My first games jam (EVER!) was actually Brains Eden 2013; Which, to be honest, is a pretty big place to start for games jams. I think I stumbled my way into BE because somebody couldn't actually make it (I'm sure the skills I possess had a part to play too though). It was an exciting opportunity to make games, which is always great, but it was a little daunting due to A. going a considerable distance away for a while, a completely new experience, and B. having a large team relying on on me. It would have been a hard decision to make in my old "Oh no! New things!" Mindset, if it were not for the fabulous offer of free accommodation, meals and snacks that came with it (I lie, I like making games too much to turn such a thing down).
Anyway, we got there (good start), unpacked and got free goodies, the first day was mainly intros and there were several talks from some of the sponsors. The talk attended was all about the design pipeline for creating levels for Killzone Mercenary and other such Sony games, which was very interesting and informative, but very drawn out. I suddenly realised half way through the (three or four hour) session that only one of the several employees attending had taken their turn speaking. I got to that awkward stage where I was asking myself "Does my face say 'creepy' or 'too interested', I'm trying to pay so much attention here, for so long; I mean this isn't boring but I'm pretty sure this much detail was not required."
I think there were many factors contributing to this feeling, most of them being me; I mean, I was uncomfortable after sitting on a train forever, and then sitting in that room for a little longer. It was also hot after a while from all of those people in there. This new place I was in was also exiting, and I was confined to a room. I hate to say it, but the knowledge I gained about level design in the talk was far outweighed by what I had already learnt from university (which is a good plus to university). Also linked to this was the teachings of Sony programs, plugins, and scripts; interesting, but I had this aching which seemed to centre around "This is good, but unless a miracle happens, I'm not going to get anywhere near this software, to use it or see it work...". I was almost wishing somebody would give me Sony software to let me explore. It was very "look at us and our amazing new game".
The next day brought breakfast and the theme: "Mountains". For some reason, mountains seemed very restrictive at the time; Many reasons, trying to incorporate everyone's ideas, trying to come up with something reasonably original, trying to figure out ways of doing things in the time limit, with the resources we had. and of course, we were excited. Because of all of these reasons we seemed to overlook the game design part of the exercise more than we usually would and instead concentrated on the making part (I think this is the main conclusion I've arrived at from post evaluation). Our final idea was some form of 2D game in which the player has to climb up a mountain using timing/rhythm to get the most out of their input. You can actually play it HERE.
I have learnt many things from this endeavour. From what I've observed, my other team members do not seem to look back at the experience in a positive light. I, however, am very impressed with what we achieved, and I look at it more fondly from the experience, and the things I've learnt;
- Timing, Music and syncing music in flash is near to impossible, but we improvised and got some form of connection between music and game.
- Having your own en-suite room is cool, even if you don't sleep a wink in it for.. like 52 hours.
- Even if you haven't coded in a language for several months and can't remember anything, it comes back you you within 6 hours or so.
- Don't try implementing Box2D flash, even if you've been using it for a while.
- You can still solve impossible problems you never thought you could, like a wizard, to everyone amazement, in a boiling hot kitchen after 50 hours of not sleeping, after too many energy drinks while dripping with sweat and watching the sun set and rise out of the window.
- Getting a basic gist of a game idea is not good enough; a while should be spent nailing down everything in the design so it is easier to code, create artwork for and so no parts get overlooked (we had a reasonable idea, but no focus on specific integral mechanics, so game-play was a bit of a mish-mash of the mechanics which we managed to figure out, but didn't necessarily pin down what our game was about well enough)
One of the most memorable parts of the experience however, was coming down to breakfast on the last day, walking down the corridor and realising the smell, and how the carpet had a trail of faecal matter where somebody's body had clearly objected to the huge amounts of energy drinks consumed by some attendees, the spicy meals provided, Snacks, and lack of sleep/nights out in the city.I can't tell whether I see it as a sign of determination or stupidity of that person.
Such a long post, hope you enjoyed reading the adventures of Sean.
