The final seconds ticked off Sunday for the 2017 edition of the Global Game Jam. Thousands of people across the world gathered to make games in a 48 hour competition with one prize: To have fun.
The Bucharest edition of the jam was held in the local branch of TechHUB .
Here are a few facts:
- 72 registered jammers
- 15 projects
- Teams ranged from high school students to AAA industry veterans
- Games created: Board games, Card Games, Mixed Games, Computer Games (with a dash of VR sprinkled in)
- Hundreds of liters of water and crazy amounts of pizza consumed
- The organizers: Francisc and Rares who did put in so much blood sweat (and hopefully not tears)
- Amazing volunteers and camera crew did huge amount of work to make everything run as smooth as possible
- Mentors volunteered to help the teams during the whole adventure
- And last, but not least, a successful Kickstarter campaign which made the campaign possible.
It was really an amazing experience.
You can find the GGJ Official page here and the games list here.
Let’s take a quick look at the games presented in the final day:
Ancient Waves
Video game
A cool game about a spaceship traveling through space, jumping from wormhole to wormhole and being tossed around by black holes and gravitational waves.
The team produced several levels showcasing the gameplay and demonstrated it in front of the eager audience.
Epic Sand Castle Battles on the Tides of Fate!
Board Game
Yep! That’s the name! This was a very cool board game made with a very out-there theme: baby kaijus on the beach .
The aim of the game is to build your own sand castle on the beach while sabotaging the other player’s progress. There’s a wave that acts as a general nuisance whenever you think you’re safe! Overall, a very nice idea.
Funky Fresh Frequencies
Card Game
This one (and the next one) were total surprises. One team produced not one, but TWO adversarial card games. Not only they had differing mechanics, interesting settings but they managed to produce the full decks of cards!
Funky Fresh Frequencies is about the golden era of rock and roll where radio stations are battling for audience using different music genres, hit songs and underhanded tactics. Definitely a game to check out.
Prohibition
Card Game
The second game from the same team, Prohibition explored the life of crime during the 1920s America. You control a crime family, raid for alcohol, but beware of the hidden government agents trying to uphold the law!
Meteor Trail
Video Game
An evil overlord wants to make his planet buster weapon. To do this, he hurls asteroids at a planet, collects resources from the impact site and evolves his abilities. This game is a combination of physics simulation with clicker mechanic and some resource management.
Pitch Wars (popular vote winner)
Video Game (sound shooter)
Play pong by shooting the other player’s court while screaming , singing and punching your microfone. Sounds strange? Because it is! But it worked!
This had the party game vibe written all over it. It’s a great concept had very polished visuals, and it was very fun to watch people play.
Pulsar
Video Game
You’re a space entity wandering through space. The goal is to absorb other entities. The trick of this game is that you get attracted to entities of similar colors, but repulsed by entities of opposite colors.
Controls are simple: shift your colors by moving left or right on the hue scale, and use this to navigate space under the effect of gravitational waves.
This project turned out to be amazing because 14 hours before the deadline they still had doubts on how to implement and convey the mechanics. But they managed to do it and it was really great.
Riders of the Lost Island
Video Game
The second incarnation of the “Late Night Concept” team made a party game about surviving a tsunami. Pick your character, run around the level to collect materials for the boat that will keep you alive. There’s also treasure to be found, which is used as a victory condition.
The tides go up and down revealing or covering parts of the level, giving you access to resources and treasure. This game was the closest to reaching the 8 players diversifier because of a bug that doubled the player avatars and made it even more fun!
Tidal Escape (popular vote runner-up)
Video Game (VR)
The only VR game in the competition turned out to be quite fun. Despite some minor technical issues during the setup.
You’re in a maze with the water rising and you have to escape. Find your way around, dodge traps, solve puzzles . In fewer words: Tomb Raider VR 🙂
Congratulations to the team for being able to pull this off
Vincent van Golphin
Video Game
You’re a dolphin swimming in an ocean painted by Van Gogh. Chase swarms of fish to feed and win the game. The premise is very simple, but the art style really stood out.
Wave Arena
Board Game
A fun board-game with a rather unusual presentation pitch. A king of the hill , rush to the center game where the main objective is to be the last man standing. You can push people around into lava pits, teleport using portals or wash everyone off using a wave artifact in the center of the map.
Wave Bodyguard
Video Game
What sounds as a dream job turns into a nightmare! You’re a bodyguard protecting a rich heiress that’s sunbathing near the yacht. Sharks come and try to eat her. Your job is to make the sharks go away by throwing everything and the kitchen sink (literally) at them.
Waves 2k15+Sqrt(4) (popular vote runner-up)
Video Game
You’re a man trying to blend in a stadium while Mexican Waves take place. It has a huge diverse range of characters, one-tap gameplay and awesome commercials. One of the funniest games at the Global Game Jam
Waves of Emotions
Card Game with computer mood setting
A game that aimed to teach kids about emotions and how to deal with them. Journey into a magical land where every emotion is a challenge (or the other way around) . Along the way you pick up clues that help you solve (deal with) the emotion at hand while progressing to your happy place. Definitely something interesting.
Wrapping up
The Global Game Jam turned out great! Congratulations to everyone who participated, to the organizers who did an awesome work, the volunteers that helped them. Special thanks to the camera crew who literally made this possible and again, to everyone involved.
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