After months of planning and 48 hours of insanity and fun, GGJ 2012 has come to an end. I'm happy to say that the UCSC site continues to produce top quality games, a tradition I'm sure that will not end any time soon! I wanted to take a minute to share with you the games that jammers created this year!
The Global Game Jam is less than 2 weeks away, and Santa Cruz is again a hub of activity for the event! At 45 participants signed up, we're almost at full capacity! If you want to participate at the coolest site on the Central Coast, make sure to sign up quickly! Sign up here: http://globalgamejam.org/sites/2012/uc-santa-cruz
I'm happy to announce that even if you missed the keynote speeches this year, they are now available to view online! We had four sensational game designers this year visit us, each presenting a different perspective on the process of making a game.
Another year, another awesome game jam. This year we had 46 participants working in 13 different groups, and we ended up with 13 awesome games! Below is a short description of each of the games... I encourage you to try them each out, though! You won't be disappointed!
Also, just a little preview... I'll save the audience choice award winner for last ;)
The GGJ Achievement system could really just as well be called diversifiers. It is a system aimed at diversifying the games as well as providing motivation for experienced game jammers. In a sense, the achievements are a free-for-all voluntary list of secondary constraints, that the individual teams can choose to go for, or not, as they please. If they do go for one or more achievements, they get to tick off those achievements as fulfilled when uploading their game.
Wow, the excitement about the game jam at Santa Cruz this year is unprecedented! Not only do we have almost 40 people two and a half weeks before the event, a local record, we are also currently tied for the largest jam site in the entire country! This is really an amazing accomplishment, and I'm thrilled to be a part of what is sure to be an awesome event!
Largest Sites
Global Game Jam 2011 at UCSC will kick-off at 4:30 PM on January 28th in the Simularium (Engineering 2, Room 180).
This year, we are proud to present three legendary speakers with a combined 75 years of game development experience. Brenda Brathwaite, Tom Lehmann and Graeme Devine will be speaking on Friday. Each have made significant contributions to the world of gaming:
BrathwaiteBrenda Brathwaite, a 30 year veteran of the game industry, is currently Creative Director at lolapps. She began her career in 1981 at Sir-Tech Software, Inc., where she was a tester and later a designer on the legendary Wizardry series of role-playing games. She has gone on to work for and consult with some of the top game developers, including Atari, Electronic Arts, and Firaxis. Brenda was formerly the Chair of the Savannah College of Art and Design's Interactive Design and Game Development program, has written the book Challenges for Game Designers, and served on the board of the International Game Developers Association. In 2008, she began a series of experimental board games titled "The Mechanic is the Message" to experiment with the traditional notions of games.
GGJ 2011 (January 28-30) registration is now open. UC Santa Cruz will be participating for third year in a row. GGJ 2011 features support for web-based games and non-digital games.
The 2nd virtual QA session is on November 30th. See this post for more information.
Science Hill
Location
The majority of the event will take place at UCSC Baskin Engineering on Science Hill. We will start the event and the keynote address at the Simularium however, which is just accross the courtyard at Engineering 2 180. Detailed directions are available here. The rest of the time, we'll spend mainly in Basking Engineering room 368 (Game Lab). See schedule.
2011 Poster
GSA
Gaijin Games
Dig Your Own Grave
Games and Payable Media
EIS
Baskin School of Engineering
