Global Game Jam 2009

Global Game Jam 2009 at Santa Cruz concluded Sunday with all five teams presenting their games to all present. There was an excellent variety of subject matter and technology. Thanks and congratulations to everyone who made GGJ at Santa Cruz a success!

Custody (GGJ-Santa Cruz People's choice award)

Ultra Sumo Penguin Yokozuna Taisen (runner up)

We voted in four different categories (technology, art, innovation and theme). After tallying the vote team Akasia's game "Custody" won by a razor thin margin of 4 points (out of about 200) over runner-up team Perpetual Insanity's game "Ultra Sumo Penguin Yokozuna Taisen." The two games are very different. "Custody" has excellent harmony, great music and a deep psychological setting. Ultra Sumo Penguin Yokozuna Taisen is a fun sumo wrestling game featuring penguins sliding on ice with polar bears and whales also coming into the ring once in a while. It has cute characters, robust controls and excellent game play. In recognition of this close contest, we awarded both teams with prizes.

Moose's Love (version 2) Moose's Love by team EIS BLOCK is a surprisingly complex game, full of interesting metaphors and a social message. The player controls a moose who must balance pursuing his love and nurturing a tree to health.

The Blob Mob by the team of the same name, is an abstract game of social leadership expressed as colorful blobs and their "leader" who try to navigate a maze. Without You by team Exit Wound is a two-player puzzle game where both players must cooperate to navigate a vertical maze of obstacles.

On behalf of the organizers I would like to thank all participants for their time and dedication this weekend. All five Santa Cruz teams uploaded their game to the GGJ site where it's available for anyone to download and evaluate: http://globalgamejam.org/category/santa-cruz-ca-usa

To browse through all the submissions to 2009 GGJ, visit here: http://globalgamejam.org/Game_browser

Pictures below.

1. A complete play session must always last 5 minutes or less.
2. The theme of the game should be: "As long as we have each other, we will never run out of problems."
3. Choose ONE of the following adjectives to incorporate in your game (each team chooses which one to use): thin, evolved, or rotating.

Aether We are happy to present our featured speakers Edmund McMillan and Alex Austin for Friday 5PM, at the Simularium (E2 Building).

Edmund McMillen is an independent game designer and artist who specializes in innovative designs and auto biographical pieces such as Aether and IGF finalist Coil. Most known for his work on IGF grand prize winner Gish, Edmund was also the character artist and animator of Braid and has just announced his transition into console development with the Wiiware sequel to his popular flash game Meat Boy, titled Super Meat Boy.

Alex Austin has been making games since 2001. He did design and
programming for the games Gish, Bridge Builder, Pontifex, Blast Miner
and A New Zero.

SimulariumGlobal Game Jam at Santa Cruz will start Friday at 4PM with these events. We will start out in Jack's Lounge in the Baskin Building with some preliminary talks. Then, we will move to the Simularium at 5PM for our featured speakers, the keynote and team-forming event. By About 7PM we should be ready to start making Games. So here is the Friday schedule in detail.

4 PM: Check-in starts in Jack's Lounge, Baskin Building: Come see me (Foaad) to get your registration packet.
4:05 PM: Crash Course on Game Maker: Professor Whitehead has been nice enough to provide this crash course for people who may not be familiar many game making tools. He will go over the basics and adjust to the level of students. do not miss this event if you are new to game making.
4:45 PM: UCSC Grad Student and Independent designer Mike Treanor will give a brief talk about his work.
5:00 PM: featured talk with independent game designers Edmund McMillan and Alex Austin. This talk will be held in the Simularium. We will move over there at this time.
5:40 PM: Global Game Jam keynotes speaker Kyle Gabler, this is a broadcast video. Gabler is the creator of World of Goo
6:00 PM: Revealing constraints, logistics and submit directions from Foaad Khosmood.
6:10 PM: Team Building with Mike Treanor

So, here's what you can expect after the Jam on Sunday. I would like to end by about 3PM. Each team will package the games (put in a zip file) and upload them to the GGJ site by that time on Friday. These games will be available on that site for a while and would be shown in Gaming Show and Conferences like the GDC. I'm told that teams will be able to upload new versions after the Jam is over.

Game Creation
An article about rapid game creation:
http://www.gamasutra.com/features/20051026/gabler_01.shtml

Some simple tips for asset creation:
http://www.gamedev.net/reference/art/features/CoderGameArt/

Friday, Jan. 30
16.00-19.00: Check in
16.00-17:00: Tech/Art Talks at Jack's (Jim Whitehead's "crash course on Game Maker", Mike Treanor)
17:00-17:30: Featured speaker: Independent Game Maker Edmund McMillan at Simularium
17.30-18.00: Announcements and Keynote by Kyle Gabler, (logistics by Foaad Khosmood)
18.00-19:00: Group Forming Exercises (by Mike Treanor)
(work)
(dinner on your own)
(work)

Jacks Lounge

The bulk of the event will take place at Jack's Lounge, UCSC Baskin Engineering Building.

Global Game JamThis is the site for the Global Game Jam 2009 at UC Santa Cruz. The event is open to all and registration will be done on this website. Please check back periodically for more information.