46 / wfmag.cc
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxInterface
Andrew Reist continued to
develop his drink-fetching
(and throwing) action game
Coffee Bug after the jam
had finished.
A game jam project that
eventually became a
commercial release – and a
cult favourite: Goat Simulator.Siegel isn’t just a hands-off executive, either,
and has regularly taken part in jams himself.
“I make it a point to participate each year – I
need to remember what it’s like on the ground
floor,” he says. “This past Global Game Jam,
we created a ridiculous VR climbing game
influenced by [Bennett Foddy’s indie platformer]
Getting Over It. Mechanically, the game played
terribly, and we purposefully made the trailer
so unrelated to the game no-one understood it
when we presented. Even though the game was
silly beyond belief, the experience was great,
and late nights laughing and connecting with the
team is a memory I’ll hold on to.”
Most of all, Siegel is keen to point out
just how useful game jams are for quickly
prototyping new and sometimes curious ideas.
“Goat Simulator is always my go-to example of a
company using an internal jam to come out with
a success,” Siegel says. “It was ridiculous and fun
right from the beginning. Jams are great ways
to test single mechanics to see if they have that
innate fun factor. If the gameplay loop is fun
from only 48 hours of development, you know
you have a winning title.”FULL OF BEANS
In July 2018, indie developer Andrew Reist took
part in the brilliantly named Miss Myu’s Coffee
Jam, where he made a game called Coffee Bug.
It sees players collecting drinks to take back
to a café, though said
drinks are also handy
for throwing at enemies.
For Reist, game jams
are a “great way to find
interesting developers
and force yourself to
hit a deadline” – which is why, since he started
his studio, Eggnog, in January 2017, game jams
like Coffee Jam and Ludum Dare have become a
regular fixture on his calendar.
“I usually try to finish ahead of time, but I
almost always end up doing some work on the
last day,” Reist says of his game jam experiences.
“It’s tempting to make the most of every minute,
but it’s not a healthy habit to get into! Since my
first Ludum Dare – which was very stressful – I’ve
forced myself to be a little more relaxed. Jams
are self-imposed, so if you miss the deadline,
it’s not a big deal. Cut your design doc in half,
stay hydrated, and have fun.”“Cut your design doc
in half, stay hydrated,
and have fun”for each “like” he received on the platform,
Crowley wrote a description of a game that
didn’t exist. Over the course of a two-day jam,
employees in teams of three then created
games based on those descriptions. Seapuncher,
Pub Fighter Architect and Wrestle Chess were
among the imaginatively titled games brought to
life during the event.
Game jams are, therefore, an established
part of the games industry by now – and what’s
more, they’re growing. Ludum Dare’s first game
jam attracted just 18 entrants; by 2018, it was
receiving upwards of 2500 submissions per
event. Meanwhile, the number of game jams
taking place around the planet is also building.ORGANISED CHAOS
Based in California and growing in popularity
over the past decade, Global Game Jam was
directly inspired by the groundwork laid by the
likes of Nordic Game Jam and Ludum Dare.
According to its executive director Seven Siegel,
the Global Game Jam “caught on like wildfire,”
with its debut event in 2009 attracting 1650
participants across 53 locations around the
world. Since then, the numbers have increased,
with events now held in such varied places as
Kenya and Kazakhstan.
“Global Game Jam
2018 had 42,811
participants across
803 locations in 108
countries,” Siegel
enthuses. “Over the past
decade, we’ve seen Global Games Jam start entire
game development communities – we want to
help every country have its own game dev scene.”
Each Global Game Jam takes place over a
weekend, with themes for each event chosen
“in secret by an appointed group of committee
members,” according to Siegel. “We give them
free rein to come up with the best theme they
can. Even I don’t know what the theme is before
the keynote comes out – which is good, because
I’m bad at keeping things hidden. Personally, the
more abstract, the better, for me. I love it when
a single sound clip or image can evoke such
different games.”Time Crisis: The creative benefits of game jamsInterface