Artwork - Mineshaft Render

Tumbleweed Express Artwork - Mineshaft render (cel-shaded)

Gamescape 2012, here we come!

"Congratulations! You have been selected to exhibit “Tumbleweed Express” at GameScape 2012! We are pleased and excited to have you at this year’s event as GameScape celebrates its 2nd year participating in ARTSCAPE, the largest free arts event in the country! As a selected exhibitor you will be required to follow the outlined schedule enclosed. In the effort of achieving the highest possible exposure for you and your featured game, we will be asking you to plan for a 15 minute presentation at a scheduled time on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday during the festival. Consider this an opportunity to provide visitors a behind the scenes sneak peak on how you created your game. The presentation room will be equipped with a computer and projector, visuals are highly encouraged to engage and further illustrate your thought process to audience members who are anxious to find out more about you as an artist and your game!  Should you have any questions or concerns about the exhibit or the schedule, please do not hesitate to contact me. Already looking forward to July! 

– Marisol"

This is an important opportunity for us to garner exposure and support for Tumbleweed Express. Please join the Dirigiballers in Baltimore during the weekend (Fri, Sat, Sun) of July 20th as we present our game at Gamescape 2012!

Art: Crystal Formations

Crystal formations for Tumbleweed Express.

Tumbleweed Express Demo Reel Video!

Third Jam Session: Postmortem

What went right?

Everyone is very proud of the work that is being produced and now that we have integrated a new artist and audio engineer into the team we expect even bigger and better things.  On that note, welcome Arnoud Moes and Greg Morningstar to the team. Though we are becoming a larger team, communication remains open and constantly high amongst the various units – which is allowing rapid development and quick resolution of issues. Additionally, we’re finding and using new tools to help speed our development process up further (e.g. external terrain editing software).

What went wrong?

Our preferred method for production, at least what works for us, is working over weekend jam sessions – you could call these our sprints – and keeping up the focus for the 48 hours can prove very daunting.  There is also this idea that things need to be “perfectly” completed by the time they are first integrated into the game (e.g. levels, models, and even code segments) and this might not necessarily be the best approach to take when trying to make it to a play test that allows us to verify that the elements we are working on “work” in the game.  On a similar note, we have kind of an asset backlog that is growing for many reasons; we need to do more integration work with what has been “completed” because soon we will have a sound backlog as well! One thing that seems to effecting many us is hardware difficulties – however, it is pretty difficult for us on (a mostly) student budget to improve this last item.

What can be improved? How?

In general, more planning as to what tasks are most important during a jam session could be performed prior to the event, which would save time on Friday night – and even getting people working before the event takes place. We could, perhaps, develop a plan for each department per session that is a part of a greater plan that outlines how we get to a submittable prototype for the IGF Deadline in October. Additionally, we tend to plan our schedules one jam session at a time versus planning our working schedules a few months out – we have a lot of problems trying to work the upcoming sessions into people’s schedules and providing more notice will hopefully make this better.

What is important to do next?

The art department has been cranking out models and this has generated quite the backlog of items in need of textures. Additionally there is a thought that the artists need to implement a documentation system beyond just a simple assets list to facilitate communication and track progress amongst the team. On the management side, we should develop a global project plan and we should get to some serious play testing in - which encapsulates design validation, artistic direction review, and confirms the closure of items on the issue list.

Our next jam session, though ripe with scheduling conflicts, occurs on March 23^rd.

Screenshots from our latest build!

Splash Screen

Build Screen

On the Rails

Getting boarded by bandits!

4th Annual IGDA Global Game Jam: Affiliations

During the month of January there has been a bit of a lull in our production schedule for Tumbleweed Express as the team prepared to take part in the 4th Annual IGDA Global Game Jam. The Global Game Jam, as we know it today, started in 2009 and brought together 1650 participants whom created 370 games in 53 different global locations. Since then the number of participants, sites, and games produced has nearly doubled with each and every year. Our team traveled to the George Mason University Site in Virginia, which was chosen by our IGDA Chapter, to participate. This year's theme was:

Ouroboros Snake: Go!

In the spirit of the event, our team divided up to work with other jammers and is affiliated with the following titles:

Pandora's Blocks

Bo Banducci and IGDA DC member Nathan Maton, along with their very excellent team members created a Minecraft and Go inspired turn-based game. Their approach was extremely interesting in that they were able to practice iterative design, construct a paper prototype, and evolve their game through play testing in under 48 hours. Their title won the Audience's Choice Award and was a runner up for the Judge's Choice Award. Check this game out at: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/pandoras-blocks

Pandora's Blocks Title Screen

Eurydice

Sam Levine, Mike Willis, IGDA DC members Zaal Tonia and "Evil" Dan, and the rest of their team went after the "Eyes Wide Shut" diversifier and created a game without any graphics. The story is based on the classic Greek mythology of Orpheus' journey to and from the underworld to bring back his dead wife, Eurydice. As a complement to the awesome job they did in design and execution, their game took second place in the Audiance's Choice Award. Check this game out at: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/eurydice

Through The Hoop

David To and IGDA DC  member George Dounkov, along with their team of George Mason students were able to create a physics puzzle game that won the Judge's Choice Award! The game played on the cyclic nature of the event theme and masked it by using simulated objects and airflows to get a basketball "through the hoop". Check this game out at: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/through-hoop

Through The Hoop: Level 1

Susie's Summer Home

Matthew Mauriello assisted in the development of a psychological puzzle game featuring a young girl trapped in a maze like house. The team was composed of students from George Mason and IGDA members: Taro Omiya, Josh Bock, Chris Totten, and David Newcomb. The title earned third place in Audience's Choice Award. Check this game out at: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/susies-summer-home

Susie & The Monster Door

Snake Escape

David Weiss, Jacob Clayman and Andy Varshin joined up with a George Mason student programmer to create a traditional survival sprinting game with an ouroboros twist. The game features the music of Kevin MacLeod. Check this game out at: http://globalgamejam.org/2012/snake-escape

Snake Escape Title Screen

Ultimately the 2012 Global Game Jam was a huge success! We were very glad to have this opportunity to network and develop projects with our local gaming community. We're really anxious to get back to working on Tumbleweed Express and our next jam session is scheduled for later this month. Special thanks to George Mason University, Trey Reyher, and the IGDA for this very awesome event. See you next year at Global Game Jam 2013!