Game Jams?

• Make a video game for a given theme:
  • "Small World"
  • "You're the Villain"
  • "10 Seconds"
• You're given (typically) 48 hours.
• Make all by yourself!
  (incl. graphics / music)
• A bit like Hackathon.

Game Jams!!!1

• At the moment: http://www.indiegamejams.com/
• Notable events:
  • Global Game Jam (real world)
    http://globalgamejam.org/
  • Ludum Dare (online)
    http://ldjam.com/
• Notable people (Ludum Dare):
  • Notch, the Creator of Minecraft.
  • Over 50 games became commercial.

Here's the drill

1. Prepare the tools / base code.
   • Unity, HTML5, OpenGL, etc.
2. Get ready for the weekend.
   • Many jams allow team work.
3. Do the work.
4. Show your progress:
   Screenshots / Timelapse /
   Live Streaming

How Does This Benefit Me?

• "Time Management Skill"
  • Submission deadlines?
  • Next meeting with advisor?
• Improve yourself = try and fail a lot.
  • Game Jam = Best place to fail.
• My personal graves.

Research Game Jam Strategy

• Have good food & sleep.
• Keep a TO-DO list. Priortize things.
• Get a MVP ASAP.
  • Don't brood too much on details.
• Programming: Write for clarity.
• Write a "postmortem".
  • What went well?
  • What could be done differently?
• Do it better next time.

Conclusions

• Train your time management skill.
• Have an enjoyable experience.
• Rinse and repeat.

References

• /r/gamejams
• Ludum Dare Survival Guide
• This slide is available at: https://github.com/euske/slides/