Global Game Jam - Utah - Pics From the Creative Crucible
They had 48 hours to change the world...

This weekend was the 2010 Global Game Jam. All around the world, video game heroes - the real ones, not the ones made of pixels - holed themselves up for 48 hours to create video games - start to finish. The tight time constraints meant the games would necessarily be small, focused, and likely experimental to take advantage of a very limited array of mechanics and content.

I did not participate. But I did drop by to distract the participants and get some pictures at about the 24-hour point. The teams were often surrounded by half-empty containers of food and energy drinks. They had that wild all-nighter look to them. They were, in some cases, looking a little bit on the stressed and harried side. As they were at the halfway mark, they were generally at a very irritating part in game development: Nothing was fully WORKING yet, the wild dreams of the early hours were getting battered in the realities of schedule, and everyone seemed to be chewing on their own difficulties and challenges while acutely aware of the ticking of the clock.

But they were all working their butts off to try and do something --- cool. To be part of something awesome. And to create something great. Many of the game jammers were professionals, but they all embodied the indie spirit, and were making games for the love of games. They had no funding, no expectation of reward - but they sacrificed an entire weekend to make a game.

Here are snapshots of a tiny moment from some (most? all?) of the teams in their efforts this weekend at the Salt Lake location.

The Dust Bunnies team was having to make some major changes to their design when I showed up. They were hashing out some hard choices of what to salvage and how.


Maid In Russia is an adventure-style game of cold-war era espionage. And here it is in development:




The two-man (well, it was supposed to be 3-man) team of Silent Raid - a top-down - uh, space-sneaker game. You are infiltrating space pirates. Which means you are like a space ninja disguised as a space pirate. Or something.


The team behind Treausure Raiders included familiar faces from both Utah Indie Night and my former employer. These guys were making the gutsy move of making their game for the XBox 360 via XNA.



The Maid Man (later renamed "Free Towels," I understand) team - including many NinjaBee folks - divvy up the sandwiches for the closest thing that would count for a lunch break. No real "break" involved.


Mike Nielsen (who also does music for Frayed Knights and Apocalypse Cow) works on designing a level for Maid Man / Free Towels.


The team of Ant Thieves. It's a game about being a thief. And an ant. I think.



Some folks - like the organizers - played games in a support role rather than making games. I was glad to see Magic: The Gathering remains popular.

Labels: Indie Evangelism

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