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diff --git a/notes/global_game_jam_2023.md b/notes/global_game_jam_2023.md index 81dff04..c6732d6 100644 --- a/notes/global_game_jam_2023.md +++ b/notes/global_game_jam_2023.md @@ -7,13 +7,24 @@ cover_image: "/assets/global_game_jam_2023/screen_shot_2.png" categories: gamedev --- -At the beginning of this month I participated in the Games Institutes's Global Game Jam event. [The Games -Institute](https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/) is an organization at my local university -(The University of Waterloo), that focuses on games based research. Every school term they host a -game jam, and the one for this term happened to coincide with the Global Game Jam. Since this event was open -to everyone (it's been a few years since I've been a student at UW 👴️), I joined up to try and stretch some -of my more creative muscles. The event was a 48 hour game jam that went from the evening of Friday Feb 3rd -to Sunday Feb 5th. +At the beginning of this month I participated in the Games Institutes's +Global Game Jam event. [The Games +Institute](https://uwaterloo.ca/games-institute/) is an organization at +my local university (The University of Waterloo) that focuses on +games-based research. They host a game jam every school term and this +term's jam happened to coincide with the Global Game Jam. Since this +event was open to everyone (and it's been a few years since I've been a +student at UW 👴️), I joined up to try and stretch some of my more +creative muscles. The event was a 48-hour game jam that began on Friday, +February 3rd and ended on Sunday,February 5th. + +The game we created is called [Turtle +Roots](https://globalgamejam.org/2023/games/turtle-roots-5), and it is a +simple resource management game. You play as a magical turtle floating +through the sky and collecting water in order to survive. The turtle can +spend some of its "nutrients" to grow roots which will allow it to +gather water and collect more nutrients. The challenge in the game is +trying to survive for as long as possible without running out of water. <div class="gallery">  @@ -24,62 +35,83 @@ Screenshots of Turtle Roots </div> -The game we created is called [Turtle Roots](https://globalgamejam.org/2023/games/turtle-roots-5), and it -is a simple resource management game. You play as a magical turtle floating through the sky, that requires -water to survive. The turtle can spend some of its "nutrients" to grow roots that will allow it to gather -water and collect more nutrients. The challenge in the game is trying to survive for as long as possible without +The game we created is called [Turtle Roots](https://globalgamejam.org/2023/games/turtle-roots-5), and it is a +simple resource management game. You play as a magical turtle floating through the sky and collecting water +in order to survive. The turtle can spend some of its “nutrients” to grow roots which will allow it to gather +water and collect more nutrients. The challenge in the game is trying to survive for as long as possible without running out of water. ## The Team -I attended the event solo and quickly partnered up with two other people, who also attended solo. One member -had already participated in a game jam before and specialized in art, while the other member was attending a -game jam for the first time and was looking for the best way they could contribute, they turned out to have -particular skills for sound, and ended up created all the audio in our game. This left me as the programmer for -our team. +I attended the event solo and quickly partnered up with two other people, who also attended solo. One member had +already participated in a game jam before and specialized in art. The other member was attending a game jam for +the first time and was looking for the best way they could contribute. Having particular skills for sound, they +ended up creating all the audio in our game. This left me as the sole programmer for our team. + +## My Game Jam Experiences -This also wasn't my first game jam, in 2021 I participated in a -[Nintendo 64 homebrew game jam](n64brew-gamejam-2021), in 2022 I joined the Puerto Rican Game Developers Association -event for the global game jam, and we submitted [Magnetic Parkour](https://globalgamejam.org/2022/games/magnetic-parkour-6), -I've also participated in [Ludum Dare](https://ldjam.com/) back in around 2013 but I've since lost the link to -my submission. While in high school, and myself and friend participated in two years in a row that sort of worked -like a game jam called "Ottawa Tech Jam" where we submitted [Zorv Warz](http://www.fastquake.com/projects/zorvwarz/) -and [E410](http://www.fastquake.com/projects/worldseed/). As you can probably tell, I really like gamedev. The -desire to build my own video games is actually what originally got me into programming. When I was around 14 years -old I picked up a c++ programming book from the library, since I wanted to try to build my own game and I heard -most game developers use c++. I recall using some proprietary game development library (that I can't recall the -name of), that let you build 2D and 3D games in windows using C++. I didn't really get to far into it until -high school when I started to learn SFML, SDL, and OpenGL. I also dabbled with Unity during that time as well. -But I've always had a strong desire to build most of the foundation of the game myself without using an engine. -You can see the desire really come out on the work I did for Zorv Warz, E410, and the N64 homebrew game jam. -When working with a team I feel it can be a lot easier to use a game engine, even if it doesn't scratch the +In recent years,I participated in a [Nintendo 64 homebrew game +jam](n64brew-gamejam-2021) and the +Puerto Rico Game Developers Association event for the global game jam, +submitting [Magnetic +Parkour](https://globalgamejam.org/2022/games/magnetic-parkour-6), I +also participated in [Ludum Dare](https://ldjam.com/) back around 2013 +but unfortunately I've since lost the link to my submission. While in +high school, my friend and I participated in the "Ottawa Tech Jame" +(similar to a game jam), sort of worked like a game jam called "Ottawa +Tech Jam" submitting [Zorv Warz](http://www.fastquake.com/projects/zorvwarz/) and +[E410](http://www.fastquake.com/projects/worldseed/). As you can +probably tell, I really like gamedev. The desire to build my own video +games is actually what originally got me into programming. When I was +around 14 years old, I picked up a C++ programming book from the library +since I wanted to try to build my own game and I heard most game +developers use C++. I used some proprietary game development library +(that I can't recall the name of)to build 2D and 3D games in Windows +using C++. I didn't really get too far into it until high school when I +started to learn SFML, SDL, and OpenGL. I also dabbled with Unity during +that time as well. However,I've always had a strong desire to build most +of the foundation of the game myself without using an engine. You can +see this desire really come out in the work I did for Zorv Warz, E410, +and the N64 homebrew game jam. When working with a team, I feel it can +be a lot easier to use a game engine, even if it doesn't scratch the same itch for me. ## The Tech Behind the Game -Lately I've had a growing interest in the game engine called [Godot](https://godotengine.org/), and wanted to use -this opportunity to learn the engine more and build a game in it. Godot is interesting to me as its a totally -open source game engine, and as you can probably guess from my job ([](2022_igalia_graphics_team)), open source -software as well as free software is something I'm particularly interested in. +Lately I've had a growing interest in the game engine called +[Godot](https://godotengine.org/), and wanted to use this opportunity to +learn the engine more and build a game in it. Godot is interesting to me +as its a completely open source game engine, and as you can probably +guess from my [job](2022_igalia_graphics_team), open source software as well as +free software is something I'm particularly interested in. -Godot is a really powerful game engine that handles a lot of complexity for you. For example it has a built -in parallax background component, that we took advantage of to add more depth to our game. What this does is -allow you to control the background scrolling speed for different layer of the background, giving the illusion -of depth in a 2D game. +Godot is a really powerful game engine that handles a lot of complexity +for you. For example,it has a built in parallax background component, +that we took advantage of to add more depth to our game. This allows you +to control the background scrolling speed for different layer of the +background, giving the illusion of depth in a 2D game. -Another powerful feature of Godot is its physics engine. Godot makes it really easy to create physics objects in -your scene and have them do interesting stuff. You might be wondering where physics comes into play in our game, -and we actually use it for the root animations. I setup a sort of "rag doll" system for the roots so they would -flop around in the air as the player moves, really giving a lot more "life" to an otherwise static game. +Another powerful feature of Godot is its physics engine. Godot makes it +really easy to create physics objects in your scene and have them do +interesting stuff. You might be wondering where physics comes into play +in our game, and we actually use it for the root animations. I set up a +sort of "rag doll" system for the roots to make them flop around in the +air as the player moves, really giving a lot more "life" to an otherwise +static game. -Godot has a built in scripting language called "GDScript" which is very similar to python. I've really grown to -like this language. It has an optional type system you can take advantage of that helps with reducing the number -of bugs that exist in your game. It also has great connectivity with the editor. This proved useful as I could -"export" variables in the game and allow my team members to modify certain parameters of the game without knowing -any programming. This is super helpful with balancing, and more easily allows non technical members of team to -contribute to the game logic in a more concrete way. +Godot has a built in scripting language called "GDScript" which is very +similar to Python. I've really grown to like this language. It has an +optional type system you can take advantage of that helps with reducing +the number of bugs that exist in your game. It also has great +connectivity with the editor. This proved useful as I could "export" +variables in the game and allow my team members to modify certain +parameters of the game without knowing any programming. This is super +helpful with balancing, and more easily allows non-technical members of +team to contribute to the game logic in a more concrete way. -Overall I'm very happy with how our game turned out. Last year I tried to participate in a few more game jam, but -due to a combination of lack of personal motivation, poor team dynamics, and other factors, none of those game -jams panned out. This was the first game jam in a while where I feel like I really connected with my team and I -also feel like we made a super polished and fun to play game in the end. +Overall I'm very happy with how our game turned out. Last year I tried +to participate in a few more game jams, but due to a combination of lack +of personal motivation, poor team dynamics, and other factors, none of +those game jams panned out. This was the first game jam in a while where +I feel like I really connected with my team and I also feel like we made +a super polished and fun game in the end. |