Win an Expo Pass to GDC 2016 with Game Jolt Game Jam

Fengol

"Make a game in 72 hours and have a chance to showcase it in person at the Game Jolt booth at the 2016 Game Developers Conference (GDC) in San Francisco on March 16-18!"

"Can’t make it to GDC? No problem! The Game Jolt staff will show off your winning game for you!"

"Prizes do not include travel or lodging expenses. All winners must book and pay for their own travel and lodging."

http://jams.gamejolt.io/gjgdcjam

Jam Starts: Thursday, February 4 at 10:00PM (Eastern Time) [Friday, 5 February 2016, 05:00:00 South Africa]
Jam Ends / Voting Starts: Monday, February 7 at 10:00PM (Eastern Time) [Monday, 8 February 2016, 05:00:00 South Africa]
Voting Ends: Friday, February 18 at 10:00PM (Eastern Time) [Friday, 19 February 2016, 05:00:00 South Africa]

While I can't afford the travel and lodging; I'm keen to make something that'll get shown on the floor. Thought I'd share with everyone else.

Crash

Thank you for sharing man, Also have a look into this website called IndieCade which does about the same thing as Jolt Game Jam, but instead of making games in 48hours, you can make your game in your own time and submit it but 1st of April and you can have a chance of having your game be shown off at E3 but there are also other events where your game be shown off to. You can submit work in progress work or completed work so yeah just thought I might share this. http://www.indiecade.com/

Tuism

Oh man, straight after #GGJ? Don't know if I have the strength for another big jam. Also had plans too. Let's see what the theme is :)

dislekcia

Crash said:

Thank you for sharing man, Also have a look into this website called IndieCade which does about the same thing as Jolt Game Jam, but instead of making games in 48hours, you can make your game in your own time and submit it but 1st of April and you can have a chance of having your game be shown off at E3 but there are also other events where your game be shown off to. You can submit work in progress work or completed work so yeah just thought I might share this. http://www.indiecade.com/

I keep forgetting people might not be aware of things like the IGF and IndieCade. The only way I can think of to fix this is to make more noise about the start of each of their entry periods each year. We should probably have an IndieCade thread, seeing as they just sent out their first call for submissions a couple of days ago.

Crash

I thought the jam is only in March haha my goodness I must still be tired after #GGJ, I am actually busy with other stuff now but being able to attend GDC that will be a dream come true! This will be my first Game Jolt GDC Jam so I want to participate.

Tuism

The ticket to GDC is only one part of the cost for us, unfortunately. Flight and accommodation and food adds up. A lot.

It was a maddeningly fantastic experience though. Really precious.

Crash

@dislekcia I agree, what I can do is start sharing these kind of stuff more on my social sites especially on my YouTube gaming channel and hope local devs become more aware of how big the indie community actually is.

dislekcia

Just a note on passes: GDC Expo passes are the least useful, they don't get you in to any of the talk streams at all and the expo floor itself is cool, but not that interesting in general. Also, anyone with stand space on the show floor will get a bunch of passes, so I'm not convinced this particular prize is so amazing. Yes, by all means having your game shown at GDC can be cool (DD being part of the IGF Pavilion was amazeballs), but if you're not there in person it's a whole lot less meaningful. Also, not all stands are created equal.

I mean, I know that I often show people local games during my GDC meetings (just ask @thefuntastic about the surprise Cadence meeting with Apple) and random social gatherings because they're simply cool and people need to see them. So I guess I'm saying that you'd be better off simply going to GDC without a pass if you can afford it. Don't bet your success on Gamejolt wanting more things to show off at their stand (because this feels a bit like spec work tbh).

-Edit- BTW, I have a GDC IGS Pass that I need to be getting rid of if anyone wants it. Would prefer to sell it to a local (will even do it at the same ZAR value I paid for it!) if possible.

Crash

@dislekcia You make it sound like it's the end of one's dreams hahaha! but hey even though it might not be too interesting to you, for a person who hasn't been at GDC yet I can tell you it's like wanting to go to Disney land haha.

Tuism

@Crash that's not what he's saying, he's saying you're better off going to GDC without bothering with winning this GameJolt thing. The GameJolt thing only gives you a ticket to see the expo - which excludes access all the talks and workshops that are the actual point of going to GDC in the first place at all.

The GameJolt thing doesn't cover:
1) Flight
2) accommodation and food
Which will be the MAIN cost of going to GDC.

So you might as well just go to GDC - the ticket into the event to go listen to talks and attend workshops is the least of your monetary worries.

dislekcia

Crash said:

@dislekcia You make it sound like it's the end of one's dreams hahaha! but hey even though it might not be too interesting to you, for a person who hasn't been at GDC yet I can tell you it's like wanting to go to Disney land haha.

I know exactly what it's like to dream about going to GDC and then magically get the opportunity! That's why I'm saying that entering this particular competition in order to get there is a bit odd - you don't need Gamejolt's permission to go and they're not really helping you get there, this is a thing that gets them tons of games to make their own stand better and giving away a thing they're getting anyway - they're winning, not you. Organisations like the IGF, IndieCade and GGJ really go out of their way to help people and open doors for you in ways that something like Gamejolt just won't - that's all I'm pointing out.

If GDC is your goal (and it's a great goal, do it) then there are other ways to make getting there easier - ways that are set up to help you instead of help a random company:

• Apply for an IGDA scholarship trip - worked for at least 1 SA developer, now working overseas.
  
• Enter the IGF - how we got there.
  
• Put time and effort into the GGJ - The GGJ awarded full conference passes (that's well over R25K now) to several of their regional volunteer organisers, I helped two of them find accommodation after they ran crowd-funding campaigns to help them cover travel costs.
  
• Submit talks to the GDC conference tracks - I've done this for the past two years and it helps a ton with passes. Plus it's a good way to meet people at the conference.
  
• Just go anyway and meet as many indies as possible.

Going to GDC is great! I feel like everyone should get the chance to go, it's why I keep going back. And if anyone from SA *is* going, I'm more than willing to help out with info about cheaper accommodation, introductions, how to survive in general, etc. I'm all for getting more SA peeps to GDC, which is why I'm pointing out that this particular thing is a very low percentage of success, that's all. If you're spewing out games left and right anyway, sure, enter and have fun! But if entering is going to take time away from what could be a potentially higher chance of success activity, then do the other thing instead.

Crash

@Tuism Thanks for clarifying that for me lol I guess I read it too fast #Noobmistake and @dislekcia I understand now after the confusion that I've brought upon myself through the excitement hahaha.