Social Distancing Game Jam

Overview

Welcome to the 2020 locked up at home academic game jam!

Ok, it's not an annual thing or anything ... yet! We were just bored and antsy on Discord and decided to start a game jam. We're hoping that anyone can join us with no prior gaming knowledge. Below you'll find a timeline and resources.

Game Jam?

What's a game jam? Glad you asked! It's a short period of time (typically a few days to a week) during which a small group of people make games around a theme. Our theme is "social distancing." Some of the fun of game jams is the broad ways that people interpret the themes. (Is the theme "love"? Maybe do something Tennis themed!) The goal is not to have games that are ready to publish and distribute, but just small working prototypes. Lots of cool games started out as game jams well before they were big productions!

Games are live!

• Jason Helms' submission: Dark Simulachrum

  A roguelike with a twist: the map and enemies stay the same, but the dialogue and allies change. This is a test for a mechanic Jason would like to build a larger isometric RPG around.

• Jason Custer's submission: You Are Safe and Everything Is Ok

  This game was made in about 5 days for the Social Distancing Game Jam. The theme for this game jam was social distancing, so I decided to make a game about my own experiences being quarantined with my wife.

  I've never actually made a game before this; only a few tech demos in programs like Twine, so I'm really proud of even managing to finish this.

  There's a lot more I'd like to do with pacing, dialog, design, etc., but for having never made a game, never used Bitsy before, and making all of this in 5 days, I feel really good about this!

  Thanks for looking and playing!

• Tom Kline's submission: TBA

  Tom is burning the candle at both ends to bring you the game you've always wanted but never knew it.

Timeline

• Saturday, March 14 We got an idea
• Sunday, March 15 Jason threw together this crappy page
• Saturday, March 21 at noon Aim to submit your "finished" game
• Saturday, March 21 afternoonish We play each other's games
• Saturday, March 21 9pm eastern We have a Zoom meeting set up: https://tcu.zoom.us/j/2350145579. If you'd rather dial in on your telephone, call (301) 715-8592 and use meeting ID 2350145579 (or 13017158592,,2350145579# click this on your mobile phone and it should handle it for you). You are absolutely allowed to invite people to play and discuss who didn't make a game.

Resources

• Google Drive for sharing stuff. There's already a list of game design tools there and a few examples of student work (they've given permission).
• Twine is probably the easiest way to make a game. It's what I'll be using.
• Humble Bundle full of coding lessons

Advice

• Focus on emotions! When I teach game design, I tell student to focus on the emotion they want to evoke first. With that as your guide, you'll be able to test your game as you go to make sure you're still doing what you were aiming for. It's easy to get distracted by the tech and the fun stuff you want to do. Focus on the prize: emotional effects!
• Keep it simple! It would be super cool if your game included a combat system even though you actually just want to tell a simple story about a few friends! Maybe they could fight if they get bored? That alone could take a month. Think about what you can do in a week.
• Ask for help! We're all in this together, so whether you need some coding help or just some ideas for characters or stuff to do, reach out on Discord!

People

• @helmstreet made this site!
• @CusterTeaching runs the discord!
• @SteepInKline came up with the theme!