Participants of Cebu’s first on-site game jam, Ludum Dare 38, discuss concepts and game mechanics at the PhiloSophia Library. The event was organized by Cebu Game Dev led by Clint
Hennesy Cagang.
AT LEAST seven games were produced by Cebu’s programmers, designers and developers in a 72-hour onsite global game jam dubbed “Ludum Dare 38” held last April 22 to 24.
“Ludum Dare 38” gathered developers around the world to spend a weekend of creating games based on a theme suggested by the community, said Clint Hennesy Cagang, event organizer and Cebu Game Dev founder.
The event carried the theme “A Small World” and was announced at 9 a.m. on April 22 worldwide.
Cagang said a game jam requires participants to plan, design and create one or more games within a short deadline, usually between 24 and 72 hours.
In this activity, the participants were programmers, game designers, artists, writers and others involved in game development-related fields.
For the event, Cebu’s game developers gathered at the PhiloSophia Library Cafe to conceptualize and work on their games. Some of the teams were pre-formed, which meant the participants attended the event with a team in mind.
Most participants formed a team on the spot. “They teamed up with strangers but grew to become trustful allies by the end of the jam,” Cagang said.
The cafe became the developers’ camp site where they spent Saturday (April 22) to Monday (April 24) to work on their games. Snacks and drinks ranging from bread, cereal, coffee and ice cream were served to feed the hungry developers.
The event was sponsored by ClintKAMMS Corp. and Phialo Trading Corp. through Phialo Communications.
One of those games called Planet Ravagers was developed by Information Technology students of the University of San Carlos.
In Planet Ravagers, a gamer plays an astronaut who tries to survive an alien-infested planet while waiting to be rescued by a spaceship.
Computer Science student Joshua Lee, 19, said the most difficult part was coming up with a concept considering the time constraints.
“You can’t be too ambitious. I had a difficult time making the volcanoes work in our game. The AI (artificial intelligence) script was very frustrating but solving those (technicalities) in the end was fun,” said Lee.
Team member Christian Ted Ochoa agreed, saying aspiring developers should join game jams to test their capabilities in finding ways to make games more fun.
Lee and Ochoa were joined by IT students Leonille Christie Lavador and Roald Galano.
Another game was Bustronaut, where an astronaut defends a planet from incoming meteors. The gamer’s character and the planet have their own health bars which informs players how much they are holding up against the assault.
Bustronaut co-developer Christian Dave Yap said “Ludum Dare 38” allowed him to experience and learn the entire process of making a game within a three-day period.
“I want to encourage artists to participate in game development and not just limit themselves to illustrations. You learn many things when you collaborate with like-minded people who need artists when developing a game,” Yap said.
Joining Yap were Johndy Punay and Jommar Lodonia who both served as programmers of Bustronaut.
Cagang said the game jam showed to everyone who participated that game development is not only a technical field.
“Game development is constantly seen as an ‘IT thing.’ Game development also needs people with different skill sets like music and art. Getting to know why these people were here and how dedicated they were to their craft makes me want to do my best as an organizer,” he said.
After “Ludum Dare 38” Cagang said Cebu Game Dev wants to reach out and look for artists and musicians engaged in or are interested in game development and encourage them to join their Facebook group and Meetup.com site.