What to Know and Do Before Game Jam?
Game jams takes place all around the world. Those are community driven events, where everyone can make a game and share it with the community afterwards. The game you make is up to you, but to give the participants some ideas, a theme is chosen by the community.
Game jams are good events to learn new skills, meet new people, practice game making and to discover interesting game mechanics. Ludum Dare lasts for about 3 days during which jammers can put their skills to the test and see what they can make.
APT GG Local Event
APT GG is a game development community in Tartu (Estonia), which organizes the LD local gathering event in the 3D Kasvuhoone, Kastani 42, Tartu. From Friday evening to Monday night we and our partners are providing the rooms, support, some game development presentations and hopefully a fun time for all the jammers. We also have a local competition with a jury and prizes for the teams participating in our event.
Big thanks to the Institute of Computer Science in the University of Tartu, Tartu Art School, ORDI, Olevus Art and all our other partners and friends for supporting the event!
Who Can Jam?
Anyone can come and register as a jammer at our event before the start at Friday evening. In order to participate, fill in the pre-registration form available from our latest event’s Facebook page, when it is available (usually about a month before the event). If you are unsure of your skills as a game developer, then do not fret. This event is meant for people, who want to learn new skills!
Furthermore game developing consists of art, design, sound, programming, testing and many other fields. Do not get the wrong idea that you need to be able to program in order to do game development. For example if you can come up with your own game ideas or analyze and improve other ones, then you are a game designer and everyone else needs you!
If you have a friend, who might be interested in making games, then the event is also for him / her.
What to Bring?
Most importantly bring yourself and a confidence to learn and make a game!
In APT GG we have about 45 workstations available with PC-s, headphones and drawing tablets. We also organize food and drinks throughout the event.
However, you can bring your own things as well. For example a laptop if you want to work on that. Also other things like extension cords, your own headphones, a mic to record audio etc.
What is Going to Happen?
You can refer to the latest schedule of a specific event from Facebook, but the plan is generally the following:
On Friday evening there will be socialization and team forming. This is the time, when the event starts and teams are formed. You may already have some friends you want to team up with, but also consider meeting new people with new skills. In the end all jammers should have found interesting other jammers to make games with also in the future.
Saturday noon all teams should present their initial ideas and plans. Then it is the time to work on your games.
Sunday evening there are prototype presentations, where teams show what they have made during the 2 days.
Monday evening at 17:00 is the final deadline for the local competition. That is when teams need to put their games up on the Ludum Dare page and on our event’s FB page for the jury and everyone else to play. After that there are the final presentations from all teams and the award ceremony.
During the event there may also be special presentations from special guests. Find the latest schedule from Facebook for further info.