Episode 15: Global Game Jam

This week, we bring you in-depth coverage from the very first Global Game Jam.

This week's musical guests:
Ian Dorsch - "The Escapist Show Theme"
The Bitters - "Hornet Swarm"

Watch Video

This kind of thing is awesome. Encouraging these kinds of small indie game developers to create new and innovative ideas is really what the industry needs to spark a new wave of creation and shake off the funk of sequels and remakes that seems to be settling in.

Looks interesting, but I need to ask - where they given graphics engines and graphics before hand?

Doug:
Looks interesting, but I need to ask - where they given graphics engines and graphics before hand?

I believe most were using Microsoft XNA Game Studio, although I am not sure what exactly that includes. I do know that they did all the art there, with maybe an exception made for backgrounds.

If anyone is interested in trying the games seen in the video here is the link, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Only 2 of the 4 are hosted at the moment though.

Slycne:

Doug:
Looks interesting, but I need to ask - where they given graphics engines and graphics before hand?

I believe most were using Microsoft XNA Game Studio, although I am not sure what exactly that includes. I do know that they did all the art there, with maybe an exception made for backgrounds.

If anyone is interested in trying the games seen in the video here is the link, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Only 2 of the 4 are hosted at the moment though.

Ah, thanks. Its pretty impressive if they did the art themselves as well as the coding! I suspect the XNA Game Studio does include an engine of some description, but maybe not.

well interesting but not extremely entertaining to watch. kindof miss all the extra stuff this show used to have.

This type of stuff really just blows my mind. I wouldn't even know where to begin!

What no ZP sneak peak?

xitel:
This kind of thing is awesome. Encouraging these kinds of small indie game developers to create new and innovative ideas is really what the industry needs to spark a new wave of creation and shake off the funk of sequels and remakes that seems to be settling in.

I absolutely agree.

Slycne:
If anyone is interested in trying the games seen in the video here is the link, Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill, NC, USA. Only 2 of the 4 are hosted at the moment though.

Thanks

I like it too bad it didnt come near me as far as I know.

no jam here :(
no ZP SP either D:

He must have died!

This is a great idea, but I gotta admit, I do miss the older, longer, more packed Escapist Show format.

It doesn't seem so unintuitive to me that a small team would be able to produce games so quickly. As was pointed out by Fred Brooks in The Mythical Man-Month about operating system design, "Adding manpower to a late software project only makes it later." I'd be inclined to think that this applies to game design as well.

Unfortunately, I wouldn't know much about coding in XNA, and even with the game engine that I've used, I couldn't even begin to code something like that.