Time marches on. Progress tries to keep up.

Many teams have reached different stages in their game, and their work over the next few hours will determine whether their efforts will be continuing late into the night or not.

Team Treelings

Team Treelings is one of the teams that's quite ahead of the game, and their game has already reached a fairly polished point. Using the remaining time in the Game Jam, they'll likely be expanding their game with additional features and refinements.

Team Need Artists Inc.

Working away diligently, Team Need Artists Inc. has excelled at breaking down their teams' tasks and ensuring everyone has an important - and unique - role. Currently, Steve Pugh is off collecting sound effects while Nathan works on 3D modelling, Matthew (left) codes and Brad (right) composes a soundtrack for the game.

Team One Tonne Punch

With mentor Mitch Lagran (far right) looking on, the assorted members of One Tonne Punch discuss their evening efforts. As it stands, the 8-man team has actually been working on TWO different ideas: one based on the details of the original paper prototype, and the other a revisied version of the original paper prototype.

Team Scorched Physics

Bardia and Andres of the 3-man Scorched Physics have, apparently, not much left to do. Left with debugging and calibrating their program, the team has completed their interface, art and core gameplay. Looks like they could very well be one of the first teams to finish and post their game.

Team Blobboy

From left to right, Andrew, Peter and Bruce remain in high spirits as they continue to compile all the different elements of their game into the final executable. They're concept, a platformer, is utilizing a slew of animations and art that they'll need to integrate together for the final product.

Break Time

Things have been pretty steady the last few hours. Many teams (and myself included) have left for a dinner break, and enjoying a reprieve from the fast-paced development demanded from the Game Jam. Other teams are just returning from their breaks (which also includes myself) and getting back to the action.

BLOGGER encounters PROTOTYPES!

As the participants march on through the evening, some prototypes begin to emerge. A prototype from Team Treelings, shown above, is being tested by the team's artist Rachel Curtis. The team is really focused on getting the core game created and functional before expanding and elaborating their design, which seems to be easily within their grasp at the moment.

Team Needs Artists Inc., shown above, is working away on the details of their prototype. Comprising of programmers and designers, the four man team found themselves . . . well, needing artists, forcing their team members to step up to the task of modelling the 3D images they'll need for their Unity-based game.

Games begin to appear!

A quick look at the Game Browser page of the Global Game Jam site shows that some teams from Israel have posted their finished games. Looks like we'll have some samples of work from around the globe very shortly.

Interview: Mitch Lagran, mentor

A brief interview with Mitch Lagran, one of the invited mentors for the Vancouver Game Jam.

Cody Church: So could start by introducing yourself and stating your profession?

Mitch Lagran: Sure, I'm Mitch Lagran and I'm a game designer and game artist at Koolhaus Games.

CC: So, what's your opinion on the Game Jam so far? As one of the invited mentors, have you had a chance to really get in there and offer some advice?

ML: Oh yeah, I've been constantly checking out all their work, and it's looking pretty awesome so far. They all seem to know their stuff quite well, so I haven't had to show them too much. I mean, some of the guys that are participating are seniors to me, so . . .

CC: Given that, have you noticed anything interesting in the approaches that the participants have taken in the Game Jam so far?

ML: Sort of. What I find interesting is actually in how different the teams are. Right from when they started making the teams and we ended up where most of the artists were on team, and another team where they were all programmers, and there's the team of 8, the team of 3, just the variety of it and how they all deal with it . . . I find it really interesting. One big team has a set project manager, and then some of the smaller teams just seem to do it by communal agreement. I haven't noticed too many trends between the teams, since they're all doing their own things.

CC: Is there anything from the Game Jam that you notice has a direct parallel to how game development works in the real world?

ML: Ah, well, it pretty much works just like it in that somebody pitches an idea and gets everyone else on board. You've got your idea, then after that most of the teams did proper pre-production and paper prototypes, planned it out, made schedules, and divided up the work just as you would in professional game development. It was all pretty much done on par with the industry work process.

CC: You'd expressed before that you'd been interested in participating. What had you been looking forward to experiencing had you been a participant?

ML: Oh, just making a game really quickly. I'm really into the idea behind rapid prototyping and just making ideas really quickly and efficiently. Rather than making a fully finished product, just trying to get a cool and creative idea out there. I love this kind of thing, and that's what really got me interested in it. Propaganda Games did a 'mini-game' week awhile ago. They basically just got the entire company to stop work on any current games and, for a week, they divided everyone up into teams of 5 to 8 and in that one week everyone there had to create a full game. Very similar to this. It was like their own Game Jam. And apparently it had quite an effect on everybody there. I really like that sort of idea of just creative craziness, do whatever you want as fast as you can. It's really useful.

CC: I guess the pressure really helps people figure out where their priorities lie.

ML: Exactly. You basically cull all the fat off it and get it boiled down to whatever little bits people think is most important for that.

CC: One final question . . . is there anything in your experience in professional game development that you can share with the participants that's not common knowledge?

ML: Just the overarching game production. Until you actually made games and worked on full project and completed it . . . knowing how to program or model or anything like that is meaningless if you can't actually put it into play in a full production. And it shows: the teams in the there that have industry experienced-people tend to be very organized and understand the production flow. Some of the teams weren't sure how to even divy up their work properly or how to compile everything together. I think the biggest thing is just knowing how to work with the team and coordinate a team to get a project completed.

CC: All right, Mitch, thank you very much for your time.

Observation: Paper Prototyping

A continued and essential step in development here, paper prototyping continued to be used by teams throughout the Game Jam to establish structure, fine tune mechanics, and design level layout and puzzles. Those with very detailed paper prototypes use them as a reference for development of most of their game, ensuring they are following the exact specs they originally laid down in early planning. Paper prototyping is an element constantly stressed in the game development courses at my school, SFU, and it's interesting to see just how universal that belief is.

Above, Bruce McLavy, Andrew Pope, Peter Gao and Samppa V. Raski of team Blobboy concentrate on their level designs.

Observations: Proceeding Steadily

While a couple teams are still working on tweaking and developing specific aspects of their design, but for the most part teams seem to have swiftly and efficiently moved onto implementation of their core mechanics. Despite the relative unfamiliarity these participants have with one another, professionalism and camaraderie seem to have prevailed above all else, allowing teams to define distinct roles and quickly synchronize their efforts into achieving this particularly stressful goal.

Each team has seemed to identify the specialities of each team member, allowing members to avoid overlap and wasted time . . . which is a precious commodity as we approach the 24 hour mark in the event.

Some teams have already established a clear hierarchy for their efforts. Team Treelings (Jeremy Gibson, Steve Danic, Ashley Blacquiere, Rachel Curtis, Nels Anderson) has decided to focus on their core game mechanics before venturing further additions or design elements. They have, however, stated that they've considered optional ideas that go beyond their core mechanics. They are fully prepared to implement them, but not before they've ensured they have a solid deliverable they can fall back on for Sunday at 5 PM.

Start of Day 2

Good morning, Crono!

We're starting day 2 here at the Vancouver Game Jam, where many of the participants have arrived bright and early (earlier than your's truly, who was the equipment watchdog last night until 5 AM. Thankfully, a late night viewing of Blade Runner kept myself and fellow participant Peter Gao entertained.)





And with the morning, came the breakfast! A generous pile of muffins, scones and fruit was consumed by the ravenous masses, partnered with coffee and fruit punch. That'll have to hold over the participants until this afternoon, at which time they'll be breaking for lunch in the streets of downtown Vancouver.

End of Day 1

Well, that's it for today. With only team Need Artists Inc. remaining, this evening's development is winding down as people head home for the night. They'll be enjoying a nice, pleasant sleep . . . and I'll be here, watching after the equipment, until my shift ends at 5 AM.

Which is just about 5 hours from now.

Oh boy. Fun times.

Working Away

In the foreground: team Blobboy (Andrew Pope, Samppa V. Raski, Andrew Osborne, Bruce mcLavy, Peter Gao, Andre Gagne) is working away on getting a digital repository and ensuring the entire team is equipped with the all the right tools to be able to efficiently send content between one another.

In the background, team Scorched Physics (Alex Lorimer, Bardia Aghabeygi , Andres Wanner) is ambitiously trying to work with XNA, the Xbox360 development platform, to an altered version of their gravity-based pitch. They, too, are spending much of their time getting the software setup for future use, but have also been developing level layouts for their game design.

Interview: Dan Taylor, mentor

A brief interview with Dan Taylor, one of the invited mentors for the Vancouver Game Jam.

Cody Church: So could you please introduce yourself? Your name and profession?

Dan Taylor: Sure. My name's Dan Taylor, I'm a game designer. I used to work at EA where I worked on Medal of Honour and EA Sports Interactive.


CC: So what kind of work did you do at EA?

DT: At EA I kind of ran the level design team on Medal of Honour, which was pretty exciting, and I did a lot of the prototyping for kind of sporty fitness based gaming on the Wii.

CC: Do you still do much of that now: more of the same?

DT: The last game I was working on was rather top secret, but I'm kind of a bit freelance now given the slightly fluid status of employment at EA.

CC: Yes, with the economy as it is, despite the industry doing very well there are unfortunately a lot of studios with very fluid work.

DT: Yes. Or fortunately so, depending on which way you look at it.

CC: So what's your opinion on the Game Jam? It's the first time it's come to Vancouver, despite the fact it's been done for several years around the world.

DT: Yeah, I mean it's pretty exciting. There's a really varied mix of people: you've got some quite experienced industry professionals, some really fresh university students and there's a lot of mingling and collaborating and it's really a kind of smelting pot for raw creativity, which is pretty exciting. I think the main challenge the teams are going to face is scoping their grand concepts down into something that they can make in 48 hours and people will gawk on first play. So you can make a game in 48 hours but whether people get it is, well "I'm moving there blocks, what's going on? I don't know . . . " It's going to be difficult.

CC: What kind of activities do you think really parallel the actual industry standard of game development that might be present in the Game Jam?

DT: Well, you're basically boiling down an entire product cycle into 48 hours, and I think that level of crunch is fairly indicative of working on a proper game team. People on game teams are very dedicated, very passionate, they put in the extra hours to make sure that their game is as awesome as possible and ships on time. This is going to be quite a good indicator of the level of stress. Also, we have the concept pitching phase, which is interesting. I think people underestimate how important it is to have the skill of pitching concept. Even not just for games, but the little bits of game design, the little game mechanics.

CC: Yes, conveying the essentials of your idea and maybe to capture not only the attention, but the respect or confidence of others to join you idea.

DT: And also there's the question of marketability as well. I mean, I'm probably going to be judging some of the games on Sunday, and I'll be looking for something that's got a unique hook to it that I think will have broad appeal. There's a lot of good games and ideas out there at the moment, and a lot of them are innovating and doing different stuff but if nobody understands the game or wants to play it then there's no point in doing it, really.

Miko Wilson, interjecting as he walks by: Exactly!

CC: You've been brought here as a mentor to really assist or give perspective to these participants. Is there anything you feel you'd really like to help them with? Something that's most important to their immediate efforts in the Game Jam?

DT: Well, we spend a long time at EA on one of the lat Wii projects I did prototyping game elements so we could really work out what was fun on the Wii using the physical controls. I think I want to help the teams get their prototyes into software as quickly as possible so they can try it and see what's fun. I think prototyping stuff on paper and playing games is going to be good for a certain amount of forward visibility, but really on such a tight time scale the more stuff you can get in code and the less stuff you can throw away the better. But at the same time they shouldn't be afraid to chuck stuff out if it doesn't work.

CC: One final thing: is there anything out of the ordinary you would be willing to impart to these fellows? Something that's not common knowledge that you've learned through your experience?

DT: You need to be a people person . . . to a certain extent. You've got to have a thorough understanding of who your game is for, and as a game designer you need to have a bit of a business hat so you've got to understand your market: who you're making for and what these guys want out of a product. At the end of the day, yes, you're making a piece of entertainment, but also it's a product that has to sell. I think that a lot of the younger designers I see at EA don't have that kind of product industry mentality. I'm not saying you shouldn't be creating something exciting and cool, but if you can do that and have your little business hat on - just a little one - because at the end of the day, if you want to get games made you need the funding, and the people with the cash: big businessmen.

CC: All right, thank very much, Dan.

DT: It's been a pleasure, Cody.

Observations: Creation Structure

A couple things I noticed . . .

Starting off with the beginning of the Jam, it seemed that a standard element of introductions was discussing the technical specs of potential projects. The participants seemed to discuss what program languages and platforms they felt more confident in exploring, rather than discussing game ideas and mechanics. It seems the programmers took charge early on, rather than more design or art-oriented participants. I suppose you can only make a game as complex as your technical team can program, after all.

That didn't come until 5 PM, when the thematic conditions of the Game Jam were introduced. At that point, design became paramount, ALMOST to the point of ignoring technical limitations completely. Almost. You never really forget the technical limitations (as much as some would like to try).

Teams Start to Form

As the pitch discussion continues, things begin to settle into a more structured regime: teams are forming, people are getting into position for their 2 day crunch, and everyone is starting to get hungry. Since dinner is not provided, I have the feeling we'll all be venturing out into the real world to find sustenance. I expect more than a few pizzas to arrive in the next little while.

Pitches and Discussion

The pitches from various team members have concluded with a host of suggestions:

Jeremy Gibson thinks of a building game using thin structures.

Steven Pugh pitches a spaceship landing game that asks the player to jettison fellow passengers to survive.

Andrew Osborne suggests a platforming game where the player is burdened with a bad-luck item.

Andrew Pope his 'A Boy and his Blob', where the player's contact with a blob changes his world from a light to dark game world that's bad for the player.

Peter Gao pitches another sci-fi idea where hostile planets of aliens attempt to launch garbage at each other to survive.

Bruce McLavy speaks of a game where the player, a stretchy blob, is tasked with protecting a lemming NPC by stretching to create bridges to save the NPC.

Alex Lourmier suggests a gravity-based game where 2 players competing with one another by altering the game physics in each of their favours, but not the others.

Alex Kolosov pitches a game about escaping from angry parents by running through a long, hallway.

Matthew Miner thinks of a game where 2 players are connected to one another by an elastic band, and will use their stretchy moves to make it to the end of the level.

Cody Sawatsky pitches an idea about simultaneously controlled dots that reveal hidden obstacles and threats as they get closer to one another.

Nathan Sorenson's pitch was a sci-fi game where the player, a spaceship pilot of a junk spaceship, must rotate the ship to allow his co-pilot to reach and repair parts of the ship.

Nick Halme likes the idea of a mirrored platformer where both players share a ground that has obstacles that shift from one player's side to the other.

And that's that! We'll see how things progress.

THE CONDITIONS

The following at the creative restraints for the Vancouver Game Jam participants:

Condition the First:

The complete play session must last no more than 5 minutes.

Condition the Second:

"As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems."

Condition the Third:

Utilize one of the following adjectives: Thin, Evolved, Rotating.


Veronica delivers the details.

Introductions Start

The introductions begin! Starting with the participants, we realize that we've an impressive collection of talent from around the Lower Mainland of BC, including individuals from Seattle and Wyoming from the US, and even one fellow from Switzerland!

Many are actual game developers from local game companies scattered around the Lower Mainland, with studios such as Next Level and Electronics Arts showing a strong presence.

Following this are introductions, and a keynote from Kyle Gabler, one of the creators of World of Goo. Informative, amusing, and to the point, the keynote underlines the entire story of this event:

Games are to be made. We have but 48 hours to do this. There is some degree of urgency here.

It'll be interesting to see how some of our participants follow Kyle Gabler's tips for the next 48 hours, and how quickly they can decide to take any specific direction.

The Rush

Now things are getting heated up. More and more participants are arriving, with talent from all over the industry in addition to our student participants.

We're still waiting on a few remaining members before the official introductions and proceedings begin, but things should get moving along quite soon.

Gamers Gather

As participants begin to gather, the event starts to get underway (a little ahead of schedule, no less!). Discussing game engines and platforms, it seems that a technical focus is the first issue to discuss among these participants.

Programmers take the lead, it would seem! They do define the very limits of the game.

First!

As we get setup for the event, our first arrival is Peter Gao, an Interactive Arts and Technology student from SFU. Steeling himself for the demanding work ahead of him, Peter is merely the first of a line of participants that begin to stream in.

He actually represents one of the members of the Game Developers Club of SFU, a fledgling group of game enthusiasts looking to expand the game development community of the school. As it happens, yours truly is one of founding members of the club.

Getting Setup

Before the participants begin to trickle in, many of the coordinators have begun to get things setup for the Game Jam. A live, streaming broadcast of the event will be running (just as many other Game Jams worldwide will be), and tables and power have been established for our participants.

Gaining Momentum

An article from a local free daily newspaper called 24. Looks like we've got a least a little coverage in the news as we're preparing for the event!

Reporting In!

Welcome, to whomever has been fortunate to stumble across this blog!

What you can expect to find here over the next several days are updates, interviews, images and other details about the 2009 Vancouver Global Game Jam, hosted by the International Game Developers Associational. Participants from all over the Lower Mainland will be participating, and I'll be bringing you live updates about the event.

The name is Cody Church. I'm a 5th year student at Simon Fraser University studying game design at the School for Interactive Arts and Technology. I've been working closely with one of the coordinators, Prof. Magy Seif El-Nasr, and have been brought into the Game Jam as a student observer for the event. I'll be live on site snapping photos, giving interviews, and documenting the competition as events play out.

So! Thank you for your interest in following this event, and I'll do my best to provide timely and tantalizing posts!