IGDA Melbourne

Kieran ‘Cratesmith’ Lord and friends have gone on a jam making frenzy! They are running a jam a month, each one with its own unique elements and constraints.

#22Jams02 kicks of at the end of June and the theme is ‘Jam like a Ponycorn’. If you’ve not played Sissy’s Magical Ponycorn Adventure (http://ponycorns NULL.com/), check it out now. It was made by a father and daughter team, and is her first jammed game. So in the interests of bringing more people into the world of game development each team needs at least one participant who hasn’t made a game before.

The first of the 22 jams had teams around the world and you can see what they made and sign up for this month’s jam at the 22 Jams website (http://22jams NULL.com/?paged=2).

Tuesday 12 February saw around 200 people gather at 1000 Pound Bend to play jammed games, catch up and find out who won this year’s awards.  It was a sensational night to celebrate the creation of games and friendships at Global Game Jam 2013. (photo courtesy of David Doe)

And the awards went to:

Best Game: You’ve got red on you (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/youve-got-red-you)

Runner Up,  Best Game: Moth Kidz (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/moth-kidz)

Most Original: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Runner Up, Most Original: Presenting Professor Lamarkridge’s Amazing Zoological Cardio-transplantotron!  (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/professor-lamarkridges-amazing-zoological-cardio-transplantotron)

Best Gameplay: Heart of Zarar (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-zarar)

Runner Up, Best Gameplay: Heart on Your Sleeve (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-your-sleeve)

Best Art: Endless Lovers (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/endless-lovers)

Runner Up, Best Art: Heart Strings (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-strings)

Runner Up,  Best Art: World of Love (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/world-love)

Most Accessible:  WrongBot (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/wrongbot)

Runner Up, Most Accessible: Pump (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/pump)

Runner Up, Most Accessible: Samurai XX (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/samurai-xx)

Rising Star Award: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Best Audio: Doki Doki (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/doki-doki)

Runner Up,  Best Audio: Traffic Crisis 2040 (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/traffic-crisis-2040)

Runner Up, Best Audio: Little Red Riding Hood (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/little-red-hiding-hood)

Best New Talent:  Heart Strings (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/heart-strings)

Runner Up, Best New Talent: Bowie (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/bowie)

Runner Up, Best New Talent: Dark Organism (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/dark-organism)

Best Teamwork: We all win with Congratulations (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/congratulations)

Runner Up, Best Teamwork: U DED (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/2013/u-ded)

Thanks to PAX Australia the winners of Best Game and Most Accessible Game, along with the first runner up for Accessible Game (Pump!) have scored themselves three day passes to PAX!

The Rising Star award includes written feedback from Straight Right as to how Traffic Crisis 2040 could be further developed and a variety of winners also took home iTunes gift cards.

Thanks again to all our sponsors – please visit their sites and let them know their contributions are appreciated via twitter and stuff;

AIE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)

Autodesk (http://www NULL.autodesk NULL.com NULL.au/)

Straight Right (http://straightright NULL.net/)

Windows Azure (http://www NULL.windowsazure NULL.com/en-us/)

FMOD (http://www NULL.fmod NULL.org/)

Redpoint Software (http://www NULL.redpointsoftware NULL.com NULL.au/)

Ruma Studios (http://www NULL.rumastudios NULL.com/)

Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/)

And last, but by no means least, so many people helped out in the planning and running of the event – you guys rock!

If you or your company are interested in supporting next year’s jam with a location, sponsorship or assistance we’d love to hear from you, you can email giselle@igdamelbourne.org to discuss possibilities.

Last weekend saw around 130 game developers plus media, volunteers and supporters, descend on the Academy of Interactive Entertainment in Melbourne House to make games over the course of the weekend to make games. And oh, what games were made and fun was had!

By Sunday afternoon 37 games had made their way into the world and the tasting panel (we don’t want to judge) was impressed with what they saw.

This was all part of the Global Game Jam, which had 320 sites across 63 countries jamming games for a weekend, which is a rather incredible thing when you stop to think about it.

There’s still processing to be done on my part before a full review of the weekend is possible (along with some more sleep probably) but pictures speak volumes so we’ll go with that for now.

With the number of games and the exhaustion of the jammers – this year we’re doing things a little differently.

Jammers and non-jammers alike are invited to see the fruits of the j… jam of the fru…. come and check out the games and join us for some awards and celebrations at Thousand Pound Bend on Tuesday 12 Febraury from 6.30pm. So come along and check out the amazing stuff made in Melbourne in under 48 hours.  Here’s the facebook event (https://www NULL.facebook NULL.com/events/331113630327800/) to help with number guesstimates.

If you can’t wait that long to play all the gamey goodness, you can download them from the GGJ website (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/sites/2013/igdamjam-melbourne/games).

Here’s a glimpse of what went on in the old Atari building last weekend:

On top of everything else at this weekend’s Global Game Jam, in Melbourne we’ll be adding some accessibility diversifiers to open up the games to players with different needs and abilities. A diversifier is aimed at diversifying the games as well as providing motivation for experienced game jammers. In a sense, the diversifiers are a free-for-all voluntary list of secondary constraints, that the individual teams can choose to go for, or not, as they please. If they do go for one or more diversifiers, they get to tick off those diversifiers as fulfilled when uploading their game.

As fantastic motivation for creating accessible games, be it for players with hearing, visual, motor or cognitive impairments, PAX Australia (http://aus NULL.paxsite NULL.com/) has donated a three day pass for the most accessible game!

UPDATE: PAX Australia has contacted us since this post, and has extended their offer so that the entire team will get a PAX pass! (The iTunes vouchers will now move to another prize area).

A final Gold sponsor has also jumped on board – welcome Windows Azure (http://www NULL.windowsazure NULL.com/en-us/).  They have some new game development software they’d like feedback on – more information on this when details are finalised.

Tin Man Games (http://tinmangames NULL.com NULL.au/blog/) are looking after our coffee supplies and EA have kicked in some goodies for prizes.

Media and sponsor enquiries are welcome, please email giselle@igdamelbourne.org for further information or to arrange a press pass.

Disclaimer: I’m writing this on Christmas Eve as a mother of two, so it’s a casual post I’m in a first person mood, please be kind on any typos or grammatical errors. – giselle

First and foremost I’d like to wish all of the amazing IGDAM community; the organisers, speakers, regular Tuesday nighters, sometimes Tuesday nighters, jammers, GCAPers, online community, supporters and friends and their family and loved ones (phew! you’re all wonderful) a very happy and safe festive season. Thank you for making the local (and in some cases international) game development scene what it is. I hope your involvement will continue and strengthen into the future, just like prospects for making great games in Melbourne are.

It’s difficult to get reflective about another incredible year of IGDAM with Global Game Jam starting in one month, so  that needs to be the first rant; and I’m going to have a bit of a yell;

GLOBAL GAME JAM – 25-27 JANUARY 2013  (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/)

AIE MELBOURNE (http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)

FIND OUT ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT REGISTERING HERE.

“The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world’s largest game jam event. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we could come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games… while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle.” – GGJ website

This will be our third Melbourne jam, with sites also running across 232 sites globally at time of writing, including Adelaide, Canberra, Perth and Sydney to name a few.

We’re in a new venue near town this year, and are grateful for the work AIE are putting in and the space their offering to continue the Melbourne jam, which is close to town for an Australia Day weekend jam! (I’d recommend a firework break be scheduled into plans.) Places are filling so please don’t miss out and don’t be shy – if you want to know more about it join our facebook group.

SPONSORS:

Site sponsor

(http://www NULL.aie NULL.edu NULL.au/)

Without sponsors, there’d be no showers, food or facilities and without  AIE we’d be homeless.

Gold sponsor

(http://straightright NULL.net/)

Straight Right are Gold Sponsors and will also be giving the Rising Star award in the form of valuable industry feedback on how to take your game further in terms of art, code and promotion.

Silver sponsors

FMOD are again back and being wonderful again despite the fact that I’m having difficulty locating a logo in the right format or something (I mentioned informal about this post, yeah?)

(http://www NULL.redpointsoftware NULL.com NULL.au/)

Redpoint Software are backing up their BBQ sponsorship with a game jam sponsorship – thank you so much!

And everyone involved in the BBQ has also helped towards this event, so thanks all.

And finally, the dark horses at the moment include Autodesk who I’m still working on the final details and will update this post when they’re sorted (it doesn’t help I ‘work’ ridiculous hours and they tend for the office hours), but they’ve always been lovely in the past so I’m sure there will be thank you’s to be said.

There’s a few other sponsors I’m hoping to secure, mostly to cover security costs it seems, which is a little frustrating but it is what it is, and I’ll let you know who and what when I do.

Oh my it’s almost Christmas and there’s still so much to say…I mean #gamesfund, and PAX Australia and GCAP and Freeplay and I haven’t even mentioned the actual next event yet which I’ve fondly named PRE – with Kumobius pre-launching Time Surfer and the pre-game jam meet on Tuesday 8 January at 1000 Pound Bend – I’ll try to post more comprehensively soon, but it’s the usual drill but with a game prelaunch, as Time Surfer is due for release Thursday 10 January.

Ok, Christmas has ticked over and Santa won’t be able to visit me while I’m awake, so I’d best call it a night.

Thanks again for making IGDAM what it is, I look forward to being involved and watching it grow and evolve into the future.

Cheers,

Giselle

First the tunes…

For the first time, Global Game Jam will have it’s own radio station. GGJ Radio will run from the start of the jam in New Zealand to the end of the jam in Hawaii.  If you’re interested in DJ’ing one of the 72 slots available you can register your interest by emailing radio@globalgamejam.org (radio null@null globalgamejam NULL.org). For further information visit the Global Game Jam website (http://globalgamejam NULL.org/news/2012/12/09/ggj-2013-call-djs).

Don’t forget there’s also the local logo competition closing Wednesday 26 December - now with bonus BBQ t-shirt! and registrations are open for jammers.

Then the visitors…

We love visitors!

If you’re interested in attending as media, would like to volunteer to help out for a bit but don’t plan on jamming, or are part of the local games sector  and would like to visit during the weekend please email giselle@igdamelbourne.org (giselle null@null igdamelbourne NULL.org).

And finally the jammers, never forget the jammers…

Registrations are open – to secure your spot visit the Eventbrite page (http://igdamjam13 NULL.eventbrite NULL.com NULL.au/) – we’ll have some sponsor announcements soon too, that are sure to sweeten the deal.

In case I don’t manage another update before Tuesday, all the best to you and yours for a fun, enjoyable, relaxing and safe holiday season. Thanks for being part of such an amazing community and I’m looking forward to the developments in development in 2013.

We’re on the search for a logo for the Melbourne Global Game Jam.

File requirements: PDF or EPS format, min 300dpi

Deadline: Midnight Melbourne time,  26 December 2012.

To submit your logo for consideration or for further information email giselle@globalgamejam.org your logo. Who knows where it might end up!

The winner will be chosen by a panel and score a free ticket (or a refund if you’ve already paid beforehand) to the jam and gloating rights.