My first ever Global Game Jam was actually the first ever Global Game Jam (2009), in Perth, Western Australia. I’d been working at Interzone Games at the time and knew many people who would be participating. I think we were a group of 6 people and I did (bad) art for a game we called Little Shop of Farters.

My second Global Game Jam was in 2012 (also in Perth). We were in a team of 5 and made a game called The Crooked Spiral, for which I did (again, bad) art and design.

They were awesome experiences and were everything I expected a 48 hour-limited session of game-making to be - rushed, broken, exhausting, sweaty (very sweaty), and lots of fun. Part of what made it so fun for me at the time was being “locked” (though not really) in a room with people I knew and was friends with for 48 hours to make games. At my first GGJ there were lots of people from Interzone. At the second in 2012 I knew even more people, both ex-Interzone and others from the Perth game development community.

This year’s theme: We don’t see things as they are, we see them as we are

Working alone

So when time came to register for Global Game Jam 2014 I was a little apprehensive. I’d know none of these people except for maybe one and for all I knew they’d all be speaking Swedish amongst themselves. Not to mention, I would be contributing to that potential problem by choosing to work alone. Working in teams was great in the previous years, but this year I just didn’t really want to do it for a few reasons:

• I got used to working by myself after One Game a Month last year
• I was/am at a stage where I felt confident enough to make something myself
• I didn’t want the hassle/stress of trying to fit into a group
• I didn’t like the idea of compromising on my own ideas
• If something goes wrong, the only person counting on me is me!
• It seemed that trying to organize the group, make simple decisions, considering what other people think/want, etc would take more time than working on my own and only having to worry about myself (it didn’t sound so antisocial in my head :P)

It’s not that I was planning to not interact with anyone throughout the weekend. Just that I was planning on interacting with people while working on my own thing.

My loner idea didn’t really work out as planned though. After the guided brainstorming sessions and such most of the groups were pretty much formed and I settled down with my equipment at the corner of a table next to a bigger group. None of the ideas from the brainstorm really clicked with me and this is where I was glad I was on my own - I could take as much time as I wanted to think of something I wanted to make. An idea began to form - something about being a sheep and a wolf at the same time, whether a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the other way around, or both. Hey, I never said it would be super innovative.

That’s when Stefan appeared at the table. Stefan is a student at…some Swedish place which name I didn’t quite remember. He hadn’t joined a group yet and was looking for one. During a brief chat about the almost-idea forming in my head I found out that he was an artist/game designer. Judging by my artistic efforts in the previous Global Game Jams (and the fact that to me making art assets is usually equivalent to some form of mental torture), I knew I could probably use some help on that front. We decided to work together on this sheep/wolf thing, me doing the coding, him the art, and us both fleshing out the design.

And that’s how I ended up in a group of two!

The game - Pasturized

Pasturized takes place in a pasture. You play as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Or a wolf’s clothing. Whatever clothing you choose (as long as it’s either that of a sheep or a wolf). It fits into the theme from the perspective of the other sheep. The sheep don’t see you as you are - a wolf - they see you as they are.

The goal of the game (and the only way you can get points) is to chase sheep onto a conveyor belt that takes them to the meat processing plant. However, you also have to keep your energy levels up by attacking and eating sheep (or you die). The other sheep and wolves treat you differently depending on your form.

• When you’re a sheep, other sheep are not afraid of you. You can come as close to them as you want - even push them aside if you’d like to. However, if a wild wolf comes and sees you it might try to eat you because it will think you are a sheep! You move slower as a sheep and can’t eat other sheep, but your energy also goes down at a slower rate.
• When you’re a wolf, the other sheep are afraid of you. If you’re within their radius of sight they panic and bolt away from you. Wild wolves, however, ignore you and go after other sheep as they dash across the screen. As a wolf you move much faster and can attack and eat other sheep, but your energy also goes down at a faster rate.

The more sheep you eat the greater their area of sight becomes (so they spot you as a wolf from farther away). And the more sheep you get onto the meat processing conveyor belt the faster the sheep get, making it more difficult to catch up with them while herding or hunting them for food.

Stefan made the great sprites and tilesheets for the game. I got to do a tiny bit of art as well in the menu illustrations - that’s as much as I would’ve wanted to do! I got to spend most of the 48 hours coding and then some time looking for free sounds to use. I went with JavaScript and ImpactJS for this Game Jam. This let us prototype things very quickly and maintain a good pace in general.

This Global Game Jam went surprisingly…smoothly…with very little rush. We had decided on our core mechanics early and didn’t spend too much time on planning/concepting. One of the first things I expressed was the desire to be very careful with scope and keeping it all in check and we both managed to do so. After deciding “top down”, “toggle between sheep/wolf”, “other sheep run away from you”, I went straight to work. The core features were actually in a functoinal state on the first night (Friday) and we had the time to be flexible with adding other stuff, polishing, etc. I did have to leave a few hours early on Sunday and felt the pressure a bit before I went. I’m sure there are still some unresolved bugs and such, but all in all we had a functional game very early! This is the complete opposite of what I experienced with the first two Global Game Jams. I’m now convinced that, for me, sticking to small groups for these sorts of events is probably a good thing.

That’s not to say that it still wasn’t exhausting. I think I got about 3 or 4 hours of sleep on the first night. This is what a night of JavaScript and a seemingly endless fountain of coffee looks like in the morning:

You can play the game here and view details on the Global Game Jam site.

The venue - Tekniska Museet

The venue was Tekniska Museet and it was great. We had a room allocated to the Jam. It had plenty of space, bathrooms nearby, a sleeping area, and a good Internet connection. Oh and coffee, of course. I hope we didn’t cause too much trouble for them over these past 48 hours because it would be great if we could come back there next year. The only inconvenient part was that access to the building was quite restrictive after opening hours and it was a little bit far from the city (I’m in Sweden now. To me a 20 minute bus ride is far).

If I had to pick a least favorite part of the experience it would be the multiple demo/showing times. This is where the doors to the Game Jam room were open and people were expected to set up and show off their game progress to whoever felt like coming in. On the one hand it’s great to see people playing your game, but on the other I just wanted to keep working on it instead. I understand the need for it, however, because the museum was kind enough to let us use their location and we are expected to “give back” by providing an attraction of sorts I guess. Also everyone who came in spoke Swedish so Stefan had to do most of the talking while I stood there not understanding anything (though I’m learning!). I think many people didn’t even realize I worked on the thing and thought I was just standing around, chilling!

Conclusion

Global Game Jam 2014 went so smoothly for me that I am still suspicious. I’m not saying we made the best game in the world, but we managed to get in all of the features we wanted and made a playable game. Finishing felt very rewarding and I left on Sunday feeling tired but accomplished!

Remember to check out the other games from Global Game Jam Stockholm. And check out the ones from Perth while you’re at it!