of the judging panel, we’ll be looking at them as a tasting panel after a long weekend in the game making kitchen.

Our “Jam Tasters” are

Simon Joslin, Creative Director at The Voxel Agents (http://thevoxelagents NULL.com), and veteran 48 Hour jammer.

Ben Britten, Technical Director at Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au) and international man of mystery.

Trent Kusters, ‘Creative Director’ at Divisive Media (http://www NULL.wetroads NULL.com/dm/) and ‘Founder & Director’ at  League of Geeks (http://www NULL.leagueofgeeks NULL.com/) who always smells nice.

Craig Duturbure, Creative Director at Grapple Gun Games (http://www NULL.grapplegungames NULL.com/) and an indie designer who looks for everlasting fun in games (but will settle for a satisfying shotgun effect)

Conor O’Kane, Game Development Lecturer at RMIT and jammer from last year about to release the jammed Last Flight of the Bumblebee (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2011/last-flight-bumblebee)for iPad on the App Store.

Katie Williams, freelance writer, Kotaku Australia (http://kotaku NULL.com NULL.au), Hyper and PCPP and lover of inflatable strawberries.

Sam Mayo, Community Manager at Firemint (http://firemint NULL.com/) and ace lemon jouster.

Unforunately Mark Serrels can’t stay for the whole jam but will be coming along.  (I couldn’t resist his bio), Editor of Kotaku Australia. He is a multi award-winning journalist and the inventor of the Serrels’ Stare ™ (http://www NULL.kotaku NULL.com NULL.au/2011/05/yet-another-reason-why-kotaku-has-the-best-community-ever/). He has previously edited publications such as The Official Nintendo Magazine, The Official PlayStation Magazine, Australian 360 and PSM3. He once got 191,000 on Doodle Jump and totally has a man crush on Ryan Gosling. And, yes, he is painfully aware that he closely resembles Simon Pegg.

Awards Categories and Prizes

Tasters’ Toast: A $500 JB Voucher courtesy of Immersive Technologies

Jammers’ Jam de Jam: A $100 JB voucher

Tarty Art (best graphics): EA swag

Farty Art (best sound):  the complete Sound Librarian (http://www NULL.stephanschutze NULL.com/)

Smoothest Jam  (best teamwork): More swag from  EA Australia (http://www NULL.ea NULL.com/au)  along with $100 JB Voucher

Most Surprising Spread :

We <3 our growing list of sponsors for all the brilliant support and prizes.

Tasters  will reconvene with the jam makers, media and guests, over a bbq and a beer at La Trobe’s Eagle Bar at about 6pm on Sunday 29 January where they will discuss their tasting notes.

Games sector and media are encouraged to email giselle@igdamelbourne.org for an invite to Sunday afternoon display, awards and BBQ.  If you miss out this time there will be information about a game jam expo soon <crosses fingers the plan comes together.>

We’ll try to keep you posted with updates, but if you have any questions, start at the facebook #igdamjam page (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/groups/186036814823342/)and take it from there.

On Thursday 2 Feb 2012 Kumobius (http://www NULL.kumobius NULL.com/)will release a major update that completes the Bean’s Quest game for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch. The free update almost doubles the content of the critically acclaimed platformer and introduces a final boss battle.

They will be holding a launch party to celebrate the completion of the game at our warehouse office:

• Thursday 2 Feb 2012, 5:30pm – 8:30pm
• 9 Little Oxford Street, Collingwood 3066, VIC

There will be free drinks, food and games to play, including; Super Street Fighter 4, Tetris The Grand Master and of course: Bean’s Quest. If you’re interested please join via the Facebook event so they know how many people are coming:

Kumobius is an indie game studio based in Melbourne. Bean’s Quest was first released in late July 2011 to much critical acclaim; the game was featured in the “New and Noteworthy” section on the App Store and received numerous favourable reviews. Since then, the game has been regularly updated with more content, culminating in the final update on 2 Feb 2012

Ingredients:

 101 juicey jammers

One secret theme ingredient

101 computers* see below for pre-made recipe

2 jamming labs

1 sleeping lab – be sure to overchill

5 special guest panelists

1 smattering of media

 Taste testers, creativity, pizza, curry, caffeine,toast, cereal, caffeine, drinks, caffeine, bbq, more caffeine…then finally alcohol

Method

Friday

Apply 101 juicey jammers to register at the Beth Gleeson Building, Science Drive, La Trobe University (http://maps NULL.google NULL.com NULL.au/maps?q=la+trobe+university,+bundoora&hl=en&ll=-37 NULL.721476,145 NULL.049787&spn=0 NULL.020062,0 NULL.038581&sll=-25 NULL.335448,135 NULL.745076&sspn=45 NULL.958389,79 NULL.013672&vpsrc=6&hq=la+trobe+university,&hnear=Bundoora+Victoria&t=h&fll=-37 NULL.72089,145 NULL.048714&fspn=0 NULL.005016,0 NULL.009645&z=15&layer=t) between  2pm and 3.30pm on Friday 27 January. 

Free parking is available in the white bays only of car parks 1 and 2 (Car Park 2 is closest to the jamsite)

Gently agitate in a lecture theatre, then softly fold in a  panel discussion at 4.00pm Agent Tom Killen (The Voxel Agents), Matt F Ditton (you name it), Trent Kusters (League of Geeks), Harry Lee (recent LudumDare Jam winner and all round amazing bloke), Tony Reed (Game Developers’ Association of Australia) about how to survive a game jam, and what makes a good game in a short time frame.

At 5:00 Friday add the secret theme ingredient.  THIS INGREDIENT MUST BE KEPT SECRET UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE!

Shake, stir and then separate into teams.  Recommended size per team, 2-5 jammers.

It’s now it’s time to apply the heat.

Saturday

Blend teams with computers, food, friends and surprises until the games are simmering.

Add toast and cereal, juice, tea and coffee.

Combine with the rest of the world and register teams and games.

Add Subway and snacks.

Continue simmering throughout the night, slowly increasing the heat. Media may be added at any stage during the process.

Add Indian.

Add Red Bull

Add sleep – don’t forget this ingredient. Your game will not rise without it. Bring warm bedding, earplugs for the soft sleepers and snuggle down for a break, dreams make games, don’t ya know?

Sunday

Additional toast, cereal, juice tea and coffee to be liberally applied at this point

10:30-12:30  Add another secret ingredient – this adds to the local flavour of the global game jam

Make sure all games are in the oven by 3.00pm

3:30pm  Tasting panel arrives

5:00pm  Time to clean down all jam cooking areas

6:00pm Retire to The Eagle Bar for dinner and drinks to await the tasters’ verdicts.

6:30ish Final presentations and thanks and stuff, farewells, and more very well deserved drinks.

2012 will be just the second time this recipe is made with the Melbourne Method, and we’re looking forward to experiencing the cooking and tasting the jam

Computers

Computers will be precooked to include:

Hardware

Intel Core i7
4Gb of ram
Widescreen LCD 20” ish.
DVD usb etc
GTX 260
KB + Mouse

 Software

Win 7 x64
Visual Studio 2010
XNA 4.0
Blender
MS Office
Firefox
IE
Chrome
Maya
3D Studio max

We’re still investigating licencing options for Photoshop

Add to that whatever you BYO that you have access to and permission for.

Remember:

“It is ok to use any freely available software with free versions like Unity, Shiva, Unreal, etc. We even go so far as to say that it is ok to use software that is easily accessible but not free; an example is the Source engine which is not free to download, but comes with any Valve game.

If someone has built their own engine it is best left up to the organizers’ discretion. Source code is not necessary, but you do need to provide headers and libraries, so that someone downloading the game can built it again from scratch.”

And of course, this recipe just wouldn’t be possible without a hearty dose of sponsorship, thanks again to La Trobe University (http://latrobe NULL.edu NULL.au) (Platinum Sponsor), AIE (http://aie NULL.edu NULL.au)(Gold Sponsor), Immersive Technologies (http://www NULL.immersivetechnologies NULL.com/) (Gold Sponsor), Microsoft Imagine Cup (http://www NULL.microsoft NULL.com/australia/imaginecup/) (Gold Sponsor),  Prize sponsors EA Australia (http://www NULL.ea NULL.com/au)and Sound Librarian (http://www NULL.stephanschutze NULL.com/sound-library NULL.html), and Indie sponsors The Voxel Agents, (http://www NULL.thevoxelagents NULL.com/) League of Geeks (http://www NULL.leagueofgeeks NULL.com/) and Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/).

All media and event enquiries can be emailed to giselle@igdamelbourne.org

Joel from Mnemonic Audio (http://www NULL.mnemonicaudio NULL.com/) has done an amazing job of distilling our ramble about the upcoming Global Game Jam at this week’s meet up.  If you’re looking for some can do sound help, talk to them because this podcast makes more sense than we did on the night!  50 minutes down to nine…and all of it highly relevant if you’re jamming in Melbourne this year…..enjoy! (and yes, I wish my voice were more suited to radio too, but Craig’s pretty dulcet)

IGDA 10Jan12 128 <————————– clickety, click, click!

Immersive Technologies promotional article

Serious Games – The exciting and growing alternative to the games industry

The serious games industry is an exciting alternative employer to the games/entertainment industry.

Immersive Technologies is the world’s largest and most proven supplier of surface and underground mining equipment simulators to the global mining industry. Similar to the advanced training simulators used by the aviation and military industries, our products are utilised to safely train mining equipment operators in the correct use of multi-million dollar equipment within a realistic virtual mining environment. Currently Immersive simulates over 70 different types and models of mining equipment, with customers in 30 countries around the world.

Gaming Software
Immersive Technologies uses software gaming technologies to build 3D virtual worlds and specialise in vehicle simulation and interactive terrains/materials. We also develop and produce the simulator hardware in-house, which includes 180 degree curved screens, head-tracking, and motion-feedback technologies. Our simulations are primarily developed using C++ with DirectX, and C# for the GUI front end.

Our talented team of software engineers follow an Agile development process and are committed to continuous improvement and following industry best practices.  We have virtually no “crunch time” thanks to our iterative based development, automated unit tests and ensuring that our nightly builds are of a quality that they could potentially be released to our customer base.

Immersive is a great place to learn!
We are always looking to develop the skills and abilities of our team through training, tech talks, web casts, study groups and compulsory code reviews. Every fortnight, we have a personal project Friday where everyone gets to work on their own projects and ideas.

We have a very social culture, with lunch outings, monthly beer and pizza, gaming nights and quarterly buffet lunches. Our social facilities include a pool table, Wii, dartboard and an awesome free coffee machine.

Immersive are always interested in talking to talented C++/C# developers with game or simulation backgrounds. We have already hired many developers and artists from the games industry including THQ, Interzone and Crytek. We are also very interested in high achieving graduates who have studied in areas such as Computer Science, Software Engineering, Games Technology, Mathematics and Physics.

The serious games industry is an exciting alternative to the entertainment industry. Immersive Technologies is a rapidly growing and stable company that works with the eight of the top ten largest mining companies in the world. You will receive exciting and varied work, job security, competitive pay, a friendly team environment and excellent working conditions. Best of all your projects very rarely get cancelled!

We will be sending one of our developers over to attend the Global Game Jam in Melbourne, so feel free to chat to him about the opportunities that exist at Immersive Technologies for you.

We are currently hiring so make sure you check out our website today!

http://www.immersivetechnologies.com/careers/softwaredevelopers.htm (http://www NULL.immersivetechnologies NULL.com/careers/softwaredevelopers NULL.htm)

See you are the Global Game Jam Melbourne 2012

Our first meet up for 2012 is this Tuesday 10 January from 6:30pm  at our old friend 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne (round the back)

The discussions for the evening will be about Global Game Jam, 27-29 January, and we welcome jam teams, individuals and all the usual suspects.

To kick off some team creation, and to help you easily know who does what, let’s wear our skills on our sleeve.  If it’s head to toe, or a feature item here’s the plan:

Wear the colours of your skill(s)

Programmer black/dark grey
Artist: green/blue
Designer: orange/yellow
Sound: red
Production: brown
Media: pink/purple

I hope the mixing and matching with your skills works out and look forward to seeing you there (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/#!/events/257533087647276/)

Welcome to 2012 – at IGDAM Central we’re starting with a bang and a jam.

Our first meetup for the year will be pre-jam at 1000 Pound Bend and will include info about game jam as well as a chance to catch up, so if you’re not planning to jam you’re still more than welcome.

When: Tuesday 10 January 6:30-10:00 pm

Where: 1000 Pound Bend, 361 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

The facebook event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/257533087647276/) is already up and running.

And then….we jam.

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors La Trobe University (http://latrobe NULL.edu NULL.au), Microsoft Australia (http://www NULL.imaginecup NULL.com/), AIE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au), Immersive Technologies (http://www NULL.immersivetechnologies NULL.com/), Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/), The Voxel Agents (http://www NULL.thevoxelagents NULL.com/), League of Geeks (http://www NULL.leagueofgeeks NULL.com/), EA Australia (http://www NULL.ea NULL.com/au) and The Sound Library (http://www NULL.stephanschutze NULL.com/) we will be part of the Global Game Jam on 27-29 January.  The first round of invitations to jam have been sent, and depending on responses and places available there will be another round in the coming week.

We’ve had an overwhelming response, with 150 registrations.  Unfortunately we can only accommodate 100 people, so if you are keen be sure to secure your spot as soon as possible.  Queries can be directed to giselle@igdamelbourne.org.

Apologies for the somewhat convoluted registration process, we’ll work on streamlining it and appreciate your patience and ability to fill out forms!

I’m sure there’s more to be said, but it’s New Year’s Day, not a day to tax the grey matter, so let’s say it on January 10th.

Hope to see you soon!