[Event] 19 March: Board Game Jam CPT

edited in Events
After last night's show of enthusiasm for this kind of thing, I thought I should make myself at least somewhat accountable and get the ball rolling.

Anyway, the idea is to host a 12 hour game jam (9am to 9pm) where people can make board games together on a theme or work on something they've already been tinkering with. The aim is to have a lot of people in the same room to help us all create cool things.

If you're interested, join the FB event here: https://www.facebook.com/events/596443360546334/

UPDATE: Venue, dates and time all confirmed. See Facebook event for details

Comments

  • Now if only I was in Capetown =\
  • I've put a poll on the event to settle on a date.
  • Brilliant. Sounds like fun.
  • I'm hoping to join. Boardgame development is new to me so here's my noob question:

    Been thinking about the prototype expensiveness issue (at least from an art perspective) and been wondering whether some cheap DIY printing techniques and tools would be handy? Think: potato stamps for marking cards/pieces, but alternatives to that. I'm looking around and asking people, but would this actually be useful to info look into and share, or am I getting way ahead of myself?
  • I'm hoping to join. Boardgame development is new to me so here's my noob question:

    Been thinking about the prototype expensiveness issue (at least from an art perspective) and been wondering whether some cheap DIY printing techniques and tools would be handy? Think: potato stamps for marking cards/pieces, but alternatives to that. I'm looking around and asking people, but would this actually be useful to info look into and share, or am I getting way ahead of myself?
    All questions welcome :)

    I think you are getting ahead of yourself here. For one thing, each board game is going to require different pieces to make it up - and you until you've already prototyped, you won't know what those pieces/requirements are, so I would recommend not pre purchasing too much.

    Of course, there are some things that you can guarantee you'll need at a jam: Paper (lots), cardboard (some, varying thickness depending), scissors, glue, dice (I have a bunch of dice I think I paid R20 for from a china shop), pens and colour-pens.

    Some people have a jam kit for prototyping that includes dice that are various values (D20 etc), cutting boards and knives, card sleeves, and other tokens. I'm incredibly cheap and just use dice as tokens, dice as dice, dice as victory points... you get the gist. I also will just use a dice roll/random calculator on my phone (or laptop) if I need different values.

    It's also important to think that if you want to get something published one day, that the more individual items, particularly individual tokens and things not as mass produced (D6s being the most mass produced dice), the more expensive production will be...which makes profit margins smaller. Simpler may be the best approach.

    (Of course, there are amazing board games with loads of pieces and complexity like Mansions of Madness that make enough profit etc... it's just not my advice to start there. Much like in PC games, don't start with a MMO :P )
  • edited
    We've organised a venue for the 19th of March: The Big Box Cafe in Tableview

    9am to 5pm

    Map: https://goo.gl/maps/Qh71AonWz272

    Looking forward to seeing you all there. Also, as they're hosting, please consider purchasing your meals, drinks and snacks from the venue rather than elsewhere to support them giving us the space.
  • So excited for this. And can't wait to see Big Box Tableview...
  • How many people are keen to do a parallel one in JHB? I am willing to organize (unless someone else wants to)
  • @mikethetike yeah I'm keen, and a bunch of people probably would be.

    Using the Wits game design lab would make a lot of sense - there's a ton of board game prototyping stuff there already, and the tables are set up so multiple people can sit around them :)
  • Plans are already underway for a board game jam at Wits, will probably be around April some time :)
    Thanked by 2Tuism Fengol
  • I'd still like to get an idea of how many people are keen for this date. Plans are just plans if no one knows about them
  • note: Venue changed to A Touch of Madness.
  • @dammit Is everything still on for this event? Facebook page seems to be broken or missing?
    Was looking to confirm the times.
  • I set a deadline for people to confirm attendance (which I posted about multiple times in the event on FB) and at that point, I removed everyone who had not done so. This may be what you're experiencing.

    I have confirmed the venue for 25 people. This is for the 20 who have confirmed on FB and the others who've confirmed with me in person. The other 20 people who were listed as "interested" I could not rely on to book for.

    I've reinvited you @pieter but you're the last person.

  • Thanks to everyone who came through and supported the event! Was a great turn out and definitely something to do again. Looking forward to seeing the development of the games that were created :)
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