TO Gamejam, Part 2

So gamejam was thoroughly impressive. This year there were only 2 incomplete games (and both of them were playable, just not completely finished). I met a lot of great people and ran into a few that I already knew. I had to take off before the votes for best game were tallied up so I dont know what the official verdict is, but Ill go over some of the games I found particularly impressive.

The most interesting game of the event to me was a game called Quiver. Its a two player top down shooter where one player controls the archer, who can move around and click on screen to shoot arrows, and the other controls the Dungeon Master, who punches in keys to generate enemies. The gameplay was great, but what really made it interesting was the way the two players interacted. The DM and the player both gained experience as the game went on, and the game ended when the archer was killed, so while the DM was sending characters which the player would fight, he was also making sure he was only sending as many as the archer could deal with. This type of interaction between players, where they are working together but not on the same side, is a really interesting dynamic that I think should be explored more in mainstream games. It really created an interesting gaming experience.

Xiq was another game that was particularly interesting. An homage to great spatial games like Qix and Jezzball, players in Xiq (pronounced 'sick') used a dual analog controller to move around the screen and fire lines in all four directions. They would need to use those lines to trap the oncoming triangles in a full square, which would kill them. There were powerups that made your lines stay on the screen longer, or make you move quicker, or destroyed all the enemies on the screen. What made it stand out was its artistic direction. The game had a wicked retro feel that was present throughout. Even the logo and title screen of the game were reminiscent of old commodore era games.

What made the event so interesting was the variety. Participants ranged from students and hobby game designers, to professionals who make games 9-5. The results ranged from polished and refined to just barely playable. There were games to be played with a keyboard, a mouse, a microphone, and even a Homebrew title that was playable on the Nintendo DS. I took some pics of the event that you can check out at my BRAND NEW flickr site. Brendan Lynch, a designer at Blast Radius, was the official photographer for the event, and you can check out his work at his less new flickr site.

I spent most of my time at the event trying not to get in peoples way. I thought there was a chance I would be unwelcome, as I was not participating in the game design, but everyone was very friendly. I hope to participate in next years event, I will probably put together a team this year at school. Any programmers interested?