Date: January 24-26, 2014
About the Global Game Jam
Innovation - Experimentation - Collaboration
The Global Game Jam (GGJ) is the world's largest game jam event. This is LSU’s first year as a participant in this exciting development festival. Think of it as a hackathon focused on game development. It is the growth of an idea that in today’s heavily connected world, we can come together, be creative, share experiences and express ourselves in a multitude of ways using video games – it is very universal. The weekend stirs a global creative buzz in games, while at the same time exploring the process of development, be it programming, iterative design, narrative exploration or artistic expression. It is all condensed into a 48 hour development cycle. The GGJ encourages people with all kinds of backgrounds to participate and contribute to this global spread of game development and creativity.
The game jam starts on Friday late afternoon for the video keynote, advice from leading game developers, and then a secret theme is announced. All sites worldwide are then challenged to make games based on that same theme, with games to be completed by Sunday afternoon. In January 2013, there were 309 locations in 63 countries creating over 3000 games in one weekend! The jam is known for helping foster new friendships, increase confidence and create opportunities within the community. The jam is always an intellectual challenge. People are invited to explore new technology tools, try on new roles in development and test their skills to do something that requires them to design, develop, create, test and make a new game in the time span of 48 hours.
The GGJ is open source, hardware & software agnostic and all projects are protected under a Creative Commons license. We encourage people to try out new ideas and push themselves, within reason. Many games developed in previous Game Jams have become fully realized games. We also strongly encourage participants to remember to eat and sleep, to stay at their best! Let’s start off a game jam that is unique to this area and culture with a enthusiastic start.
Prizes: 2 iPad Minis with Retina Displays and a selection of Gameloft games will be given as prizes at the end of the event.
Who: Age 18+, amateurs through professionals (minors allowed if accompanied by their legal guardian). Do not come to the Jam with a team. Everyone will have some time to think and pitch an idea. Collaborate with new friends or peers you admire. Although having computer skills is helpful, code experience is not necessary. Designers, developers, artists and anyone is welcome to try their hand at making a game during the GGJ.
View FAQ's for more information.
Registration: $50/per person. CLICK HERE! Please register for free as soon as possible to reserve a spot, payment due on January 20, 2014 (you will be contacted after registration for "How to Pay" information). Remember to pick Louisiana State University as your location. You can find more registration information at the main GGJ site (http://globalgamejam.org/). Note: registration fee includes breakfast and dinners, along with a midnight snack. Email kjones (at) lsu.edu if you have any questions.
Every user must fill out a profile which is available from your account page. Additionally, you can write a public biography about yourself under "My account". After registering via the Global Game Jam site, you will be contacted by LSU for payment. It is strongly recommended that you bring a laptop to the event with the software that you think you will need.
Liability: The Global Game Jam is supposed to be fun and collaborative, with a goal to keep things very simple. As a rule, we expect that no team/makers of a game will illegally exploit others' IP, and that in turn, everything created becomes part of the public domain. All participants agree that their participation in the Global Game Jam will hold no one liable for any loss or damage. The Global Game Jam reserves the right to refuse to allow anyone to participate at any time for any reason or no reason at all. This includes after the game jam has already started.
LSU Site Specific Information:
Schedule:
Friday
3:00-4:15 PM Registration (Lobby), and software/computer setup
3:30-4:45 PM Scheduled Talks --
2D Art & Ui talk with Yong Suk Choi & Brain Youn, room DMC 1030
3D & Animation talk with Jose Cepéda, Chris Lowrey, room DMC 1014
Programming talk with Django Lowe & Ferdi Fayollet, room DMC 1008B
Unity with Jason Tate, room DMC 1008A
QA talk with (TBD), room DMC 1002
5:00-6:00 PM Production talk & Keynote Presentation by Jessie Matte & Rosstin Murphy, room DMC Theatre (unveiling of the "secret theme"
6:00-7:00 PM Pitches/Brainstorming & Group Forming, room DMC1034
7:00 PM Development Begins
Saturday
11:00 AM Deadline to create user profile and game page
Sunday
3:00 PM Deadline for handing in game and source code
3:00-4:00 PM Game Presentations (Open to the Public -- free admission)
4:30 PM Awards are presented
Badges/Building Access: During registration, you will be given a badge that will allow you access into the building. The building will remain locked at all times during the game jam, and you must show your badge to gain entrance. Please take care not to loose your badge.
Bag/Coat check: A secure bag/coat check will be provided in the lobby should you wish to leave your computer/or bag while stepping out to lunch, etc. You must show your ticket (provided at check) to retrieve any items you have placed in bag/coat check.
Volunteer: The Digital Media Arts and Engineering Program at LSU's Center for Computation & Technology relies on LSU students to help run the LSU Global Game Jam. If you are interested in volunteering for a block of hours (or just a few), please contact Lea Anne Landry at leaanne (at) cct.lsu.edu or 225-578-5433.
Rules: Awards will be presented at the end of the festivities, but it is important to note that the point of the Jam is to have fun, learn about the development process and make great prototypes. The awards are purely for fun.
Hardware & Software: We encourage everyone to bring their own laptops, loaded with your favorite software. Instructions will be given for those who don’t have access to a computer. For those who are not familiar with development, we will lend a hand and make sure that everyone has what they need to participate in a meaningful way.
Software: There are many options available including Flash, Gamemaker, Unity, Apple Sprite Kit and more. If you are not familiar with these, teams will make sure that all members have the software needed on the day of the event. See software download list below.
Final Game Presentation: The Game presentations and awards will be open to the public so please invite family and friends to see what you have been able to do in a short amount of time.
Food provided: Breakfast and dinners will be provided, along with a midnight snack. Lunch is on your own.
Contact: Marc Aubanel [maubanel (at) cct.lsu.edu] or Karen Jones [kjones (at) cct.lsu.edu] for more information.
Suggested Lodging: Special rates are provided at the Staybridge Suites-Baton Rouge/University Area as follows:
Staybridge Suites-Baton Rouge University Area
4001 Nicholson Drive, Baton Rouge, LA 70803
(225) 456-5430
Group Block Code: CGJ; Cut off date: December 24, 2013
Rate: $93/night singles; $113/night doubles (after block cut-off date, subject to availability)
Software Downloads (please have your software downloaded before arriving for the Jam). Links are provided below.
Tools:
Image editing - http://gimp.org
Modeling - http://blender.org
Sound Effects - http://bfxr.net
Music Generator: http://www.beepbox.co
Audio / Recording / Music - http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
Procedural Music - http://abundant-music.com
2D Tile Map Editor - http://www.mapeditor.org/
Texture Packer - http://www.codeandweb.com/texturepacker
Source Control:
Mercurial SCM (software only) - http://mercurial.selenic.com
Git (software only) - http://git-scm.com
GitHub (software and hosting) - https://github.com
Bitbucket (mercurial and git, hosting only) - https://bitbucket.org
Music Generator: http://www.beepbox.co
IDEs:
Eclipse - http://www.eclipse.org/
Visual Studio Express - http://www.visualstudio.com/products/visual-studio-express-vs
Monodevelop - http://monodevelop.com/
IntelliJ - http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
Engines:
Unity 3D - http://unity3d.com
Unreal Developer Kit - http://unrealengine.com/udk
Cry Engine SDK - http://cryengine.com
Game Maker - http://yoyogames.com
GameSalad - http://gamesalad.com
Construct 2 - https://www.scirra.com/construct2
Stencyl - http://www.stencyl.com/
HTML5 / Javascript
Listing - http://html5gameengine.com/
Game Closure - http://www.gameclosure.com/
Canvas Engine - http://canvasengine.net/
APIs:
XNA - C# game library - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=23714
MonoGame (Open source version of XNA, activly maintained) - http://monogame.net/
Processing - http://processing.org/
Ogre3D (3D rendering engine) - http://www.ogre3d.org/
OpenFL (Flash-like crossplatform API) - http://www.openfl.org/
Assets:
Everything - http://opengameart.org - most models in Blender format
3D Models - http://turboSquid.com
2D sprites and Flash backgrounds - http://glitchthegame.com/public-domain-game-art/
Music (and graph paper!!) - http://incompetech.com
Sound Effects - http://freesfx.co.uk
Sound Effects - http://soundbible.com
Sound Effects - http://freesound.org/
The Open Bundle (Music, 2D assets) - http://open.commonly.cc/
Miscellaneous:
Procedural terrain tool for Unity3D: http://code.google.com/p/unityterraintoolkit/downloads/list
PixelProspector’s gamedev big lists: http://www.pixelprospector.com/indie-resources/
Sponsored by:
