Friday, October 14, 2011

Attention! Oct 21-23 = upcoming epic weekend of game jams!

For some reason, Sagittarius is aligning with Capricorn in the zenith of Jupiter and three (3) different game jams are happening on the weekend of October 21 - 23. If you live in or near a major economic center in the United States, you're in for a treat. Hopefully we can get some kind of simultaneous live camera feed going on between the sites.

NEW YORK CITY:
hosted by Babycastles / Parsons, the New School for Design / New School Game Club
Friday, Oct 21 @ 7 PM - Sunday, Oct 23 @ 7 PM. (NOTE: building is NOT open 24/7.)
6 East 16th Street, (12th flr lab), New York, NY. (Take the L / N Q R / 4 5 6 to Union Square.)
> Free. Sign-up on the Facebook page, or just show-up. (+ Free pizza on mystery night!)

CHICAGO:
hosted by IGDA Chicago and Friends / Toy Studio
Friday, Oct 21 @ 6 PM - Sunday, Oct 23 @ 10 AM.
1550 N Damen, Suite 201. Chicago, IL.
> Free (?) Sign-up here.

SAN FRANCISCO / BAY AREA:
hosted by TIGSource / Hacker Dojo
Thursday, Oct 20 @ 10 AM - Sunday, Oct 23 @ 8 PM.
140A South Whisman Rd., Mountain View, CA.
> Registration required ($50) for t-shirt, snacks, dinner and more.

If you've never been to a game jam before, don't be scared. Anyone can start making games. These days, you don't even have to learn much computer programming if you don't want to. For info and advice on starting out, see this thread at Super Friendship Club or visit youcanmakevideogames.com!

And if you're unfamiliar with the game jam format, it roughly resembles this:
  1. First, you show-up and sign-in and stuff.
  2. The secret theme is announced. You listen to a silly but inspiring keynote.
  3. People form teams and talk about ideas.
  4. People start making games. People eat. Good times are had.
  5. People go home and sleep, or the building closes.
  6. People start panicking that they won't finish. Cut some features. Go home and sleep.
  7. Cut more features. The timer starts ticking down.
  8. Pencils up! Everyone presents their broken games and everyone is loved.
See? Nothing to be scared of. So see you at one of the jams! Come make games!