Info about the event

1. ATLANTI-CON 2
GAME DEVELOPER’S JAM
4:00pm Friday September 27, 2013 through
6:00 pm Sunday September 29, 2013
Room AS 383
Arts & Science Building Extension
MUN Grenfell Campus
Corner Brook, NL

2. ATLANTI-CON 2 GAME
DEVELOPER’S JAM
Sponsored by:
The Video Game Design program at the
College of the North Atlantic
ATLANTI-CON 2
IGDA Newfoundland

3. Location
Arts & Science Building Extension
MUN Grenfell Campus
Corner Brook, NL

4. Location
Room AS383
Room AS383
Third Floor
Arts & Science Building Extension

5. Parking
Parking on campus may be limited.
For parking info visit:
http://www.swgc.mun.ca/facilities/campus-
enforcement/Pages/campus-maps.aspx

6. Game Jam Schedule
Friday, September 27
 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm – Set up roomAS383
 4:00 pm – 12:00 midnight - Game Jam – AS383
Saturday, September 28
 8:00 am – 12:00 midnight - Game Jam– AS383
Sunday, September 29
 8:00 am – 4:00 pm - Game Jam– AS383
 4:00 pm – 5:00 pm – Clean up roomAS383
and break down equipment – Set up roomAS2026
for the presentation
 5:00 pm – 5:50 pm – Game Jam Presentation –
AS2026

7. What Is A Game Jam?
 A game jam is an organized 48 hour event for rapidly
prototyping game designs

8. What Is A Game Jam?
 For this Game Jam, an overall game theme is
announced a fortnight prior to the event
 Games are designed by small teams around
each team’s interpretation of the given
theme
 Playable prototypes are rapidly designed,
developed, tested, and iterated

9. The theme for this event is:
Optional Modifiers
• Newfoundland
• Speed
• Stealth

10. Original Content
 Upon popular request, this game jam will
focus on creating original art assets
 Audio may be original or royalty free, please
respect copyrights and licenses

11. Benefits Of Game Jams
 Inspires individuals to innovate
 Indie game developers can develop and
present ideas without publisher restrictions
 Exposes game developer hobbyists to an
opportunity for collaboration

12. How Do I Participate?
 Join the ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam
Facebook group for registration details
and updates on the event
 Register for the Atlanti-con
Game Developer Jam event
by accepting the invitation
on Facebook

13. www.atlanti-con.com
 Each game jammer will need to purchase a
weekend conference pass
 Please check on the Atlanti-con website for
registration, travel and accommodations info
 http://www.atlanti-con.com/default.aspx

14. How Do I Participate?
As an individual
 You are welcome to show up and team up with other
people at the start of the event. You may be a “floater” ,
see who wants your help during the jam.
 However, you are encouraged to network on the Facebook
group page beforehand to meet other participants who are
also looking for team mates.
 Describe your skill set and what you have to offer to a game
development team such as art, design, testing,
programming, scripting, or audio.

15. How Do I Participate?
Teams
 It is suggested, but not necessary, to form
teams beforehand
 Small teams of 3 – 5 people tend to work better
and be more organized than larger teams because
communications are more efficient

16. What should I bring for
developing video games?
Suggested Items
 A laptop (or desktop computer and display)
with game development software
 Headphones
 Graph paper, index cards
 Pencils, markers, ruler
 Small white board with dry erase markers
 Snacks and beverages

17. Development Tools
Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with
Links to game engines that have free versions:
Game Engines
 Game Maker: http://yoyogames.com/
 Game Salad: http://gamesalad.com/creator
 Unity: http://unity3d.com/unity/
 Unreal: http://www.udk.com/

18. Development Tools
Use whatever development tools you feel comfortable with
Links to development tools that have free versions:
Art
 Gimp: http://www.gimp.org/downloads/
 Blender: http://www.blender.org/
Audio
 Audacity: http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
*You are responsible for using software licenses legally and
appropriately for development

19. The Game Preproduction Process
 Preproduction can start as soon as the
game jam theme is announced on
September 13 at 4:00 pm on the Facebook
group

20. Suggested Steps for the
Preproduction Process
1. Brainstorming
 Collaborate with your team
 Make a list of possible ideas
 Consider scrapping the first 3 ideas and the obvious
ideas to spawn more creativity

21. 2. Research
 Search the internet for similar games to avoid
repetition
 Search for game play and art references, but use
original work in the game
Suggested Steps for the
Preproduction Process

22. Suggested Steps for the
Preproduction Process
3. Consider scope
 Plan for a smaller scope than you think you will have
the time for
 Consider the skills and limitations of your team and
the development tools
 Cut non essential features

23. Suggested Steps for the
Preproduction Process
4. Sketches
 Concept art
 Flowcharts
 Level designs

24. Suggested Steps for the
Preproduction Process
5.Write a Game Design Document to describe
and organize ideas and elements such as story,
concept art, and game mechanics

25. Suggested Steps For The
Preproduction Process
6. Early prototypes
 Use placeholder graphics
 Don’t fall in love with any idea or feature
 Be prepared to change the whole idea or
beloved features
 Have a back up version of your idea in case
another team has the same game idea
 Consider starting over if it’s not working out

26. The Game Production Process
 Production of the game starts at the event
on Friday September 27th at 4:00 pm in the
Sciences room AS 383 at Atlanti-con 2
 You are expected to wait until this time to
start actual production

27. Suggested Steps For The
Production Process
1. Emphasize meaningful game play (or fun) over
polish
 Focus on one concept
 Make game play fun in the first 15 seconds
 Consider including simple instructions in the title screen
then move quickly into game play, or integrate a quick
in-game tutorial rather than starting out with a long
back story
 Use audio to create mood and for efficient and effective
in-game feed back
The team can always decide to turn the game into an ongoing
project and continue to polish the game beyond the jam

28. Suggested Steps For The
Production Process
2. Play test early and often
 Play test often for usability, functionality, and
balance
 Expect many rounds of feedback and iteration
 Ask a member of another team to play test your
game

29. Suggested Steps For The
Production Process
3. Keep the player in mind
 Games are made to be played
 Observe play tester reactions
 Do they understand what to do?
 Make note of facial expressions and when they happen:
 Joy
 Frustration

30. Suggested Steps For The
Production Process
4. Plan on taking breaks to eat, sleep, and shower
 The Game Jam room will be closed from 12:00 am –
8:00 am
 Tiredness often causes diminishing returns and
bugs
 When working in close quarters with a small, tight
knit team, good personal hygiene is appreciated

31. Presentation
 Games will be presented to the Atlanti-con 2
crowd prior to the closing ceremonies on
Sunday Sept. 29th from 5:00pm – 5:50 pm in
the RodgerYoung room, AS2026.
 Teams will have a chance to present a brief
live demo of their game
 Please invite your friends and family to see
the presentation!

32. Who Owns The Work?
 You and your team mates retain rights and
ownership of your own work
 You are responsible for:
 Using software licenses legally and appropriately
for development
 Creating original assets for your game and using
assets such as royalty free audio clips according to
their legal use agreements
 Documenting and including all team mates in the
credits

33. Who Owns The Work?
 Basically, your team is responsible for
working out the details amongst yourselves
 Intellectual property link for reference:
http://archives.igda.org/ipr/IGDA_IPRights_Whi
tePaper.pdf
If you have trouble with this link by
clicking on it, please type it in to
your browser.

34. Video from past events:
Atlanti-con 1 Game Jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y5rm0l8pc98

35. Video from past events:
Sci-Fi on the Rock
Game Jam
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxHVllQm-fM&list=PL96EBC5AD512B0834

36. Thanks
We look forward to an awesome event!
Contact: Join the Facebook group
ATLANTI-CON Game Developer Jam
Message Janice through Facebook with any questions.