SA GAME JAM 2019 RESULTS

First of all, CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE! This year, SA Game Jam had 35 entries (including a couple of projects from the judges). It’s great to see this competition and community grow every year, and we’re super excited about the work you’ve all done. We hope you had an awesome time doing it!

We launched the ‘participation’ initiative last year, and we’re grateful to everyone for being on board for the process again this year. Formulating and taking feedback are both such important components of the game development process, and it’s fantastic to see folks engage with one another in critical (yet encouraging) ways on this forum.

To our judges - Henrike, Francois, Kirsten, Rodain and Rohun - thank you for taking the time to play through this year’s entries and for your feedback on the games. Jonathan, Evan and I (Adoné) from Free Lives played through a shortlist of games recommended by the judging panel in order to make a final call about winners, so thanks to them (us?) as well.

Thank you to the Vega (Cape Town and Durban), as well as the WITS crew at Comic Con, for hosting jammers.

And last but certainly not least, thank you to Terence from Free Lives for getting the word out, managing the Discord, putting together announcement and wrap up and videos and for being an advocate for getting more non-game dev folks into game dev.

Okay, now for the best part (if you've seen the announcement video, you'll know who the winners are already, but here are some more details about why they won)

OVERALL

Space Trash by Joshua Adriaanse, Joshua Carstens, Callum Gibson, William Glendinning

Congratulations to this team for putting together such an engaging, well scoped and well executed game! Of this year’s entries, Space Trash stands out as a complete package where various elements (gameplay, art and audio) work together to create an immersive atmosphere. Space Trash reinforces the player’s role as a lone survivor through its eerie soundscape, and visual elements like the ship’s light beam.

Space Trash embodies the theme of crafting well by giving the player the freedom to explore creative possibilities as they construct their ship. The information displayed in the top left corner of the screen (data logs found 1/5) is a great addition, piquing the player’s interest and suggesting a bigger world.

While Space Trash requires a bit of balancing work, we’re excited to award it this year’s OVERALL prize for being a very well put together game.


HOBBYIST

Geomorph by @donderbos

While we (or some of us, at least) initially struggled with the ruleset, Geomorph is a well designed experience that you want to keep coming back to. It offers a clever interpretation of the theme, and the aesthetic synergises with the gameplay very well. Geomorph creates a pleasant space for the player to be in, and we know what a deceptively tricky feat that can be.

The game could benefit from giving the player some additional information / feedback, but as it stands, Geomorph is a very impressive 48 hour entry.


STUDENT

Space Trash by Joshua Adriaanse, Joshua carstens, Callum Gibson, William Glendinning

The OVERALL section covers most of our comments on why this game is fantastic, but we’ll also add that it’s great to see an entry of this quality coming from a student team. Good job!


DIVERSITY

Life Story by @Jelligeth

Life Story is a simple, clever and evocative game. While it gives the player limited choices (and limited resources with which to make those choices), it also gives the player the freedom to fill in the blanks, and to imagine the story that unfolds based on their actions.

There’s some excellent storytelling happening through the interface as well. As the name of the currency changes, it takes on a different meaning. A little work on player feedback would definitely help make Life Story into a more compelling experience, but what’s there is solid and has a lot of soul.


ART

Midnight Auto Supply by @ashashza, @blanket, @damousey, @dangermcjane, @GreatHeightsAudio, @NickCuthbert, @watman

First of all, let’s congratulate these folks for managing a jam with such a big team!

The art in Midnight Auto Supply is cohesive in terms of theming, it’s entertaining and it builds an enticing world for the player to step into. While there are some stylistic differences between the illustrations, art and graphic design, they all work together to reinforce the 1970s spy fantasy.

Honourable Mentions:
Supernatural Rafting by Blake Denham, Victoria Bench and Jonathan Taylor
No Man Is An Island by Benjamin Crooks, Andrea Hayes, James Gibson and Sunny Woolls


AUDIO
Midnight Auto Supply by @ashashza, @blanket, @damousey, @dangermcjane, @GreatHeightsAudio, @NickCuthbert, @watman

As with the art, Midnight Auto Supply’s audio design supports the game’s theming particularly well. While the team worked with standard assets in a lot of places, we’re impressed by their attention to detail. From the smooth and catchy theme tune to the ignition rumble and mumbling voice overs, the game’s audio sells the spy fantasy and provides the player with additional feedback.

Honourable mention:
Space Trash by Joshua Adriaanse, Joshua Carstens, Callum Gibson, William Glendinning


NARRATIVE

The Great Factory by @Gnoblar_agency

The Great Factory embraces the theme of being a factory worker in an authoritarian dystopia. It uses its propaganda satire, barren-looking art and thoughtfully selected sound fx to support the narrative of an oppressive environment.

Mechanically, the repetitive gameplay is not unlike menial labour, but the rhythm of dragging blocks is broken up by story elements, like messages coming down the conveyor belt (presumably left by workers further up the production line). These story elements create mystery, and encourage the player to imagine a larger world.

We think that The Great Factory has a lot of potential. With more development time, the player could be given agency to work against the dictatorship, while trying to keep their performance from dipping and arousing suspicion. We’d be excited to see more of this narrative unfold over the course of the game.

This is an impressive jam entry, with elements all working together to pull the player into a world, a role and an enticing mystery.


TECHNICAL
Vitae Defence by @4t0m1c

Vitae Defence has an impressive number of systems that work together in real-time, including mining, enemy spawning and path-finding, and autonomous turrets around a novel maze-shape. On top of all of that, it also has an extra layer of polish (clear UI, animations to show things like gem and coin pickups) and artwork that's simple but appealing.

Overall, it's just a solid entry, and although the version we played suffered from a lack of audio, it's amazing that all of this was done was by a solo jammer.


NOUVEAU AWARD
The Last Connection by @Asriele and @Wolfbeard

The Last Connection managed to create a compelling universe with a very small team. The background music does a great job of creating a futuristic, synthy atmosphere and the portraits show a variety of interesting characters. The mechanic of dragging characters over one another to progress the story also create a stronger connection between them, making them feel less like meaningless NPCs.

Playing the game felt like looking through a keyhole into what seems to be a fascinating and compelling world. It's quite an experimental game, and even though there's some work to be done to better onboard the player and show the consequences of player actions, we're hooked by what's there.

Because The Last Connection explores an interesting idea through a novel mechanic, we just had to come up with a special category to reward the team’s ambition. Well done!


WINNERS please contact support@freelives.net to organise your prizes. We'll announce the entries selected to be showcased at Playtopia soon.

Comments

  • Thanks to all the judges and participants (as well as Vega Durban for being awesome!) We had a blast, and we're totally down for SAGJ 2020! :D
    Thanked by 2eviL_joSh donderbos
  • The Great Factory embraces the theme of being a factory worker in an authoritarian dystopia. It uses its propaganda satire, barren-looking art and thoughtfully selected sound fx to support the narrative of an oppressive environment.

    Mechanically, the repetitive gameplay is not unlike menial labour, but the rhythm of dragging blocks is broken up by story elements, like messages coming down the conveyor belt (presumably left by workers further up the production line). These story elements create mystery, and encourage the player to imagine a larger world.

    We think that The Great Factory has a lot of potential. With more development time, the player could be given agency to work against the dictatorship, while trying to keep their performance from dipping and arousing suspicion. We’d be excited to see more of this narrative unfold over the course of the game.

    This is an impressive jam entry, with elements all working together to pull the player into a world, a role and an enticing mystery.
    Thank you judges for the great feedback and motivational words! I am truly honored to have had my game played by all of you. Thank you for selecting it and I hope to take it further and keep delivering an enjoyable experience.

    And a big thank you to Free Lives for organizing the jam!
  • Thanks judges! I feel honoured to have been chosen as a winner. I’m definitely planning to get Geomorph ready for mobile release asap.

    Also thanks to Free Lives for organising the jam and supporting game dev in SA, you guys are the best!

    Bring on SA Game Jam 2020!
    Thanked by 3eviL_joSh watman dammit
  • We had a blast making that game, thanks judges!
  • Well done to all who took part, and to the winners for making such good work! Great to see this jam going from strength to strength!
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