Talk:Game Jam
This page is to facilitate conversation and team formation for participants in the Game Jam.
Contents
Individuals looking for teams
see also the one-person teams
- SJ (unless there's an organizers team!)
- ...
Teams looking for individuals
- add yours here
Game categories
Mesh Networking
- Each XO can broadcast and connect to any laptop around it over a mesh, allowing for collaborative activities. Use cases and game models.
Camera
- Each XO has a videocamera embedded in its display. example jams: vision-based games, use cases.
Tablet Mode
- The XO laptop has a tablet mode that's readable in sunlight, with gamepad buttons. example jams: styles of play including real-world activity beyond a confined space.
Libraries for learning and play
- The XOs will ship with some libraries for creating new games and simulations. example jams: new libraries along these lines for specific sets of applications.
Invitation confirmation letter
*** Confirmation *** First things first - please confirm you're coming to the Jam at http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=134810. This is also the page where you pay your registration fee; the processing fee will be refunded at check-in. *** Schedule *** Development time is from 7:30pm Friday to 3:30pm Sunday (takes place within a span of 44 hours). The schedule, such as it is, looks like this: Friday: 5-7pm - check-in, set-up computers, learn about developing for the XO 7-7:30pm - introductions, kickoff, begin jamming 7:30-9:30pm - dinner available Saturday: 9-10am - breakfast available noon-2pm - lunch available 12:30-1:15 - midway check-in; short updates from teams on progress, and a great chance to ask for help or extra hands. 6:30-8pm - dinner available Sunday: 9-10am - breakfast available noon-2pm - lunch available 3:30-5pm - final presentations, judging, and wrap-up 5:30pm - check-out The schedule is also posted on http://hackronym.com/olpc/gamejam/schedule.html. *** Location *** The Game Jam is being held in the Academic Center of Olin College at 1000 Olin Way, Needham MA which is approximately 45 minutes from Logan Airport. Directions to campus can be found at http://www.olin.edu/admission/directions.asp. On-campus parking is free. The campus is wheelchair-accessible. If you have any special needs, please let us know and we'll do our best to accomodate you. *** Sponsors *** This event is so cheap because of our fantastic sponsors. We're hoping to run more Jams in the future, so if you know any companies or organizations that might be interested in helping us out with this Jam or future ones, please ask them and let us know! *** Housing *** You should have received an earlier email if you are staying on campus during the Jam. If you do not have on-campus housing but require lodging, two nearby hotels are offering a Game Jam discount; mention the One Laptop Per Child Game Jam at Olin College to get the special rates. If you are having difficulty getting lodging for any reason, please let us know and we'll do our best to help you. Babson Executive Conference Center (~10min walk) One Woodland Hill Drive Wellesley, MA 02457 1-781-239-4000 $170/night double occupancy Sheraton Inn Needham (~10min drive) 100 Cabot St. Needham, MA 02494 1-781-444-1110 $139/night double occupancy *** Some final notes *** This is an experiment in the creation of computer games, development for the XO hardware, and content creation for the OLPC project. As such, expect things to be mildly chaotic and slightly rough around the edges - we're new to this as well. What this means is that as the first OLPC Jammers, what you do next weekend will set the stage for what will hopefully be many Jam groups for OLPC across the world in the years to come. So come on in and have some fun. Please feel free to adapt, start, suggest, and change things during the course of the Jam if you have an idea for how to improve the Jam, and give us lots of feedback (yep, we'll be timing the publicity releases and registration deadlines better next time). *** Questions? *** If you have any questions or need to make arrangements before the Jam, shoot us an email at olpcgamejam<<hat>>hackronym.com or give Mel call at 847-978484, or Sj at 617-5294266. That's it. If you need anything, drop us a line. Otherwise, we'll see you on Friday!
Art resources
The owner of Lost Garden has made two open libraries of game images named PlanetCute and SpaceCute available for game developers. --Basique 19:46, 7 June 2007 (EDT)
Audio resources
360KID [1] has offered audio assets to build spelling and word games. Almost 300 prepped audio files in MP3 and AIF formats including A - Z and 1 - 10 spoken files. To access visit http://www.360kid.com/olpc/audio.zip
Judging Forms
These are the forms we will be using to collect data during the judging on the final day of the Jam. Please comment and edit, but make sure anything you add would be applicable to all games. Note that the parents are going to be filling these out for their kids.
- Game Jam Form/Child Survey - demographics, one per judge
- Game Jam Form/Child Feedback - feedback on specific games, one per judge per game
- Game Jam Form/Developer Observations - for developers to note interesting things during judging
- Game Jam Form/Adult Feedback - for non-judges to give feedback on specific games
- Are all 'child forms' to be filled by the parent? No direct comment from the child?
- Comments were mainly from the judges, who were children. Younger cihldren were helped by their parents to fill out forms quickly.
- Also, what about the type of games they normally play? (ie: browser based or cd/installed; action vs. puzzle; etc) Did they like the graphics? Sound? Idea? Were the input methods (keys, touchpad) good? Would they like to play it again? Would they add/remove something?
- We didn't ask enough normalizing questions about their background... did ask for general feedback about input methods, but it was generally hard for them to get used to the varying levels of lag.
- Another suggestion could be to record a video of the children playing the game, so that later you may see what interactions they had with other kids and the games... 2cts, --Xavi 02:34, 10 June 2007 (EDT)
- Great idea for the next time. Little video cameras for each testing station... or a background process on the XO? in theory we should be able to capture video or periodic snapshots and keypresses while running a game in the foreground. [[User:Sj|Sj [[User talk:Sj|<font color="fc9"><small>talk</small></font>]]]] 15:48, 11 June 2007 (EDT)
The Games
- 3D Pong -- line-drawn pong with gravity, impacts, and 5-line text config files for making new levels
- Sprayplay -- Crossfire with a range of geometric shapes for pucks and a physics engine
- Kuku Ankula -- a mathmunchers variant + question dictionaries
- Reversi -- Reversi with a few interface features
- Hungry Spacecat
- Typeblocker -- typing tutor in Flash
not fully packaged for Sugar
- Ball Game - an incredible machine variant with gravity wells, rotatable platforms, trampolines, and many balls
- flTron - a simple tron implementation; early stages. part of the author teaching himself python
not fully working on an XO
- Pythagoras -- a pygame framework for Go and no-AI board implementation
- Labyrinth -- puzzle solving : finding your friend[s] in an outdoor labyrinth
Also played, but not written this weekend: Etoys, Block Party, US Invaders (c/o Noah), Memosono
some quotes from the forms
One parent said Kuku Anakula was "...a great game for 2nd to 3rd graders" - some judges asked for easier math questions, others for harder ones.
One judge liked the Labyrinth game so much they returned to play it afterwards. A pair of siblings had a small argument because one got to play it through twice.
One judge described 3dPong as "awesome... oh yes, I scored another point!"
Pythagoras was described as having the "...best intro of the session"
Reversi was so "awesome" and "very absorbing" that it was "only easy to leave because it was a two player game and the game ended."
Sprayplay was "really fun" and one young judge said it was the "best game yet."
Typeblocker was "addictive" and "hard to stop," and Sort spanned the widest age range, being enjoyed by a 12-year-old judge and a 3.5-year-old judge.
