An informative slideshow about the first IGDA Newfoundland Game Jam at Sci Fi on the Rock 6. A must watch for participants.

1. IGDA NEWFOUNDLAND
Game Jam
The evening of April 20th through the afternoon of April 22nd, 2012
At Sci-fi on the Rock 6
Holiday Inn
St. John’s, NL

2. SPONSORED BY:
Video Game Design Program
Media Arts Centre
College of the North Atlantic

3. What Is A Game Jam?
 A game jam is an organized 48 hour event for
rapidly prototyping video game designs
 An overall game theme is announced at the
start of the event
 Games are designed by small teams around
each team’s interpretation of the given
theme
 Playable prototypes are rapidly designed,
developed, tested, and iterated

4. Benefits Of Game Jams
 Indie game developers can develop and
present ideas without publisher restrictions
 Exposes game developer hobbyists to an
opportunity for collaboration
 Inspires individuals to innovate

5. How Do I Participate?
 Join the IGDA Newfoundland Facebook
group for registration details
and updates on the event
 Register for the event

6. How Do I Participate?
 As an individual
 You are welcome to show up and team up with
other people at the start of the event, however
you are encouraged to network on the IGDA
Newfoundland Facebook group page beforehand
to meet other participants who are also looking
for team mates
 Describe your skill set and what you have to offer
to a game development team such as art,
programming, scripting, or audio

7. How Do I Participate?
 Teams
 It is suggested to form teams beforehand and
register as a team
 Small teams of 3 – 5 people tend to work better
and be more organized than larger teams because
communications are more efficient

8. Development Tools
Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with
Links to games engines and development tools that have free versions:
Game Engines
 Game Maker: http://yoyogames.com/
 Game Salad: http://gamesalad.com/creator
 Unity: http://unity3d.com/unity/
 Unreal: http://www.udk.com/
 Flixel: http://flixel.org/

9. Development Tools
Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with
Links to games engines and development tools that have free versions:
Art
 Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
 Blender: http://www.blender.org/
Audio
 Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Indie Game Sites
 TIGSOURCE.: http://www.tigsource.com/
 Kongregate: http://www.kongregate.com/
 Chevy Ray http://chevyray.com/tools/

10. What Should I Bring
 A laptop with game development software
 Headphones
 Graph paper
 Pencils and erasers
 One small white board with dry erase
markers for each team
 Snacks and beverages (if allowed in the
venue)

11. Suggested Steps For The Process
1. Brainstorming
 Collaborate with your team
 Make a list of possible ideas
 Consider scrapping the first 3 ideas and the obvious
ideas

12. Suggested Steps For The Process
2. Research
 Search the internet for similar games to avoid
repetition
 Search for game play and art references

13. Suggested Steps For The Process
3. Consider scope
 Plan for a smaller scope than you think you will have
the time for
 Consider the skills and limitations of your team and
the development tools
 Cut non essential features

14. Suggested Steps For The Process
4. Sketches
 Concept art
 Flowcharts
 Level designs

15. Suggested Steps For The Process
5. Early prototypes
 Use placeholder graphics
 Don’t fall in love with any idea or feature
 Be prepared to kill the whole idea or beloved
features
 Consider starting over if it’s not working out

16. Suggested Steps For The Process
6. Play test ASAP, and often
 Play test often for usability, functionality, and
balance
 Expect many rounds of feedback and iteration
 Consider trading play testing time with other teams
for valuable feedback from people outside of your
group

17. Suggested Steps For The Process
7. Emphasize meaningful game play (or fun) over
polish
 Focus on one new concept
 Make game play fun in the first 15 seconds
 Consider including simple instructions in the title screen
then move quickly into game play, or integrate a quick
in-game tutorial rather than starting out with a long
back story
 Use audio to create mood and for efficient and effective
in-game feed back
The team can always decide to turn the game into an ongoing
project and continue to polish the game beyond the jam

18. Suggested Steps For The Process
8. Keep the player in mind
 Games are made to be played
 Observe play tester reactions
 Do they understand what to do?
 Make note of facial expressions and when they happen:
 Joy
 Frustration
 Create a short questionnaire to gather feedback and
to ask for other comments

19. Suggested Steps For The Process
9. Plan on taking breaks to eat, sleep, and shower
 It is unhealthy to work for 48 hours straight
 Tiredness often causes diminishing returns and
bugs
 When working in close quarters with a small, tight
knit team, good personal hygiene is appreciated

20. Who Owns The Work?
 You and your team mates retain rights and
ownership of your own work
 You are responsible for:
 Using software licenses legally and appropriately
for development
 Creating original assets for your game and using
assets such as royalty free audio clips according to
their legal use agreements
 Including all team mates in the credits

21. Who Owns The Work?
 Basically, your team is responsible for
working out the details amongst yourselves
 Intellectual property link for reference:
http://archives.igda.org/ipr/IGDA_IPRights_Whi
tePaper.pdf
If you have trouble with this link by
clicking on it, please type it in to
your browser.

22. Thanks
We look forward to an awesome event!
Contact: Join the Facebook group