A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to participate in a 24hour GameJam event at Full Sail University. If you are unsure what a GameJam is, let me break it down for you real quick. A GameJam, usually 24 or 48 hours, is a mentally and physically intensive game creation session aimed at creating workable games within a specific time frame. You are usually separated into teams and each team will work on a specific game or modifying the game that was originally conceptualized. You don't sleep and you don't stop until the game is either done, or the time is up. By the end of the event, you will either have a game or not, but you will have gained a greater understanding of what it takes to create and develop games.
The GameJam I participated in was of a unique adventure. One thing you most likely will need when developing a game is a programmer. Someone to take the idea and make it into reality. This is extremely important. If you do not have a programmer, your options quickly diminish. This was our dilemma. We have a bunch of artists and directors but no programmers. The individual who threw the event had some programming knowledge and another instructor did as well, so we weren't totally in the black, but we weren't out of the woods either.
With the lack of programmers, we began to brainstorm on potential game ideas. Several concepts were thrown out there, many of them shot down due to the lack of PROGRAMMERS! So what did we do? We went old school. Well, not really old school, but definitely not the most popular option. We started toying with the idea of creating a board game. But, we didn't want to create just any board game, we needed something that has not been done before. We thought, how cool would it be to involve some aspect of social networking to the board game. With this thought in everyone's noggin, the ideas began to flood out of our mouths. By the end of the brainstorm, everyone was soaking wet from all the thinking. We did, however, have the idea and were ready to develop it.
How many revisions does it take to make a game work? I don't know, I lost count after 20. After the brainstorm, we went into a new room, one much larger than the previous. I guess it was to hold all big ideas we had pouring out of our heads. Once we got settled in, work started. We were separated into teams: art, programming, art, and art. Since we had a bunch of artists, we knew that even if the game didn't make it, it was going to look like the best game on earth. I was responsible for creating the actual mat, or board, for the game. What was this game about you ask? Well, the final version is about you, stuck in a mine, with the end goal to flip over all of the cards on the game board (getting out of the mine). You had fun, there was adventure and there were even prizes. Sorry, no little girls needed to be rescued. What made this game different, however, was that you couldn't move without telling Mr. Twitter. Once you told Mr. Twitter where you landed, Mr. Twitter would tell you if you found a prize under that specific card you landed on. Oh, I forgot to mention the game board itself is dictated by Mr. Twitter and you must setup the board based on what Mr. Twitter says. He will give you a specific order to setup the game cards. The game is so ridiculous, it's fun. Not only fun, but you want to keep playing.
Stuck with the short end of the stick, our GameJam session was left with little options on what to create. That, however, was not a problem for us and we were able to create a pretty awesome alpha version of a epically addicting game. With a bit more work and revision, you can expect to see this game coming to a local store shelf. We will keep you updated on where and how you can buy it.
