Friday 1 February 2013

Global Game Jam 2013 in Antwerp (Feedback)




Oookay! Before I forget everything about it, let's talk about this great experience i lived this weekend: the Global Game Jam 2013! (#GGJ2013)
The GGJ is happening all around the world at the same time, and I was myself in Antwerp, Belgium, to rock with my soulmate :D
Our game jam was organised by the game-making company GriN, who did an awesome job o/ We were around 70 and that's the coolest game jam I've participated in!


1/ Cool people!

Find Boris
"This year was the biggest game jam we've made" say Wim Wouters, the CEO of GriN. It's not only about the number of people that were actually there, but also about the average skill and motivation of everybody.
There were a lot of pro, and I could even meet a teacher from DAE school, the famous Gamedev school in Belgium!
Anyway, I met a lot of cool people, and learned a lot. There was also people I begin to know well, like Boris Warembourg or Hannes Delbeke :-)



2/ Cool games!
You can check out the awesome games everybody made here!

Kingerdarten Killer Klub
Special mention for a few games that i like:
- The Living Game, a game that is evolving depending on how you like the auto-generated levels. I find the idea very cool, and also the old school 3/4 view sprites are awesome <3
- Ultimate Care Bear Love Rampage, which is just... wtf and epileptic-agressive. Another arcade game!
- Kindergarten Killer Klub, which team was full pro. A very well polished game with a fun concept and gameplay. The kind of game you would love to play online with your friends :)
- Flicker, an interesting game which plays with lights, made by these cool guys o/
- You Have One Minute To Save The World, as said, you have one minute to find and destroy the alien missile that will be launch in 1 minute to destroy the Earth... Intuitive gameplay!



3/ Cool tech!
During all weekend, there was cutting-edge devices in demonstration, like the IIID face scanner which makes a 3D model of your head when you stand inside for a few seconds. 

You can make crazy faces, print it with a 3D printer, and be proud of yourself

There was also homemade classy devices, like the 4-players coffee table (loved the design of the table (an old fashioned wooden table)) (video here), ooor the Winnitron!

THE Winnitron
It's a free Arcade that you can build yourself out of a computer and play cool games with! At least three of the game developed this weekend were playable on the Winnitron, including mine :D And it looks so good in its wooden cabin... Thanks Thomas and Hannes Deville for showing up this cool device!!!
Video made during the game jam:


4/ Cheerleaders!

Woohoo!
Oh did I mention? There were indeed cheerleaders giving a show in the middle of the game jam! And then they brought delicious muffins! It was really awesome and refreshing, nobody felt tired anymore after that :D  (And the muffins were really damn good) Thanks Wim!