Tiny Frog Software

This weekend I took part in the 48 Hour Global Game Jam – This year 138 locations around the world took part in the competition and within the 48 hour timeframe 967 games got made.

NINE-HUNDRED AND SIXTY SEVEN GAMES!!

Ok, so alot of them aren’t going to be very well polished and more than a few will probably downright suck. But it’s an awesome experience and a great chance to meet new people and to try something completely different. If you have even the slightest interest in making a video game, and even if you’ve never made one before you really owe it to yourself to give it a go next year.

Last time I participated in the Game Jam I produced the prototype for RoboFortress which I later remade without too many modifications in flash in order to place it on this website. My experience from last year was very different from this year. Last year I worked all by myself because I wanted to see if I could complete a game from start to finish all on my own. This year I decided to work on a team, which was very different. To tell the truth I think the optimal number of people on a team for this competition is 2 or 3 – Any more than that and you really need to have a dedicated producer who is responsible for managing the project and is final arbitor on any decisions that need to be made.

My team was quite large (5 people) and alot of time was spent just trying to communicate with each other. And sometimes it can be very hard to communicate an idea when you’ve had very little sleep and have been living off red bull and greasy takeaways.

Next year I think I would like to participate in a group of 2 or 3.

So what about the game we made?

Well, it was a point and click graphic adventure game and you can play it here (Plays in a browser – Silverlight plugin required.) The goal is to get onto the roof and find what awaits you. The original plan was far more complex let me assure you

I’d never made a point and click adventure game before and I wanted to give it a go, which I suppose is what the Global Game Jam is all about.

I think I’d like to make a larger graphic adventure at some point, but now I know what I’d do differently.

PS: Please do not look at the code – It is a complete hack job