Development Darwinism: How to Win Big at Game Jams and Hackathons Benjamin Taylor gives 11 game post mortems from a decade of rapid prototyping experience. Presented initially at IGDA's Boston Post Mortem in Cambridge, MA on Wed, Jan 15th, 2014. - “Don’t be afraid to fail”, “find new friends”, “learn something new”, you’ve heard all the reasons why participating in a jam is the right thing to do, but let’s face it, you came in wanting to succeed at making a game. This is your chance to learn from a pro how to do things right and make your jam experience a crowning success, regardless of role and experience. Ben Taylor (EA/Nexon) illustrates how to succeed at making a prototype in 36 hours and demonstrate your utility in the game development process. Ben Taylor has participated in dozens of game jams and hackathons including all of the Global Game Jams, Ludem Dare, and IGN’s game development reality show “The Next Game Boss”. Ben has worked with the game industry for more than a decade starting with Red Octane and most recently as a game engineer at Nexon Mobile in San Francisco. His most recently released game is the new adaptation of “SimCity” (2013) by EA Maxis.

1. DEVELOPMENT DARWINISM
H O W T O W I N B I G AT G A M E
J A M S A N D H A C K AT H O N S

2. GAME DEVELOPER
B E N J A M I N TAY L O R
BACKGROUND:
• W I T H R E D O C TA N E S I N C E 2 0 0 0
• S T U D I E D G A M E D E V E L O P M E N T AT C A R N E G I E M E L L O N ’ S
ETC UNDER JESSE SCHELL (THE ART OF GAME DESIGN)
• ART DIRECTOR, WILL WRIGHT’S STUPID FUN CLUB
• G A M E E N G I N E E R , S I M C I T Y, E A M A X I S
• GAME ENGINEER, UNANNOUNCED, NEXON/GLOOPS

3. Lots of games from dozens of events
FOCUSING ON LESSONS & OBJECTIVES
FROM 11 GAME POST MORTEMS

4. GAME POST MORTEM #1
H Y P E R B AT T L E
• Ultimately a failure.
• Took too long to develop.

5. IGN’S THE NEXT GAME BOSS
Footage of our team from Season 1, Episode 1

6. GAME POST MORTEM #2
S TA R I S E R
• Playable in 2hrs.
• Set the tone and pace for
the rest of the season.

7. LESSON #1
BEGIN ACTUAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE
1ST HOUR

8. HIRED BY CARNEGIE MELLON’S
E N T E R TA I N M E N T T E C H N O L O G Y C E N T E R
KGDI visit to LucasArts 2006

9. GAME POST MORTEM #3
PITCH
• Created for the first annual
SIGGRAPH Sandbox
Symposium in Boston 2006
• Created with Drew
Davidson, Pitch is a game
about game development.

10. PLAYERS MATCHED RANDOM WORDS
WITH A CARD FROM EACH
C O N C E N T R AT I O N T O C R E AT E A P I T C H

11. LESSON #2
EVERYONE SHOULD KNOW AND RESPECT EACH
O T H E R ’ S R O L E S T O W O R K T O G E T H E R S U C C E S S F U L LY
1st Global Game Jam 2009

12. HOW TO BE A
PRACTITIONER?
S TA R T S M A L L .
Art:
• Can you make art suitable for a
game? (Sprites, 3D Assets, etc.)
• Can you contribute to a portion of
the artistic pipeline? (EX: “I can
texture and model 3D assets, but not
rig them”)
• Can you be the creator of all of the
artistic pipeline?
• Can you package your own assets
correctly?
• Can you incorporate your own
assets?

13. HOW TO BE A
PRACTITIONER?
S TA R T S M A L L .
Art (continued):
• Can you script your own asset
interactions or effects using
tools?
• Can you write your own
tools?
• Can you code the game
yourself?
• Are you satisfied polishing
your abilities as an artist?

14. GAME POST MORTEM #4
S A I LW I N G A G E N T
• VR Hang gliding Game created
in the 2nd round of CMU ETC’s
BVW Program in 2007.
• Created for a “Naive User”, in
that the user could only be
given instruction by the game
and be able to play with no
prior knowledge.

15. S A I L W I N G A G E N T B E I N G P L AY E D

16. S A I L W I N G A G E N T A S T H E P L AY E R

17. LESSON #3
PUT YOUR EGO ASIDE BECAUSE TIME
IS SHORT TO DELIVER.

18. IF IT HELPS RELIEVE PRESSURE
DON’T BE AFRAID TO GO
A N O N Y M O U S LY

19. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
Pittsburgh XO Gamejam 2007

20. GAME POST MORTEM #5
FRUITIX
• Created during the Pittsburgh XO
Game Jam in 48 hours.
• All new teammates.
• Created using PyGame to be
playable on SugarOS on any
OLPC, language agnostic.
• Win criteria: Preteen players’ vote

21. STRIVE FOR MAXIMIZING LUCIDITY BY
S L E E P I N G A F T E R A S A F E H A N D - O F F.

22. D U R I N G Y O U R P R E S E N TA T I O N
V I S I B LY H A V E F U N P L AY I N G A N D / O R
TA L K I N G A B O U T Y O U R C R E AT I O N .

23. LESSON #4
S L E E P S T R AT E G I C A L LY : B E F O R E E V E N T, O N LY
A F T E R A H A N D - O F F, A N D B E F O R E P R E S E N T I N G

24. WIN!
G R E AT E X P E R I E N C E S G A I N Y O U
ALLIES.
•
Other prizes:
MAME Arcade Sticks for
cabinet gaming.

25. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
Ludum Dare #22

26. GAME POST MORTEM #6
END DEFENDERS
• Created during Ludum Dare
#22.
• Made in Unity with iOS target.
• Objective was to demonstrate
ability to make social mobile
titles with viral mechanics.

27. LESSON #5
D O N ’ T R E L A X B Y C O M PA R I N G Y O U R S E L F T O
Y O U R P E E R S ; A L W AY S M A X O U T E F F O R T

28. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
Global Game Jam 2013 at MIT

29. GAME POST MORTEM #7
ARTICHOKE♥BEET
• Created during MIT’s GGJ 13
• Came in with mobile web
scaffolding already made.
• Objective was to use and
create an animation system
for the CreateJS library.

30. GAME POST MORTEM #8
HANGRIES
• Created during the Hasbro
Hackathon in 36 hours.
• Objective was to use the
event to generate animal
stickers (and to gain
experience with NodeJS)

31. S TA Y F O C U S E D O N C O R E O B J E C T I V E S T O
R E A C H T H E M O S T I M P O R TA N T
R E S U LT S F I R S T

32. LESSON #6
BE REALISTIC ABOUT OBJECTIVES BY
K N O W I N G W H AT Y O U C A N ’ T D O .

33. DOUBLE WIN!
R E U S A B L E C O D E ( C R E AT E J S A N I M AT I O N L O A D E R C L A S S )
AND ART (SET OF ANIMAL CHARACTER STICKERS)

34. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
Eventbrite's HTML5 Hackathon

35. GAME POST MORTEM #9
UPISA
• Created during the
Eventbrite HTML5
Hackathon in 36 hours.
• Sponsored by Sibblingz
Spaceport, Eventbrite,
Betable, MongoLab, and
Viadeo

36. LESSON #7
WORK FOR YOUR HOST, WHO IS
WORKING.

37. WIN!
$3K FOR 36HRS BY USING THE
SPONSOR’S TECHNOLOGY WELL.

38. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
SimCity Hackathon 2012

39. GAME POST MORTEM #10
SIMCITY
• Features created in 48 hours
during an internal hackathon
on company time. (That’s right,
EA approved and paid for this)
• Objective: free reign to work
on that feature you always
wanted to prove out.

40. USE JAMS AND HACKATHONS TO
EXPRESS AND IMPRESS WHERE YOU COULDN’T
O R D I N A R I LY I N Y O U R C U R R E N T W O R K E N V I R O N M E N T
Some of the best features in SimCity 2013 came out of this event

41. W H AT I S T H E R E
TO “WIN”?
• Find and / or Try Out a
Lasting Teammate
• Demonstrable Experience /
Portfolio Piece
• Reusable Code / Content
• Money (and Swag)
• Job Opportunities
• Access to the Pros
Rosetta Stone Game Jam 2011

42. GAME POST MORTEM #11
RANGE
• Created during the Rosetta Stone
Game Jam 2011
• Challenge was to incorporate the
concepts of "ink," "exploration" and
"layers" to create a game in 36 hours
or less.
• Personal Objective: get advice for a
language teaching game from the
most qualified people in the world.

43. USE JAMS AND HACKATHONS TO
FOCUS ON YOUR OBJECTIVES, EVEN IF THEY
DIFFER FROM THOSE ADVERTISED BY THE EVENT

44. WIN!
G O T F E E D B A C K A N D A P P R O VA L F R O M
R O S E T TA S T O N E ’ S L E A D E R S H I P.

45. LESSONS FOR WINNING
1. B E G I N A C T U A L D E V E L O P M E N T I N T H E 1 S T H O U R .
2. E V E R Y O N E S H O U L D K N O W A N D R E S P E C T E A C H
O T H E R ’ S R O L E S T O W O R K T O G E T H E R S U C C E S S F U L LY.
3. P U T Y O U R E G O A S I D E B E C A U S E T I M E I S S H O R T T O
DELIVER.
4. S L E E P S T R AT E G I C A L LY : B E F O R E E V E N T, O N LY A F T E R A
H A N D - O F F, A N D B E F O R E P R E S E N T I N G .
5. D O N ’ T R E L A X B Y C O M PA R I N G Y O U R S E L F T O Y O U R
P E E R S ; A L W AY S M A X O U T E F F O R T .
6. B E R E A L I S T I C A B O U T O B J E C T I V E S B Y K N O W I N G W H AT
YOU CAN’T DO.
7. W O R K F O R Y O U R H O S T , W H O I S W O R K I N G .

46. “Jams are short because they’re designed to
represent the maximum amount of suffering you
can endure over a sustained amount of time”
BEWARE OF BURNOUT

47. THANK YOU!
@Benjamin_Taylor
!
Good luck at your game jam
or hackathon, work hard and
don’t leave empty-handed.