➮➮➮ Hi all, due to ongoing health issues I have to push this back to June. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Recently my nephew asked me if we could join a gamejam. I said yes before realizing that there weren’t all that many gamejams suitable for beginner game creators. Rather than disappoint him, I decided to create a gamejam that was half jam/half video game development course with the intent of helping aspiring developers and artists who have little to no prior experience! Hence, the first ever (afiak) #LearnGameDevGameJam!
Course materials sign-up is here:
https://nickelcitypixels.com/courses/learngamedevgamejam-course/
By tailoring the lessons from my college-level course book and holding live sessions over the course of a month, I am confident a #LearnGameDevGameJam can be super successful. The goal will be for the class to complete a modest yet fully functioning game by jam’s end.
The format will likely involve reading assignments, a bit of homework, and an optional quiz during the week. The homework will involve learning by doing and will function as components in the completed game.
On the weekend we’ll meet up on youtube to discuss development of the final game and work on putting it all together. We’ll also assign roles and role-related homework. Roles will include level design, character modeling/sculpting, rigging and animating, and state-machine creation (programming). State-machine engineering serves to satisfy the entry-level ethos of the jam. If you can’t program yet, don’t worry! If you can draw a flow-chart, you can use powerful State Machine technology to create just about anything!
I’m going to give away free copies of my text book, No-Code Video Game Development Using Unity and Playmaker to the first 5 successful applicants (and because the last give-away was a bit too successful, I’m going to include a brief essay requirement to ensure that recipients are committed to the spirit of the #LearnGameDevGameJam and are not just in it for the free stuff)! The giveaway sign-up sheet is here: https://nickelcitypixels.com/learngamedevgamejamsignup/. Sign-up at itch.io simeultaneously to reserve one of the 20 non-giveaway slots. Please read over the post at the site for any additional and helpful information not listed here.
Materials you will need, according to 1 of 3 roles:
- Level Design: Unity, Blender, and your choice of 2D image editing software
- Character Modeling/Sculpting: Unity, Blender or Zbrush (paid), and your choice of image editing software
- Rigging and Animating: Blender and Mixamo
- State-machine creation (Programming): Unity and Playmaker (paid)
I hope you’re as excited as I am! Please join us for the first ever (afiak?) #LearnGameDevGameJam!