SSP15 Space Jam (July 2015)
_I decided during a 9 weeks course in which we were normally busy 8am - 11pm during the week to try to host a 24 hour game jam. The course was the International Space University's Space Studies Program. On this course, over 100 people who work/study in some form within the space industry come together to gain a broad overlook of space. It's crazy busy. But I was a game developer amongst astrophysicists and rocket engineers and felt like I needed to show that what I do can be cool too. So I decided to host a game jam. For the jam, I made a bunch of scripts which I felt would help make game creation even easier (than Unity3D already allows). The scripts provided simple functionality, such as making something move to a point or emitting another object. I showcased these during a mini presentation about the game jam and made a game in 10 minutes with them in an attempt to persuade people, who might be put off the idea of making a game due to lack of experience, to give it a try.
6 people gave it a shot at first. During this time we were in large groups trying to write papers that would be presented at IAC 2015, so most people felt they couldn't devote time to the jam. Indeed this eventually got to some that started in the jam, with only 3 people sticking it out. Originally I was just going to host and help out if and when I'm needed, but I love making games and so, halfway into the jam, I decided to join in!
Of course the theme was "Space", how could I pass up the chance for a "Space Jam"?
The game I made was a racing game where you're a person in an EVA suit who has to get from one space station to another. There are lights that mark a path to the end goal and along the way there are refuelling stations which give you more fuel and oxygen, both of which deteriorate. The rate that they go down depends on how much you're using the thrusters and an estimation of how stressed out your character is. The physics were really easy (as you just turn off gravity), so very quickly I had something up and running. I was really happy with the end result and hope to revisit it to make a mockup EVA suit (and VR headset to boot) to play the game - I think that'd be really fun.
Another person made a game where you've got to collect falling stars and did a great job "modelling" with the basic Unity3D shapes. Another two people were originally going to team up but after there were so few others participating, they decided to make two games. One of them created a game where you control a Mars rover that you must get to a certain point without running out of power and also flipping your vehicle! The other created a hilarious mockup of a 2 player would-be Star Wars game where you try to take each other out while avoiding the large black hole in the middle of the map. I was really please with the quality of the games, given none of them had ever done such before and there was such a small amount of time.
Even more touching, the game jam inspired the latter two to work on a game over the course of a week for their final presentation. I was blown away by what they were able to create, and they've gone on to continue doing awesome things such as holding Unity3D classes at schools and using Unity3D for software that can control rovers on the fucking Moon!
6 people gave it a shot at first. During this time we were in large groups trying to write papers that would be presented at IAC 2015, so most people felt they couldn't devote time to the jam. Indeed this eventually got to some that started in the jam, with only 3 people sticking it out. Originally I was just going to host and help out if and when I'm needed, but I love making games and so, halfway into the jam, I decided to join in!
Of course the theme was "Space", how could I pass up the chance for a "Space Jam"?
The game I made was a racing game where you're a person in an EVA suit who has to get from one space station to another. There are lights that mark a path to the end goal and along the way there are refuelling stations which give you more fuel and oxygen, both of which deteriorate. The rate that they go down depends on how much you're using the thrusters and an estimation of how stressed out your character is. The physics were really easy (as you just turn off gravity), so very quickly I had something up and running. I was really happy with the end result and hope to revisit it to make a mockup EVA suit (and VR headset to boot) to play the game - I think that'd be really fun.
Another person made a game where you've got to collect falling stars and did a great job "modelling" with the basic Unity3D shapes. Another two people were originally going to team up but after there were so few others participating, they decided to make two games. One of them created a game where you control a Mars rover that you must get to a certain point without running out of power and also flipping your vehicle! The other created a hilarious mockup of a 2 player would-be Star Wars game where you try to take each other out while avoiding the large black hole in the middle of the map. I was really please with the quality of the games, given none of them had ever done such before and there was such a small amount of time.
Even more touching, the game jam inspired the latter two to work on a game over the course of a week for their final presentation. I was blown away by what they were able to create, and they've gone on to continue doing awesome things such as holding Unity3D classes at schools and using Unity3D for software that can control rovers on the fucking Moon!
What did I actually do?
I hosted a 24 hour game jam with the theme space to show people in the space sector how accessible making games can be.