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Global Game Jam 2019 (GGJ 2019)
Before we begin, I would like to thank Facebook Singapore for organizing the event! It was a very pleasant experience and would love to have the opportunity to take part in it again if I can next year. With the infinite free flow snacks and food, and the very comfortable room to work in, I can't really ask for anything more (other than maybe warm water for showers :P).
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Sorry if this post is too filled with words, but I just felt the need to summarize my experience in this game jam!
Background info:
During this period, I am working with an indie studio called "Battlebrew Productions", and have taken part in the GGJ with them and a few others as well. It was a pleasure working with them during GGJ as they were all talented individuals who excels in their respective specializations and honestly are the best bunch of people who I enjoyed most working with (So far). As our group was too big we split up into 2 group named "Shawn" and "Shon" (named after our boss "Shawn" who was not able to join as he had to be at Taipei game show at ..... Taipei)
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During this Game Jam I was mostly the programmer but have added onto the design here and there as well.
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The theme for the year 2019 was "What home means to you".
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For those interested in just seeing what was made here is the link to the site!
https://globalgamejam.org/2019/games/youre-good-bird
Day 1
Being the first GGJ that I have attended I didn't know what to really expect and just decide to go in half blind, knowing only that a theme will be given out and we will have to make a game in 3 days (or 2 and a half?).
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We headed towards Facebook Headquaters (FB HQ) after work with our laptops (and soft toys).
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Once reaching there I was taken aback by how aesthetic the building was and was taken even further aback when I got to see the view when we were up 29 stories high.
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After settling down, having ice breakers and having dinner, we were all settled in a room, brief on some rules and were revealed the theme for this year.
We quickly then threw out ideas and discussed on what were some of the ideas we could try. A house dating sim, HDB fighting game, throwing cats at houses, throwing houses at cats?!! (No idea how we got there but we did) We then settled on an idea.
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When thinking of Singapore the only thing that was in my mind was those stupid birds that made that noise early in the morning, accompanied with that dreaded memories of being half awake in school. I threw that idea into the discussion and we decided to go with a game about playing as a Koel bird that wakes up people in the morning titled "You're a good bird". We then quickly solidify the idea and splitting roles before setting off to do the task.
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The classes which the player can choose from (From left to right; Tank, Damage, Support)
Day 2
Note: This part still contains the early morning of day 2! (meaning the time period of 12 am - 4 am)
Sadly not many stayed. While a few planned to stay, the majority decided to go home for various reasons, with one being that she have brought her tablet but not her pen. With that said, I was the only programmer that stayed back for the night along with other colleagues that was in another team.
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I decided to import various tools that I have made on my own self projects (Click here to see more!) such as a sound manager with an implemented audio mixer system and a popup system.
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After quickly making simple prototype movement and scoring of the game to let the team play around with the next morning, I decided to head off to "sleep" for around 3 hours before facing the rest of the day.
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Alarm rang and I woke up. Half awake, I walked back from the resting room to the game room, only to be greeted by the concept artist asking me to translate "Heckin Chonker" into Japanese for their cat theme game "Meowtain"
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Day 2
Note: This part still contains the early morning of day 2! (meaning the time period of 12 am - 4 am)
Sadly not many stayed. While a few planned to stay, the majority decided to go home for various reasons, with one being that she have brought her tablet but not her pen. With that said, I was the only programmer that stayed back for the night along with other colleagues that was in another team.
​
I decided to import various tools that I have made on my own self projects (Click here to see more!) such as a sound manager with an implemented audio mixer system and a popup system.
​
After quickly making simple prototype movement and scoring of the game to let the team play around with the next morning, I decided to head off to "sleep" for around 3 hours before facing the rest of the day.
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Alarm rang and I woke up. Half awake, I walked back from the resting room to the game room, only to be greeted by the concept artist asking me to translate "Heckin Chonker" into Japanese for their cat theme game "Meowtain" (Click here to check that out too!)
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​Few more hours in and the rest of the team arrived right before breakfast which was a variety of tasty pastries which I thoroughly enjoyed. With pastries in my stomach and coffee in my veins we start to go full speed ahead, quickly prototyping, modifying and playing around to find what was fun.
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Somehow through the various "happy accidents" we had made, we somehow ended up with a gameplay that was retardedly funny, as the bird flap around upside down through the skies while making that horrendous, PTSD inducing koel bird call to wake up AI's that required waking up.
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Various things like different screens, adding special sound and visual effects, adding small little gameplay moments were also done and by the end of the day, the game was basically already playable but missing that special something.
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After a very filling dinner, we added in the animations for the bird and prettied up the various UI elements.
Day 3
Note: This part still contains the early morning of day 3! (meaning the time period of 12 am - 4 am)
Time do fly when you're busy adding features back to back, and before we know it we were in the third day of the game jam. Thought basically dead tired, I tried pushing a few more features in before heading back to the break room to curl up into a ball (thanks to my long legs) to sleep.
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Woke up just mere 3 hours later, went back into the jam room with a dry throat to see that the visuals of the game got a massive overhaul. Somehow in that short 3 hours our 3D modeller used some sort of supernatural power to add various different shaders and beautified the game scene and background.
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I spent the rest of the day replacing and updating placeholder sounds and also had a couple hours left to add silly details to the game such as making a bird squawk noise whenever the bird fly into the floor.
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It wasn't long before the game jam have ended and it was time for us to submit our game.
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All 12 teams took turns going up on stage to present what they have achieved the past 2 days. Some looked visually unique and great while others had interesting mechanics / gameplay. It wasn't long before it was our turn to present.
Half dead me on the left playing the game while Shane (right) talks about our game
We then ended it off by having (non alcoholic) champagne and cupcakes before taking a group picture before packing up and heading home with sweet facebook/unity loot.
Summary:
This experience was very different from what I had, and even though it was very tiring, I had a blast and would love to take part in it again.
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It was also a great experience as I got to work with several other individuals who I have not worked with, which allowed me to have more experience working with other programmers and being exposed to different tools that might be useful for me in the future.
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