my first Gamejam :3
polycounter lvl 7
Starting next week I'm taking part in a 5-day gamejam organised by my university (Portsmouth), with over 90 participants!
Anyone done something similar and want to share their experiences? Any tips for me?
My team consists of me and one other guy - we're both artists and will aim to create something visually awesome in UDK but perhaps keeping inventive mechanics to a minimum... programming is not our strong point.
This is how it goes: on the first day we get 3 random wikipedia articles to base our game on, and build it from scratch. 5 days is not long, but I'm optimistic that the pressure will drive me to create something decent for my portfolio at least.
Also - people from a local game studio (Climax) will apparently be around to judge the entries - it's a chance to say hi and introduce myself...
I'm planning a workflow test run with my team mate before the event, and I'll make a thread here on polycount to display progress throughout the gamejam.
Any tips for this kind of thing - let me hear 'em!
Anyone done something similar and want to share their experiences? Any tips for me?
My team consists of me and one other guy - we're both artists and will aim to create something visually awesome in UDK but perhaps keeping inventive mechanics to a minimum... programming is not our strong point.
This is how it goes: on the first day we get 3 random wikipedia articles to base our game on, and build it from scratch. 5 days is not long, but I'm optimistic that the pressure will drive me to create something decent for my portfolio at least.
Also - people from a local game studio (Climax) will apparently be around to judge the entries - it's a chance to say hi and introduce myself...
I'm planning a workflow test run with my team mate before the event, and I'll make a thread here on polycount to display progress throughout the gamejam.
Any tips for this kind of thing - let me hear 'em!
Replies
I've done a 3-day jam before, and our team took 1st with a simple, yet 'refined' flash game. There were a couple of entries that used 3d engines, but most didn't really get anything of than a tech demo put together (although there was little puzzle game done in unity that turned out great, but visually, it was nothing more than primitives.)
Now the extra 2 days may play a big factor in the amount of refine time you can manage to make things look solid, but still, all that spread amongst 2 people is gonna be a lot.
I would take 15 min - 30 min at the beginning of each day to hammer out some goals for that session, and work in small sprints towards benchmarks to keep you going.
Take a break every once and a while, and most importantly, sleep when you need it.
Good luck sir, and have fun
marks - how do you know Dan Pinchbeck? I have never met the guy but I've heard he is a badass! Did you study at Portsmouth?
Firstly, Robat, you were so right. Portfolio-worthy artwork is not going to happen!
Today was the first day of Gamejam, me and my 2 team mates wasted most of the day coming up with an amazing idea only to be brought back down to earth in the realisation that it was way too complex. Our modified idea at this stage is to create a Looney Tunes stylised side scrolling platformer in UDK involving dangers such as falling anvils. If we have time, this may be expanded with alternative zones (sci fi, western, film noir) each with their own visual style achieved primarily through lighting and post-processing in UDK.
Lesson learnt today: KEEP IT VERY FUCKING SIMPLE.