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Game Hack-A-Thon Attracts Teams At 500+ Sites Worldwide

Posted by Soulskill on from the press-start-to-continue dept.

BarbaraHudson writes: Video game enthusiasts around the world participated in the Global Game Jam this past weekend. The event is a worldwide 48-hour hack-a-thon dedicated to inspiring creativity and building a working game from scratch in one weekend. Sponsored by companies like Intel, Microsoft, and Facebook, it's the largest event of its kind.

All games entered for GGJ are released under a Creative Commons share, alter, no sell license. You can browse through the games and download their source files on the official website, and a couple of publications did quick hands-on playthroughs.

"Although the club is focused on game development, not everyone participating was a computer programmer. Artists and graphic designers were present to help create characters and models for the games. The goal of Global Game Jam is to a stir up a global creative buzz in games while at the same time exploring the process of development."

31 comments

  1. Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by NotDrWho · · Score: 2

    Because developing an indie game is really the easiest part these days. Getting someone to notice it and pay for it--now THAT'S hard.

    --
    SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
    1. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      This was an educational experience, and the games are free.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      You never learned anything by doing it with a group? Skills like cooperation, communication of abstract ideas, and getting to see how others in the group with different tasks handled them?

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    3. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I dunno, based on what I've seen in Steam Workshop, I think maybe the developing part is still the hardest.

    4. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Read my comment in context. The reason "they" didn't teach the participants about marketing and promotion is because this is not a workshop.

    5. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      This definitely was a learning experience, since it brought people together who didn't necessarily know how to code - artists, musicians, etc. The coders had to learn to cooperate with these non-programmers (something that's kind of hard to do for many programmers with a holier-than-thou attitude nowadays), and everyone had to put on their game face.

      They were also allowed to use game engines and other tools, so the coding in some cases is no more than tweaking a pre-generated script and seeing how it renders.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    6. Re:Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Getting people to notice your game is easy, just sleep with a games journalist.

  2. Unity? by Valrandir · · Score: 1

    How is using an existing game engine really an hack-a-thon? Build from scratch should mean, no game engine.

    1. Re:Unity? by squiggleslash · · Score: 2

      Also they shouldn't use these silly "C" compiler thingies, instead they should use a couple of wires to short circuit a PCB until the program is in memory!

      I think using a game engine is perfectly acceptable in 2015. I don't think we're going to get an avalance of original game ideas if we force everyone who has a great idea for something to learn OpenGL and DirectX.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    2. Re:Unity? by master_kaos · · Score: 1

      What, so reinvent the wheel? It is suppose to be about creativity. Programming an audio engine, or dynamic light engine for the umpteenth time is not being creative.

      Most end users don't care what engine was used, they don't know difference between crytek engine, unity, frostbite, or some homebrew, they just see the end result.

      Ive seen good games and bad games on pretty much every engine.

    3. Re:Unity? by crgrace · · Score: 1

      Programming an audio engine, or dynamic light engine for the umpteenth time is not being creative.

      I think it's *incredibly* creative. In fact it's the very essence of creativity: you know what you want to achieve but it is non-obvious how to get there.

      Perhaps it is a different kind of creativity compared to other aspects of game design but the times when I've been deep into highly technical development have been some of the most creative periods of my life.

      I actually agree that using a game engine should be OK for this, but creativity isn't one of the reasons.

    4. Re: Unity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because it's not a hack-a-thon, and this summary is the only place I have ever seen call it that. It's a game jam. The point is to make a game in 48 hours, not tech hacking.

    5. Re:Unity? by alvinrod · · Score: 3, Insightful

      To some people, having the engine is liberating and allows them far more creativity. If you're someone who has an amazing story to tell and an interesting idea for a game, but have very little programming experience, being able to bring your grand vision into existence is going to be a lot more difficult and may prevent some from even trying. We're not telling budding authors to construct their own typewriter and build their own press after all.

      At the same time, engine design itself is certainly important, but it's a different kind of creativity. It won't appeal to everyone, but I've found that showing people a basic engine and discussing enhancements or improvements is a good way to get them more interested. If you have a simple engine and let them run into the limitations, they might feel compelled to put in the effort to poke around at the engine itself whereas if you had them start from scratch it might be overwhelming.

      Part of the learning process is giving people education in manageable chunks. Obviously there are some who can handle more than others, but even the most brilliant and diligent of students can be overwhelmed.

    6. Re: Unity? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1
      Maybe you should read the first article:

      To kick off the global "hackathon" on Friday, a special Keynote presentation made by several game developers worldwide was shown in the auditorium of Communication Arts and Sciences Building. The same video was screened at nearly 500 locations worldwide to inspire creativity.

      Or you could follow the second link and go to the top of the About page

      The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event (game creation) taking place around the world at physical locations. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development.

      The big names in the industry who sponsored it have no problem with the term (click on the Sponsors link on the site).

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    7. Re: Unity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Well, that's me told.

      Still, if Valrandir wishes to code up a game in assembly, engine from scratch, in 48 hours, more power to them. Absolutely nothing stopping them.

  3. hack? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    when I saw the word hack I thought the goal of tournament was to break into a game server and steal in-game money and items or fake personal details.

    1. Re:hack? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      when I saw the word hack I thought the goal of tournament was to break into a game server and steal in-game money and items or fake personal details.

      You're thinking of the media definition - the proper word for that is a "cracker", not a hacker.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  4. why do I never hear about these things? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Slashdot should have posted about it before it happened.

    1. Re:why do I never hear about these things? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      I'm sorry. I guess I better dust of my crystal ball, ouija board, and cast some bones next time.

      On the other hand, if you'e interested in next year, just go to their web site.

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
    2. Re:why do I never hear about these things? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's on every year on the same date, and this is something like the 6th year it's run. No crystal ball required.

      They also didn't just surprise put on this event in one day with zero prior warning, or nobody would have turned up.

    3. Re:why do I never hear about these things? by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 1

      Thank you for volunteering to post about it before the event next year :-)

      --
      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  5. 1 week? by Tsolias · · Score: 1

    Really 1 week? that even less than I even want to find the game name.

    1. Re:1 week? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really 1 week? that even less than I even want to find the game name.

      Not 1 week. 48 hours.

  6. Proved it cannot be done in 1 weekend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    After looking through about 50 of these games, this hackathon proved to me that a game cannot be built in 1 weekend. It also proved that the effort missing is likely in years and not weekends

  7. Unity? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's not a hack-a-thon, it's a game jam. The summary is misleading. The point is not to hack tech for 48 hours, it's to build a game from start to finish in 48 hours.

  8. Proved it cannot be done in 1 weekend by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh yeah?

    http://globalgamejam.org/2015/games/utensil-quest

    First-person stealth, multiplayer, one player is the infiltrator and the others watch through the security cameras and guide the infiltrator through.

  9. Did they teach them about marketing/promotion? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's no teaching. It's not a workshop, it's "go make a game for 48 hours".

  10. Whaaa?? No such license! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Creative Commons share, alter, no sell

    Creative commons doesn't have any of those license terms! Even the GGJ FAQ uses those imprecise terms to refer to what is actually a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license. And they reached back to pull up the 3.0 version!? This seriously complicates things for an international event. Using 4.0 would have placed all entries on level ground.

    The terms given by the GGJ are so far wrong they could be considered fraudulent. It's generally a good idea to understand the license before using it. Expect to see one or all of these sponsoring companies violating the license any day now (knowingly or not)...

    Wow, the facepalm. It hurts.

  11. why do I never hear about these things? by feddas · · Score: 1

    GGJ is yearly, so remember to look next January. If you're looking to jam soon, Ludumdare.com does them often. Their next big one is in April, their next small one is this weekend, Jan 31st.