A selection of newly conserved games from the Melbourne Global Game Jam will be available for your sampling pleasure at the next IGDAM meet up.  Please note the unusual date (didn’t want to cramp Valentine’s plans) and venue (the bend was already booked).

When: Tuesday 21 February from 6pm

Where: The Order of Melbourne (think Freeplay afterparty venue and you’re set)

Some of the games for your tasting pleasure include:

Omelette Boris, Purgatory, Circle of Snake, Faia, Harmonize, Hairy Cat Holocaust (please play on mute), Deep and many, many more….

If you could let us know if you’re coming via the facebook event it’d be much appreciated.

Jammers, please register your game for display so we can save you a space and have someone set up by 6pm at The Order.

The jam was a massive success with over 100 jammers creating 28 games in just 48 hours. We couldn’t have achieved this without the generous support of our sponsors….We owe enormous thanks in particular to our Platinum Sponsor La Trobe Universityfor allowing us to use their campus grounds to host all of the jammers. They were generous in providing us with five computer labs and a workstation for every jammer, as well as internet access and use of their amenities. The Game Jam would not have been possible without this venue.All of the jammers were delighted to hear from Myles who explained Gold Sponsor Microsoft’s Imagine Cup, which is certainly of interest to all of these jammers. The generous financial support given by Microsoft also provided a solid meal and snacks that fueled the creative minds.We also owe significant thanks to our other Gold Sponsors the Academy of Interactive Entertainment and Immersive Technologiesfor their generous financial assistance. Their support allowed us to provide meals and some fun distractions to relieve the jammers from 48 hours of relentless development. The game jam would not have been possible without their early support.

All the jammers also owe many thanks to our Prize Sponsors EA Aus

tralia,Stephan Shutze’s Sound Librarian, Surprise Attack amd StormFX for their generous donation of prizes including a copy of the Stephan’s sound library, valued at $2000 for the best game audio, a half day branding and marketing workshop for the most surprising game, as well as JB giftcards and a terrific selection of EA games and merchandise.

Finally, cheers to our  Indie Sponsors Tin Man Games, The League of Geeks, and The Voxel Agents who provided some financial support and who were also incredibly generous with their time in helping organise, run, and judge the jam. Particular thanks are also due to Ben Britten-Smith of Tin Man Games who provided valuable mentorship to the jammers.

Hope to see you at The Order

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: 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

Sean Affleck: (audio)

@clickclique

Matt Scorah: (art)

@scozdawg

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

Most Fun:

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 by Aaron Cox, Matthew Dodd and Daniel Su

Tarty Art:

Whirlstrom by Shelley, Bianca Gibson, Alex Fraser and Campbell Barton

Farty Art:

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 (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://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/melbournes-global-game-jam-2012-is-set-and-the-tasters-verdict-is-in/feed/ 1 http://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/tasters-are-polishing-their-spoons-game-jam-starts-this-friday/ http://igdamelbourne.org/2012/01/tasters-are-polishing-their-spoons-game-jam-starts-this-friday/#comments Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:55:13 +0000 giselle http://igdamelbourne.org/?p=1411

The Global Game Jam is  primarily 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, and veteran 48 Hour jammer.

Ben Britten, Technical Director at Tin Man Games and international man of mystery.

Trent Kusters, ‘Creative Director’ at Divisive Media and ‘Founder & Director’ at  League of Geeks who always smells nice.

Craig Duturbure, Creative Director at Grapple Gun Games 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 for iPad on the App Store.

Katie Williams, freelance writer, Kotaku Australia, Hyper and PCPP and lover of inflatable strawberries.

Sam Mayo, Community Manager at Firemint 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 ™. 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

Smoothest Jam  (best teamwork): More swag from  EA Australia  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 and take it from there.

On Thursday 2 Feb 2012 Kumobius 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 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 (Platinum Sponsor), AIE (Gold Sponsor), Immersive Technologies (Gold Sponsor), Microsoft Imagine Cup (Gold Sponsor),  Prize sponsors EA Australia and Sound Librarian, and Indie sponsors The Voxel Agents, League of Geeks and Tin Man Games.

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

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 is already up and running.

And then….we jam.

Thanks to our wonderful sponsors La Trobe University, Microsoft Australia, AIE, Immersive Technologies, Tin Man Games, The Voxel Agents, League of Geeks, EA Australia and The Sound Library 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!

The Melbourne Global Game Jam, running at La Trobe University Bundoora 27-29 January 2012, is stoked to have the support of  The Voxel Agents and Tin Man Games.

Tin Man Games, the creators of the compelling Gamebook Adventures series are stalwarts for the IGDAM community. Neil’s no holds barred expose on the business life and financials of being indie was a memorable evening for it’s candour, humour and stark reality of indie dev life.

Ben Britten, Technical Director of Tin Man Games is a regular at IGDAM events.  ”The Melbourne indie-dev community has always been incredibly supportive of Tin Man Games.  Even though we are still small we feel like it is important to make sure we try to give back whenever we can.

“Also, game jams are awesome.”  Added Ben.

The Voxel Agents have recently ported their hit game Train Conductor 2

to Android, with a lot of bug testing QA supported by the IGDAM community and are continuing their involvement in game jams. Agent Tom Killen was part of the winning team at the Fabulous 48 Hour in Brisbane earlier in the year, heading up there especially for the jam.  Never one to miss a jamming opportunity, Agent Tom will be getting his jam on come Australia Day weekend.

Registrations of interest in jamming close on New Year’s Eve and it’s looking to be a great jam, with an exciting range or skills and experience signing up.  If you’re keen, and you haven’t already REGISTER INTEREST HERE.  Once you’ve done that we’ll be in touch by email with just a few more questions.  Jammers will be notified at the start of January once the head’s cleared from celebrations.

Have a safe and happy Christmas and New Year, bring on 2012, it’s exciting!

Melbourne game makers are preparing to show the world the talent we have here down under by locking themselves up for 48 hours and rapidly prototyping some game designs to share their great ideas with the world. More than 80 game developers are expected to jam at La Trobe University in Bundoora on the Australia Day weekend to be part of this global event.

The IGDA Global Game Jam is an annual international game development weekend.  The 2012 Global Game Jam runs 27-29 January and starts at 5pm in each time zone.  More locally there could be as many as ten public jam sites in Australia and New Zealand, including Sydney and Wellington and Wollongong.  Game Developers of varying skill levels get together for 48 hours and make a game from start to finish. The focus is on having fun, being creative, and improving their ability to make the games that everyone loves.

At the time of writing 47 locations & 1204 jammers registered worldwide for Global Game Jam 2012.  In 2011 over 1500 games were made in 174 locations spanning 44 countries in a truly global event.

Game Developers of varying skill levels get together for 48 hours and make a game from start to finish. The focus is on having fun, being creative, and improving our ability to make the games that everyone loves.

Registrations of interest are being accepted for the Melbourne Global Game Jam hosted by IGDAM and La Trobe University, until the end of 2011 at http://igdamelbourne.org/2011/12/game-jam-returns-january-27-19-2012-thanks-to/ so if you make games and love a challenge in a fun and supportive environment you can register as a team or individual.

Giselle Rosman, Coordinator of IGDAM says “The game jam is a weekend of crazy, creative, sleep deprived games development.  I’d encourage novices and studio veterans alike to get their jam on.   Thanks to La Trobe University, AIE and Immersive Technologies we will be doing it all again from 27th to the 29th January 2012. We had a lot to learn in our first year so I’m looking forward to the amazing displays of team work, creativity and sheer guts and determination involved in the experience that is Jamming.”

What happened at last year’s Melbourne Jam?

At Melbourne’s inaugural Global Game Jam, all 73 participants were guests of La Trobe University. It was a magnificent turnout, one of the largest in the world which just goes to show the depth of talent and creative flair and enthusiasm that we have available here in Melbourne. Participants formed into teams on the first day and came up with a large number of creative game ideas. Each team created their concept and worked through the night rapidly creating playable versions of their games.

For the first time ever, Melbourne participated in the Global Game Jam in January of this year. 18 games were made by 73 participants, including “Ultra Happy Death Virus” which was voted by the panel of industry experts to be the best game made at that jam. UHDV can be played on the WinnitronAu at the Mana Bar in Melbourne and  other prototypes created over a creatively gruelling two days have been also been developed further.

Global Game Jam announces a theme and constraints and each team creates a game from start to finish in just a weekend.  Some jammers come in teams, and other teams are formed at the jam.  It is a great opportunity for game makers to expand their skills, meet likeminded developers, and have a fun time. Designers, artists, and coders are all welcome!

Want to know more? Here’s a bit more background for you

Here is some more background information:

http://pc.mmgn.com/Articles/Global-Game-Jam-Melbourne-Repo

http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/games/blogs/screenplay/melbourne-game-makers-get-jammin-20110127-1a65b.html

http://palgn.com.au/18063/igda-global-game-jam-melbourne-winners-announced/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Game_Jam

It’s been in the works for a while, but thanks to La Trobe University, The Academy of Interactive Entertainment (AIE) and Immersive Technologies, Global Game Jam returns to Melbourne in 2012.

La Trobe Uni are on board again to be venue sponsors as they host us amongst the moats, ducks and well air conditioned labs.

We are pleased to announce AIE and Immersive Technologies have pledged Gold sponsorship and ensured the #igdamjam’s living to jam another year.

For 48 hours over the weekend of Jan 27-29 a group of around 80 game designers, developers and artists – both amateur and professional – will come together for an intensive Jam Session, forming small creative teams to design and prototype innovative game ideas. We provide the space, the tools you need and even catering. You make the games, and the IP stays with you!

It’s going be a fun weekend, but we also hope it can be something more. We want to stimulate the game development scene in Australia. We have the talent, the creativity and the resources to create a truly Australian games industry, we just need the initiative to give it a go.

After the inaugral Melbourne Jam held at La Trobe in Bundoora, we are looking forward to a slicker, smoother weekend still full of all the crazy creative energy of 2011.

We’re still on the lookout for sponsors – that would ensure less noodles, more nom get in touch and spread the word if you can help out.  All sponsorship is used for catering and equipment.

Updates to come, but spots are filling fast so don’t miss out registering your interest.

All media and other enquiries should be directed to info@igdamelbourne.org

We’ll be busy on twitter and we’ve even got a game jam specific facebook group

If you or your company are interested in supporting the growth of local game development, game jam is the ideal opportunity for grass roots support.

IGDA Melbourne will be running game jam for the second time in 2012 and whilst we’re very good at working with shoestring budgets, devs need to eat.

Please get in touch with Giselle [giselle at igdamelbourne dot org]  for your copy of the prospectus outlining sponsorship opportunities.

Tell your colleagues, school boss and friends, hell, tell ya mum, she might be keen to help out.