Joburg Jam
Hey guys :)
Amaze (especially Super Friendship Arcade) really inspired us here in Joburg to create a more consistent jamming culture. I've spoken to some of the local devs and we want to start doing a regular game jam.
What?
8 hour game jam, during the weekend, once a month.
Where?
Your input here! We know that it needs to be comfortable and spacious. So far we think that Dee Twenty would be pretty nice because it's spacious (it's traditionally a board game venue), we get bottomless coffee/tea/hot chocolate and entry is quite cheap (R45 for the day). Also the crowd that goes there has a much higher likelihood of being interested in dabbling in game dev themselves :) That said, Joburg is a big place and there might be even more awesome venues! If you know of any please post about it
Why?
To show everyone why Joburg is the best obvs. Jokes aside, we're stagnating as a scene! We can't have all the game dev stuff and none of the games :/
So what do I do?
Join the conversation! Are you keen? When can you make it? It would be nice to jam quite soon I think. But that's up to you guys :)
I think it's also important to discuss what everyone would want from such an event. Is the eventual goal to have a party like SFA? Games for the forums? Practice? A regular hangout?
What do you think?
Amaze (especially Super Friendship Arcade) really inspired us here in Joburg to create a more consistent jamming culture. I've spoken to some of the local devs and we want to start doing a regular game jam.
What?
8 hour game jam, during the weekend, once a month.
Where?
Your input here! We know that it needs to be comfortable and spacious. So far we think that Dee Twenty would be pretty nice because it's spacious (it's traditionally a board game venue), we get bottomless coffee/tea/hot chocolate and entry is quite cheap (R45 for the day). Also the crowd that goes there has a much higher likelihood of being interested in dabbling in game dev themselves :) That said, Joburg is a big place and there might be even more awesome venues! If you know of any please post about it
Why?
To show everyone why Joburg is the best obvs. Jokes aside, we're stagnating as a scene! We can't have all the game dev stuff and none of the games :/
So what do I do?
Join the conversation! Are you keen? When can you make it? It would be nice to jam quite soon I think. But that's up to you guys :)
I think it's also important to discuss what everyone would want from such an event. Is the eventual goal to have a party like SFA? Games for the forums? Practice? A regular hangout?
What do you think?
Thanked by 10Elyaradine BenJets Tuism MattMac KleinM Karuji EvanGreenwood Pierre NickCuthbert Squidcor
Comments
I just want a space to jam ideas. We all have ideas we want to test out - let's just start jamming.
And I'm keen to find a solid direction for this that suits us all, so we can sustainably run something ongoing, growing, and positive and breeds awesome :)
I'm actually super excited to find this post and would love to chat to you guys more, I do art mainly and am the other half of Cool Your Jets, so would love to possibly get involved from a design/flyers/promo videos/coming up with good name options!/decor/designing artwork for game collabs/ basic programming (teaching myself gamemaker) but much the way @Benjets has been involved with SFA from a visuals/branding point of view.
I think you also raise some good points, specifically regarding what the outcome of such events would be, and I personally DO think from listening to the guys from SFA that the parties go a long way in bringing people that may not usually go to game-dev type things and attract diverse new-comers, as well as giving good, fun exposure to the games we all make. Also it gives way to rad combo parties with SFA when they come up here or devs from here go down there!
Even without physically being at the same space we can make and trade games with SFA (and other devs of course) and play them at the jam-party-things. Also this is a good opportunity for us to play Joust.
My only thought regarding venues was to explore places like Melville or Parkhurst, as they are some of the few places in the city with actual foot-traffic and a bit of a vibe while at the same time being really inclusive to not only gamers but people from all (or at least more) parts of our society.
Please feel free to PM me as I'd love to get involved in any way I can and feel pretty passionate about helping make this into something really great!
I think the first big question is: who is this for? I'm guessing it's aimed at students, indies, and hobbyists. Which is would be great.
Second big question: What do we hope to achieve by doing this? I think getting more people making things is the basic goal. But long term creating a culture of game innovation, and hopefully demo parties like SFA would be a thing.
The kinda big problem from things that have happened in the past: JHB is big and getting target people is rather largely dependent on where the event is hosted. Wits has a good student turn out, but lacks devs and hobbyists. MS being the inverse of that. Somewhere in between would be cool.
I've never been to D20, but it's seems like it's a nice mid point in terms of physical travel to get to. But as @Bensonance points out, it miiiight not be super suited to a Jam, but I've known people to Jam/Work at Starbucks so I'm not really going to say how the venue will work out.
The second biggest problems with these type of things is sustain. They normally last a month or two and attendance dies down and then they stop happening. We'd basically need a dedicated core of 6 people who rarely miss these events, and then try and get other people to come in and participate in the events. I think the kind of branding that goes around SFA goes quite a long way to helping create an atmosphere of participation.
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Ultimately I think we need to look at this prototype gathering, but like we'd look at a prototype. Something that can change in form, and function until we find a way to make it sustainable and functioning.
In terms of drawing people in: the next JHB meetup is on the 13th of October, So I think it'd be better to use it to show off what we made and use that to draw people in than try and ramp it up for a launch function (It's also right after rAge, so we'd probably have a drop in attendance with people being tired and such, but this is kinda thumbsuck guessing)
Next weekend is a long weekend which has shown in the past to have had poor attendance. So I think Saturday the 3rd of October would be a good day for the Jam.
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Oh and yeah totally down for the Jam and helping with wadeva needs to be done for it :p
Super Friendship Arcade - it's no accident that it's called what it is (or if it is, happy accident!). The name invokes the arcade, and having that name on an event tells people just what it does - SFA party? Arcade party, chill with friends, play games. SFA jam? Jam and make games that goes into SFA parties. It's simple, and communicates well. That way, it builds up momentum.
Design Saloon (not sure if one o or two os) - this one has never been heard of on the forums, and from what I've heard, is a bunch of CT gamedevs getting together with the goal of discussing, playtesting, and sharing game designs. With the focus on game design. Not a community meetup, not a jam, not whatever else. Its sole purpose is a whetstone to sharpen game designs with other game designers.
These two things are very different in nature, but is similar in that it has one clearly defined "hook", so that people who are interested know instantly that they are. It's marketing by focus and targeting.
So, with that in mind, I feel like we need to find focus, home in on that focus, brand it so we can talk about it. For example "Joburg Jam" (I know it's a temp title) is an example of something that doesn't say the right things... It's in Joburg, and it's jamming. The end goal isn't to jam in joburg. SFA's goal is to have parties with games. DS's goal is to talk about game design, which naturally includes people who have games to talk about.
What's our goal?
For me:
1. I want to jam more frequently, but not with as much party emphasis. I'm personally less inclined to party atmosphere (yes I'm getting on in my old age). These two points might be oppositional as party games (one/two button games) are easier to aim for.
2. And I want to have a game design focus group, which can help me grow as an indie game developer and work towards becoming commercially viable one way or another. There are many routes to this - by making better games, by marketing better, by knowing the right people... I don't know, I really don't know, so I want to know.
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Sustainability:
I think we just need to balance a few factors to make sure it's sustainable. There are elements pulling in several directions:
Frequency: more frequent = more difficult to sustain. Monthly sounds good to me.
Attendance: If we build up a good attendance events can happen even without the organisers being present from time to time.
Location: More central is a good thing. I agree with @Karuji completely that being closer to a midpoint is great, though I have to say, my experience tells me that even when things were happening RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF WITS for a couple weeks in a row, I didn't see any student attendance other than the usual 2 or 3. That's disappointing, and therefore I wonder if this is a location problem at all for the student side. How do we fix that? Students please tell us :)
Also, we don't really much of a crap about it being sustainable, as long as we personally want to do it. We've had 8-hour jams where there've been 12 people, and ones where there've been 4, and we do them regardless of whether people are going to make it or not. (That said, I don't think we've ever had fewer than 4 games being made. We've theorised that having three or fewer games being made could result in poorer games overall because of a bit of the competitive nature of it no longer being a thing, if competition drives you.)
The jams I've been involved in here have also been sparked from a particular theme. We've had jams where we try to build narrative games, or games that involve learning FMOD/Wwise, or put emotion into the games, or whatever, and although nobody has to keep to the theme, the theme's always been around building a particular game design skill that we feel we lack that we'd like to explore more. I know this makes me a lot more invested in them, because it makes me feel as if, if I don't take part in this game jam for whatever reason (I've missed one because of flying up to Joburg), I'm missing out on a bunch of focused learning. That's a huge motivator for me personally.
I dunno, take from that whatever you think applies. I personally don't see much value in making it something super "official". If you can gather just 3 people who want to make 3 games and are super excited about learning something new (via picking jam topics to explore things you know you suck at, or that challenge you to develop a skill further), I think you've got a jam! There doesn't need to be any commitment to making it regular; when you want to learn something new, send out the jam signal. If people show up, you've got a great jam! If people don't, then pop me a mail and I'll jam with you unless I'm in crunch.
Where I'm going with this is that the frequency must be enough to allow for proper judging. Once a month will be tight. If there isn't judging (and winning) then there are tons of similar game jams happening already. Might as well just stay at home and do one of those.
Don't get me wrong. I'm super keen. If you get a big name judge, then I'm even more keen.
@Tuism I think you expressed a lot of things I was wanting to say, particularly about the strength in SFA's brand..and also with getting old myself am not much into partying either..but I think we should think of the 'party' aspect as more of an 'evening-get together for anyone that wants to play indie games in a makeshift arcade setting where there's no DJs and no excessive drinking and probably pizza'. A nice way for anyone making games without the intention of making them millionaires or even releasing the games to have other people play their games.
@Elyaradin I have to disagree, at least personally and I think what SFA have done in terms of their venues, their ethos around making games and collaborating (especially with hardware jams, so people HAVE to attend - the social aspect is part of what drives the movement, at least that's how I interpreted their talks) and don't get me wrong, I'm also super busy, less than magnificently social and don't have a huge amount of inclination to work outside my comfort zone but am very willing to dedicate those few hours every month or two to help build a scene here. If we just stay at home, don't bother to come up with a name or use a venue, then I'd agree with @mikethetike and just say we shouldn't try, and just enter the next LD or whatever international jam we can do while in pyjamas.
I think the idea of a winner is interesting..and obviously has benefits and possible downfalls, but it may provide some incentive to people? I think if it's kept fun it could work.
I DO think one thing the guys in CT have that helps is that for these jams nobodies looking for recognition or to make the next Hotline Miami but rather have a good time making fun and different games while improving our skills and knowledge.
@MattMac I think it's better to keep it monthly because we'll likely be doing short length jams
Obviously I wrote a bit about the 8 hour format here: http://makegamessa.com/discussion/3267/post-mortem-free-lives-8-hour-jam-on-june-13th ... there's a post I wrote a bit further down the thread on why I like the format so much.
Maybe also have a look into the Berlin Minijam scene. They've been doing this for years now. http://www.berlinminijam.de
If you do do it, I recommend doing some kind of presentation at the end. @Elyaradine mentioned this a bit, but I want to strongly recommend it.
A presentation at the end really helps with motivation and camaraderie. If you work remotely, maybe you can organize an online hangout at the end or something? I think you'll get the most value being in the same space as your fellow jammers, particularly when receiving feedback, but I understand that isn't always easy.
Having to present at the end and face your peers makes the deadline a lot more real. I think that's important. And I think seeing people actually play your game allows you to learn more from the experience and makes it more enjoyable, and watching people make their games gives you better insight at the end into what they did that contributed to their successes/failures (which is another opportunity to learn).
I'm not suggesting any kind of judging. Presenting at the end in my mind is totally about encouraging one another and getting better feedback. So far, in our jams in Cape Town, I've felt that everyone won.
We found that it's definitely doable once every month. It doesn't matter if just two or three people participate, the point is experimenting and making rad stuff. Unfortunately for me, Broforce is getting in the way a bit right now (although last month we had two 8 hour jams).
DO IT DO IT DO IT DO IT!!!!
Perhaps, once Broforce is over, we can do a linked jam between Cape Town and Joburg? If that doesn't cause too much additional admin. (Although if anyone else in Cape Town is keen then maybe they can jump on making that happen).
That being said, there is a lot to take in here and I'm really happy to see some of the bigger issues being discussed like venue, structure of the Jams and what it is that we want to achieve with these Jams as I believe they are the three most important aspects we need to figure out before this can be viable; because if we have a venue, the events have structure and we can motivate why we want to Jam then most of the admin is done.
In terms of judging the Jams and such, I do believe that firstly these Jams should be about learning, creating and socializing/networking basically building our skills so that we can become better game designers and the skills we gain from these Jams could always used in the bigger Jams that are more internationally recognized later which would probably lead to better games in the end, but that being said I do think making games for competition could be an interesting skill or motivator and maybe we could make that a criteria or a motivation for one of the Jams (making judge-able games)
In terms of student turnout and such I can't speak for all of them but I know from my side the only times I really haven't attended a Jam is either if I'm not in the specified province and don't have a good enough internet connection to participate wirelessly or if Varsity is being a ball ache and we have a hundred and one things due the coming week that the Jam falls before.
Yeah I'm still processing everything at the moment but If I think of anything else I'll definitely come add it to the thread. i just wanted to show my enthusiasm for the idea :D
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MUCH FOR ME TO
I also find it rad that you guys aren't fussed if the turnout is small, I think that kind of environment will also kind of encourage people because FOMO. Also a linked CT and JHB jam sounds like a great idea!
@StrayTrain Agreed, I think as it's been mentioned above...it's not a huge amount of time to ask of people and the benefit will be so great in the long run.
I also think it would be great to include hardware in the jam, not sure if anyone agrees? Should that maybe be kept separate? I'm no good at it, or haven't really tried but would enjoy giving it a go.
1: Formal judging isn't going to happen. Too much admin, and there is already Ludum Dare that fills that role. This should be something that people want to do in order to better themselves. I think a presentation at the end of the Jam would be really great and beneficial to all the participants of the Jam!
2: Once we have a cool bunch of games I'd love to try and host a SFA style party somewhere in JHB. Which means that I don't think that we'd be doing a hardware style jam any time soon, but I think there is going to be a point were we do it and have some cool party stuff.
3: Sustainability is a worry. In part this jam is a response to the fact that JHB isn't making enough cool games, despite having some cool bases to draw from when it comes to making games. I think that the core people who want this will just keep on doing it. But I do want it to be something that grows out and gets more people doing interesting stuff.
4: Name and venue are important, but like I said before. We should treat this like a prototype and iterate on it as we go along. Now that I seem to have caught up on some sleep after AMaze I'll go visit D20 and see what it's like. @AngryMoose super rad of you to offer your offices :) can I ask what shops and such are around so that people could search for sustenance during the jam?
To echo/expand on some points I've read so far:
- We used to have DevJams every sunday at the MS offices - these helped me so much with my game and were really fun, They were not as goal-driven, but the idea of pitching up and have a bunch of people play your latest project and talk about it and give you advice is really cool. Maybe there's a space for that sort of thing somewhere in this idea. This would tick Tuism's box for a "games focus group". Also the official meetups dont do this anymore so this need isnt being fulfilled there.
- These jams dont need judging, but they DO need everyone playing everyone elses games afterwards. Thats the rewarding bit that you get as a prize :P
- Try not be so negative about the sustainability aspect. Yes these things do have a habit of petering out, but if anything this post shows that there is a continual itch to host these. Lets take this idea as far as it can go and not get stuck with analysis paralysis over it.
https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://vine.co/v/OK2gh7q7mPO&ved=0CB4QtwIwAmoVChMIuNTM-8L8xwIVwdkaCh1x0QQm&usg=AFQjCNE3obuR4PpJVyOx-YJu0zQl1DvzdQ
I know when we decided to do an FMOD jam (one in which we decided we were going to learn how to integrate FMOD) it got a lot of people excited. "FMOD" isn't exactly a theme, but it is a common goal.
I guess I'm saying one of the ways to motivate participation is find something that several members of the community want to learn/practice (be it a tool, or a skill like writing narrative, or implementing procedural art, or a process like trying to evoke a particular feeling etc). If the jam is focussed on an aspect of game development that the community desires to master then there's guaranteed to be an intrinsic reward for participation (as well as enabling all the participants to become more powerful game developers).
Like @Tuism was pointing out. I think for the Free Lives 8 hour jams we have been having a sort of hook. We're trying to make them something he might call "Level Up Jams". They haven't had catchy names, because we're not really trying to drive participation, but we are trying to drive excitement by making them useful to us.
- Procedural generation jam
- Make-your-own-everything-jam (everyone works alone, makes a simple mechanical game, but does they own art; sound etc.)
- Skill-swap jam (work in teams of even numbers, work with specialist in thing you want to get better in. BUT: specialist does something they're not good at: programmer works with artist, but programmer makes art, artist does programming)
- Bring-a-friend-to-jam (bring someone who wants to get into making games, and then make a game with them)
- Level design jam (choose a game with good level designs, just make levels for that game/ try teach the game's mechanics through level design etc.)
- Juice jam. (Everyone get's the same game files for a given game, and just juices the game to be more effective in providing feedback/game feel)
I would also just be happy with having a theme, and creating a game, in normal game jam style. I don't think Joburg is producing enough games yet :).
So yeah, throw out your ideas
This weekend isn't ideal because of it being a long weekend, and the NAG jam starting a few days after, I guess. So I guess, the first week after rAge would be best - 17th October? I would still be keen to jam this weekend, maybe.
I went to dee twenty this weekend, and yeah not really a gamejam place. So hopefully we can use 24 bit as a somewhat regular venue?
I think the level up stuff is really cool and stuff that I want to do, but this assumes that as a cohesive group we want to achieve a similar goal: I believe this is much easier to attain when all participants have a similar grounding (like working at the same studio.) While I definitely think this is good and self motivating and really what I want the game jam to be about. To me I want to get more people involved in making stuff rather than have a singular group of people get better at making stuff. (This isn't to say that these two things are mutually exclusive, I just believe that we need to focus more on one right now)
Yeah NAG Jam kinda took the best nearest weekend for doing something.
So who's up for a Jam this weekend, and who's up for a jam on the 17th of October?
Bring stuff like scissors cardboard , pens ,etc and we sit aside at a table area and make boardgames/ non-digital media inside rAge?(I'm sure we can organise tables somewhere? doesn't even have to be inside the rAge venue).
I'm not saying it's a bad idea, I'm just not sure if the people here necessarily have the time to do it.
Wits works for me. :) I spoke to Luke, though, and we can use his offices as long as one member of staff is there - I don't know if @Stray_Train still counts? :P Need to let him know by today, though :).
10-6 on Saturday?
@Sean_Goncalves We need to bring the micro-jam dream team back together :D.
I agree that level up type jams could be great, but a classic team-up type jam with a theme/s would possibly be a good starting point for Joburg? I think simplicity and 'freedom'/'fun' are things that would probably attract more people, and also help with the sustainability aspect.
I think a regular jam of any kind would definitely help me level up at this point anyway..
Managed to write some nice raycast based platformer code. Got a bit done more than I expected since I even got some basic (and not too buggy) one way platforming.
Arrow keys or WASD to move, R if you fall off the edge of the planet.
Also since I'm kinda terrible at Unity: you want to run the game at a widescreen resolution and windowed.
Edit: Guess I should also say that in addition to my base goal of raycast based platforming, I also got one way platforms in. Which are a massive pain in the ass to do. Like really >_>
Edit: Updated Mac build to hopefully run without people having to dig through their security settings.
To get around that "System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Allow apps from" then you need to click the lock and say that that proto is something that can run on your mac even though it hasn't been signed.
Alternatively just download this new mac build 'cause that easier and less dumb. (I created this on my mac which has dev certs so it _should_ just run)
As a fun aside. Apparently linux folk need to tell the operating system that the file is actually an executable, 'cause unity and linux and fun times ye' know ;)
Edit So who has suggestions for another date?