Organizing a Giant Bomb game jam

Hey everyone! :D

In light of the cool fan games people have been making that are themed after one aspect of Giant Bomb or another, a lot of people have been suggesting starting an actual game jam. I've always wanted to participate in a jam, but I'm not sure how to organize or run one. If you want to participate, help run it, or have awesome suggestions on how to put this thing together, by all means toss in your two cents! Let's make this happen! :D

Giant ROM - A Giant Bomb Game Jam (Under Construction)

What

A Giant Bomb themed game jam! Anything goes so long as it's somehow related to Giant Bomb or one of the staff's side projects.

When (UPDATE!)

March 28th to April 5th - 9 days total, in a little over a week. How does that time frame work for you? Comments and suggestions welcome! Hopefully a week will be enough to get teams together - many have already commented to say they're available!

I asked Jeff during the Q&A at the PAX East panel and he suggested around April (or after E3), so we're looking at early April! I'm thinking of making it a 9-day jam; two weekends and the week between them. The goal is to make it accessible to as many people (and as many time zones) as possible. How does that sound?

How

Any means necessary! Zoë Quinn's awesome sortingh.at site points to a ton of useful (and sometimes free!) resources for making games. Anybody can make a game! Heck, even me! :D

PixelProspector's Make Games site is also chock-full of tools and resources!

Handy Tools to Check Out

Anything is fair game! Not sure what to use? Here are some suggestions!

• 2D
  • Construct 2 (free version available, also on Steam!)
  • Game Maker (free version available, also on Steam!)
  • Clickteam's Multimedia Fusion (free version available here: http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-free-edition/)
  • ZX Spectrum game makers, in case you want to bring Jeff's ZX Spectrum game ideas to life [2D Game Maker] [3D Game Maker] (3D just means isometric in this case).
• 3D
  • Unity

Tutorials

• Make A Game With No Experience, by Tom Francis (maker of Gunpoint)

Awesome Stuff

Some wonderful users have made content available to help get your silly game started!

• Hamster Alliance music, free of charge (thanks Hamst3r!)

• A zip file of awesome Giant ROM logos, to help games get that community feeling! (thanks Hamst3r!)

Where

I'll be hosting the jam on itch.io, which has a terrific game jam feature! Everybody will be able to post their creations there, add them to the jam, and enter their team's details at the same time. There's even an integrated ranking system!

Fabulous Prizes

There just may be cool things in store for the submissions that stand out! Stay tuned!

Wait, What About the Cool Games That People Made Already?

Giant ROM Zero is live! If you've already made a game with a Giant Bomb theme, throw it in! The proper game jam should start in the coming weeks, but for now this allows the community to put existing games in the same place. :D

Help

Please!

Thanks for the help so far! As I spot useful info, I'll add it to the post; eventually we'll have something good enough to kick off! :D

Sounds good to me! The longer time limit makes a lot of sense to get people involved. If you need a hand organising it just let me know and maybe I'll even try and make one myself.

Tom Francis the maker of Gunpoint has been doing videos on using Game Maker that I've found very helpful. I'd recommend them if you want to lean Game Maker which has a free download.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ-twzO6v-PBgckhkrXVaDQ

I'll have to give that site a go.

If you guys need any participant rewards, I'm sure I could gin something up.

Hmmm I'm interested in some way of making something. I've had Game Maker installed since they gave it away for free and not done anything with it bar making square that spun round.

One tool she doesn't list that's pretty easy to learn for 2D games is Clickteam's Multimedia Fusion (it does handle 3D too, but that takes much more effort). It's been around for about 20 years and has plenty of tutorials and guides available online. Many of you may already own it since it was part of a Humble Bundle two years ago. There's also a free version available here: http://www.clickteam.com/clickteam-fusion-2-5-free-edition/

There are also a couple of ZX Spectrum game makers, in case you want to bring Jeff's ZX Spectrum game ideas to life [2D Game Maker] [3D Game Maker] (3D just means isometric in this case).

If you want to do something really dumb, you could also try making some old school DOS indie games using Official Hamster Republic Role Playing Game Construction Engine, which was the RPG Maker of the 90's (but is still being updated), or the 2.5D FPS creator Pie In The Sky Game Creation System which hasn't been updated since 1995.

Also, whichever method you choose, you'll likely find help and guides on the TIGSource forums.

@mrflibble:


currently using these tutorials, and as someone with absolutely no prior coding experience, it's been fun and empowering to learn how to make things work in GM. recommendation seconded.

Count me in! Mid-March sounds good, as does the longer time limit. I think we should wait for a few more people to throw their hat in before we set a concrete date though.

Looking forward to it!

@rorie said:

That would be awesome! Thank you so much! :D

I remember Multimedia Fusion! I made a ton of games with that when I was younger. :D

My tool of choice is Construct 2; I find it very easy to use, and there's also a free version! The free version limits a game to 100 events; to put this in perspective, Commander Ryckert was made with 132 events, and it wasn't very well optimized, so there should be plenty of room to make a jam game with!

Ohhh man Id join that in a heart beat!

To add to the engine talk, Unity3d works pretty well for 2d stuff these days, and it's what I'll be using. It has a lot of features so I'm not sure how easy it'd be for beginners, but I'd recommend trying it out at least :)

I feel dirty knowing we have the same profile pic. I don't think the King of the Potato people would allow this.



As for a Game Jam, I'm not a coder or anything (i'm a graphic design) but if any UI stuff or still graphics were needed i would love to get involved as a part of a team.

Can someone quickly explain the best way to download Giant Bomb videos?

It might be a premium-only thing, but there's always a download option after the description of a video when you go to its dedicated page. Otherwise, if a video is on youtube, there's always download sites that'll convert them into different video formats for you!

I would be up for this.

This is an awesome idea but the longjam part is bumming me out. I'm not sure I could get myself and my programmer buddy/game jam partner-in-crime to devote two weeks worth of our time to it, given our schedules. 48 hours, though much more limited in scope, is a lot easier to manage.

But that might be going against what you're trying accomplish with this jam so feel free to take my words and toss them in the bin. :D Regardless, this sounds rad and hopefully I can find a way to get in.

Might also be worth linking to PixelProspector's Make Games site. It's filled with a TON of links and resources for engines, audio, and graphics help.

It's already linked on PP's site but I HELLA recommend BFXR for making sound effects. Super quick, easy, and fun to use.

Is there a reason the tools list is limited? Is gamemaker against the rules, or have you just listed the tools you know of the top of your head?

Also... yall are so going down.

@aurahack: You wouldn't need to spend the whole two weeks on it. I for one would love the bigger time frame, but it sure as hell won't be the only thing I'm doing those days.

my vote is longer the better cause im one of those guys with no experience and have to learn everything.

@aurahack: Like Slaps2 said, I'm thinking long deadline to make sure everybody has time to submit something. Feel free to take an intensive weekend and leave it at that! :D I'm not sure anyone would actually use up the whole two weeks intensively, so it wouldn't be a disadvantageous situation.

@slaps2: The tool list is limited because it's a top-of-the-head thing, and what I've gathered from people. I'll make that clearer! :D

I might be down for this.

I've also been thinking about this kinda thing from an organisational perspective, recently. Whether or not the thing I'm thinking of would actually be useful for THIS game jam, I dunno. But I just wanna put it out there anyway:

@ All Cool Giant Bomb Type People Is_This_A_Good_Idea.png https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8613/16604459591_f6644c6b29_o.png I want to do more hot collabos with hot people.

More in this "thread": https://twitter.com/Fattony12000/status/569268225017450496

@slaps2: He's just listing the tools he knows of. You should be able to use anything. @havochq: Your list is also missing GameMaker, which has a free version on Steam.

I'd love to get in on this, but now is not really a good time for me. So I'm not sure if I can do it :( Regardless of that, here's my thoughts on it.

I think a long jam might actually have the opposite effect you want. I think a short 48h jam would help limit the scope and prevent people from getting too ambitious or burned out. People just need to keep the games very simple and fun. If you want to make sure everyone has a chance to join in, just make sure you set the date far enough ahead. Getting some publicity for it would also be vital. Like a community spotlight, tweets, podcast shout out, etc. This would probably require coordination with @rorie in some way. I assume the bomb crew would be the judges? It would be awesome to see them do a live stream play through of each entry, and then a GOTY style podcast deliberation on which one they think is the winner :)

I'd totally be into this, always wanted to make a Vinny survival game, but I'm not sure how much interest you'll garner on the forums alone you might want to reach out to the Neogaf GB community thread or other such places.

I am in to make a game.

@icyeyes: longer time frame gives more people options to create what they want as well as opens the field for busy and/or inexperienced users. I understand your point but I don't think a longer time frame is going to detract people who only want to make small games. If anything, it actually lessens the burden of making them, because the experienced people can stretch out the time they put into their creations.

I've been thinking about making a small gb fan game for a little while so this sounds great to me, personally 2 weeks would be better as I don't have time to kill myself on a 48hour project and then kill myself to get to work although saying that,mid March is just before my trip to the usa so unlikely to be able to try :(

I have a little experience jamming on a GB related game, so I'd maybe be down to do it again depending on my schedule.

I'd definitely prefer the 2 week window. I've never been a huge fan of the kill yourself for 48-72 hours format of most game jams, I prefer the option to space out the dev time a little bit.

Also, I'd definitely suggest HaxeFlixel as a very good framework for quickly producing something in a game jam.

@hurricaneivan29: I get what you're saying. I just don't think a longer time frame automatically makes it fairer or more balanced; since anyone that isn't busy during that 2 weeks will have more time to make something. Limiting it to a weekend -that everyone is free to work during- seems good. This also doesn't mean people can't start learning tools and brainstorming game ideas ahead of time. It just keeps the time for actual game creation limited. But I do understand that this short time frame can feel like too much for a lot of people. So it's totally up to what the community thinks is best.

Maybe we need to run some polls and/or create some kind of signup thing for this, or is that what this topic is for?

**update**

April actually works better for me anyways.

I have a couple, doable ideas given a short window. If I can find anyone who can do art better than me, I'll do the scripting. If I can find anyone who can program better than me, I'll do the art.

So if you have a tiny bit of skill but don't know what to do. Let me know, we'll set up shop.

I'm in to make something crappy.

@icyeyes: you're saying that it would be bad if some people made great games because of the longer time frame... don't get so wrapped up in the competition of it and just have fun. Poll isn't necessary because you can clearly tell what the preference is by the comments alone.

I'm down

I would probably be down for this - in fact, I'm running a game jam this weekend at my University.

Also, paging @thurbleton because he would probably be interested.

Yes I am super down for this! When is the start time?! Did it already start? Oh no, I need to brain storm!

I mean, my only experience with game making are Tom Francis’s videos. But this would be a good motivation. I would be down for it.

Awesome, glad to see lots of interest! :D Thanks for the suggestions, I'll keep updating and improving the main post in preparation of the actual jam (time still TBD).

You're misunderstanding me completely because that's not what I'm trying to say at all. I think a shorter time frame would actually help keep it focused on having fun, but whatever the community wants is fine. I'm not trying to limit anyone's ability to make a great game! The polls could also be used for things other then deciding just this.

Interesting timing. I just started dabbling with Game Maker like two weeks ago. I have no prior experience or knowledge of programming and I've been also using Tom Francis tutorials for help. I'm dissecting and building a Tamagochi game of sorts for starters. If anyone wants to collaborate, needs help I'll be glad to pitch in. If someone is willing to contribute some art for small practice projects, that would be greatly appreciated.

I'm afraid with my current knowledge (or better yet, the lack thereof) I'm not able to contribute anything worth while to the Game Jam itself.

You should make it annual and by next year, it could be a whole other story for me.

I'm always down for a game jam as long as it doesn't interfere with other events. I try to revolve things around Ludum Dare so I can always take part in that. I typically get a small team together and we stream on Twitch, would probably do the same thing with this one if the final rules allow it.

As far as the length of the jam, I agree with what some other people posted about 2 weeks being too long. I'd much rather it be somewhere between 48 - 96 hours.

Also, here are some other game engines and frameworks you can add to your list:

2D:

• Cocos2d-x
• LÖVE
• RPG Maker (there's a free version)
• Stencyl

3D:

• Blender (yes, you can make games in Blender, it has it's own engine)
• libGDX *
• MonoGame *
• WAVE *

* Does 2D as well as 3D.

If anyone uses Unity, I highly recommend getting UnityVS as well as Visual Studio Community Edition. It's a LOT nicer for developing than MonoDevelop.

@wolfenhex As someone who muddles with Unity, I'm not a big fan of mono-develop so i'll have to check out that UnityVS

Thanks!

I'm just learning Gamemaker now but would love to be part of this if I could.

A lot of people with little or no experience in making games seem interested in this... I wonder if there's a way for others with more experienced, like myself, to help them all out.

Would any of you be interested in some kind of live streamed GameMaker and/or Unity 3D Q & A during the event? Where you could ask questions and get help developing your jam game. I'd be willing to help run such a thing, if there's enough interest and I have the time.

@trowa_s: MonoDevelop is the biggest POS development software I've ever experienced. It is so much of a hassle to use you might as well use Notepad, I have no idea why Unity still includes it when Visual Studio as well as UnityVS are now free.

@icyeyes: I think the best way to help them out is by having more experienced devs team up with them. Something that my indie game studio does every Ludum Dare is get people from the local community that are interested in game development with little or no experience doing it, and make a game with them during the game jam. We always do our best to make sure they program and do useful/important tasks as well so they learn. That's more important to us than doing good in the game jam. We stream it every time as well.

Ooh, this would be a good excuse to re-learn Adventure Game Toolkit. Haven't written a text adventure in years.

@wolfenhex: So I am not the only one that has issues with Monodevelop then? btw where did you learn of such software? I had no idea there were alternatives.

@havochq: uhhh.... I kinda already started, I thought the jam had already started. Now I don't know what to do!

Edit: @wolfenhex: what exactly is VS community edition? Is this a legitimately good version or is it just the best free can offer?

I dabble in Game Maker, Blender and Unity. I'm up for cranking out some GB related madness!

My time zone is likely much different from most duders (GMT +9, Korea) and am regularly busy with a real job, so the longer time frame is a requirement for me.

I'm a member of Gamejolt.com where I pump out my crappy games. They've got resources for running jams and such as well.

@super2j: I don't know where I first found out about UnityVS, I've known about it since it cost money though. I either stumbled across it on my own or from one of our local game dev meetups. Then Microsoft purchased it and made it free. For those that don't know what it is, it made it so you can use Visual Studio with Unity instead of MonoDevelop (don't even need to install MonoDevelop anymore).

As far as Visual Studio Community Edition, it's a completely free version of Visual Studio. Not in the same way of Express either where they cut out features. Community Edition is equivalent to Professional Edition. I think the rule is it's free unless your company is making over a million dollars a year (or something like that).

I could probably go on for an hour about how horrid MonoDevelop is, I hope it goes away now that Visual Studio is free.

I alwas wanted to do some kind of a game thing, but I have no idea how to make games. I guess this would be a good opportunity to learn!