A novel new take on the "game jam" that takes inspiration from reality shows has attracted a number of respected game industry luminaries to judge the finalists for its cash prize.
Mojang's Markus "Notch" Persson (Minecraft), Thatgamecompany co-founder Kellee Santiago (Journey, Flower), Double Fine's Ron Gilbert (The Secret of Monkey Island, the upcoming The Cave), Beamdog's Trent Oster (Neverwinter Nights, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition), independent developer Jason Rohrer (Passage, Sleep is Death), Playdead's Dino Patti (Limbo) and Minority's Vander Caballero (Papo & Yo) will judge the seven finalist games from a series of 48-hour game jams taking place between now and January 6.
Those finalists will then be judged by noted internet critic Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw for a $2,500 prize.
For a $25 entry fee, teams of one to four developers can start an impromptu 48-hour jam at any time, and must complete a game before their time is up.
In a reality show-like twist, teams will be randomly assigned "variables" that become mandatory elements in their games as soon as the project begins, the inclusion of which is scored heavily by the judges.
I'm really on the fence about this. I mean... it seems like it would be really easy to cheat the 48 hour period because you could just start working on your game earlier.
Except, I guess the assigned variables could put a wrench in that, but I'm not really sure what assigned variables entails...
I assume the variables will be a couple of keywords that describe the theme of the game you're supposed to make. For example, with the keywords "fire" and "sleep", you have to somehow incorporate fire and sleep into your game mechanics. If you just have generic items that you swap out for fire or whatever, then the judges will probably tell right away. If it's possible to make a game where you can swap out any key gameplay element with something described by a random keyword, then I haven't seen it.
At first I thought the judges were the participants. I was about to say, invite Shigeru Miyamoto to host the jam, televise it and bam, "Iron Indie Dev"
On the website it says that those judges will only be judging the seven finalists, and that all the other games will have an open online voting or something.
Except, I guess the assigned variables could put a wrench in that, but I'm not really sure what assigned variables entails...