Over
the weekend of January 20/21, fifteen
professional Boston-area game developers got together under the
great gold dome at MIT to try and create a variety of working,
usable games in only 36 hours. Featuring
luminaries from such successful companies as Turbine,
CogniToy, Iron Lore, SolidWorks, Demiurge and Funkitron, the
developers worked either solo or as 2-person teams and
completed
eight games, which (as anyone who's worked in game development
knows) was quite a feat. The theme for the Jam was "shift",
and it was fascinating to see how each team interpreted the idea.
I
was invited to be the 'floating music and sound guy' for the weekend,
providing all of the music, sound and dialog/voiceover for the
games. In keeping with the spirit of the Jam, I brought only
a minimum of equipment - an iBook, a MIDI
keyboard controller,
a decent mic and pre, a handheld field
recorder and an assortment
of small acoustic instruments (ukelele, irish whistle,
hand percussion, acoustic guitar, etc). My goal was to hand-make
all of the music, VO and sound design right there at the Jam, which
turned out to be as much of a challenge as I thought I was going
to be. Seeing as we were at a beautiful college, I was hoping
to find a nearby classroom to set up shop in, but the entire building
we were in was, for all intents and purposes, shut down
tight -
I ended up setting up in the same room as the rest of the developers.
With no studio and nothing but my iBook and a pair of headphones to
work on, it became apparent early on that time was going to be
a major factor, and the teams with the most foresight would end
up with the most extensive music/sound. My good friend Kent
Quirk and
his son Lincoln (who made the game "Slidewalk")
literally met me at the door as I walked in, with a detailed list
of exactly what sound and music assets they expected to need. This
allowed them to create a game with a basic interactive
score (percussion
track throughout, with crossfading "lightside" and "darkside" ambient
music tracks), player 'effort' sounds, multiple 'conveyor' speeds
and four different player deaths/re-materializations! Their ideas
and the resulting game were simply amazing. Al
Reed & Alex Rice (who made the
game "Squish") took the other tack
- they told me how they wanted the player to feel during
gameplay, asked for a couple of specific sounds, and let me go
for it. The result was hands-down the 'fun-factor' game of the Jam.
Globe-trotter
Philip Tan made a great mobile phone game ("Nightshifted"),
which needed flight-attendant VO and in-air sound effects, so
we pressed an empty cubical into service as a vocal booth and
Katelyn Olmstead (pictured) handled the dialog
in fine style. As the weekend went on, many of the developers
got to feel what it was like on the other side of the mic as
well. Eric
Rosenbaum and Jonah
Elgart made a strong attempt at the most ambitious game
of the Jam ("The Rhythm Machine"),
a Flash-based puzzle game in which the solution is a rhythmic
pattern - just a great idea. We were all disappointed they couldn't
quite get the coding together in time, but it's a testament to
their sheer will and expertise they got the game to work as well
as they did in the end. Jonah has such a wonderful
art-style, I really hope they'll follow their idea out and finish
the game someday.
But
Sunday afternoon came up fast, and we all began to run out of time
- I ended up going to one of my sound libraries for 1) an antique
cash register ring (for Dan Roy's "Conflict
Diamond"), 2) a huge
explosion (which became a cool flash-bang after some tweaking)
and 3) a little clip of a speed-metal piece I'd written earlier
in the week (both to finish up "Squish").
With minutes to go (just like on "Iron Chef"), I found myself out
in the hall, sitting on the floor, banging out a quick guitar track
so Darren Torpey and Dave
Ludwig would
have something to go along with their presentation of "Buddha
Quest", when Jam organizer Darius Kazemi dropped
the hammer - it was ovaaahhhh...
In
the end, two of the developers eschewed audio altogether - Max
McGuire made an astonishing game about global resources
and relationships ("Shift"), and
despite thinking he wouldn't have time, Darius
Kazemi ended up building a clever puzzle game ("Maze")
for the GameBoy Advance...! I had no idea what he was doing,
and Sunday afternoon he comes by my table where I'm editing
furiously on headphones and asks me if he can borrow my DS
Lite - he pops a card in, messes around a bit, then proclaims
"yeah... it works". My jaw almost fell out when I
saw his game running on my DS - I knew he'd brought a card-burner,
but I'll admit I didn't think he'd get it up and working -
man, was I wrong.
Being a part
of the first Boston Game Jam reconfirmed my
thoughts about the game industry in the short
time I've been involved in it. The people I've met are overwhelmingly
welcoming and willing to help, and most of 'em are pretty funny,
too. Everyone seems to remember that at the heart of things,
we're all toymakers here - and this is one of the best
jobs ever. The Jam was an opportunity to step away from the business
for a moment and revel in the joy of making fun things with
a bunch of great people. I
can't wait to do it again.
-
Duncan Watt
More
photos: There are a number of photos
up on Flickr here
Want
to hear some audio from the weekend? Listen to the clip
below.
WARNING:
THIS AUDIO WAS MADE AS PART OF AN EXPERIMENTAL GAME DESIGN
PROJECT, NOT AS A FINISHED PRODUCT. FOR EXAMPLES OF PROFESSIONAL
WORK, PLEASE CLICK
HERE TO VISIT THE FASTESTMANINTHEWORLD WEBSITE.
boston
game jam audio clips
all
music/sound/voiceover: duncan watt

(audio montage, 2:52)
download
mp3 here
Play
the games:
Downloadable games, screenshots and
more information at
www.bostongamejam.com
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