Learning lessons from 7 games born on gamejams

Creating a game from scratch in 48 hours ... which can be tedious, but at the same time it is a great way to shake up your creativity. You can create something truly new, something you would never have achieved in the course of the usual development process. Some of these uncut diamonds came to a full release ( original article of 2015, at the moment almost all games are on sale, - approx. Translator ). The article will consider a couple of such projects.

From each story you can learn something new in terms of marketing, design, etc.

On Habré you can read articles from the participants of similar jams:

• Article from V0odo0 about participation in Ludum Dare # 37.
• From mr_sw the publication of participation in the Global Game Jam 2015.
• From Wargaming article on the Global Game Jam 2015 in Minsk.
• From PatientZero translation of an article about Gen Jam 2016 (gamejam for procedural generation). This author also has many translations of other articles about game devs. I advise you to subscribe.

Superhot from Superhot team

Where the game originated: 7DFPS , or, 7 Day First Person Shooter Game Jam.

What is the game about? The whole essence of SUPERHOT can be described in one phrase: time flows only when you move. The unique concept was born during the week gejm and instantly won the attention of players.

What can be useful to extract? The main sources of inspiration were: Time4Cat game and Bad Motherf * ckers video .

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The basic concept can easily be expanded with various design solutions. It is also just a beautiful and simple concept that is easy to describe and present. Their demo at E3 was compared to how Neo dodges bullets in the movie The Matrix. The team thoroughly approached marketing. The resourceful strategy, the path they took from the browser prototype to the company at KickStarter , and then the success at Greenlight , shows how the developer can win the players' attention by polishing the game originated as part of gamejam. The fact that the prototype was available in the browser helped a lot in spreading the game.

Since the publication of the original article, the game fully released itself in Steam and emerged from early access. In the prototype, you can play here . If you look at the game statistics on steamspy , you will see that the game has around 300.000 owners, which is quite good.

Double Fine Costume Quest

Where the game originated: as part of Double Fine's Amnesia Fortnight Game Jam - a two-week internal jam that first took place during the development of Brutal Legend. If someone does not know, the creator of the company - Tim Scheifer, who gave us not one beautiful game, - approx. translator.

What is the game about? The prototype evokes a feeling of nostalgia for Halloween from childhood, when you dressed up in different costumes and felt like a conquering hero, dressed in paper armor and with a shield in the form of a trash can lid. Both the prototype and the final version of the game have this infectious sensuality, which is even more settled by the good old RPG mechanics that were still in Final Fantasy.

What can be useful to extract? The game does not introduce anything radically new in terms of mechanics or design, but like other studio games it shows how gamejams within the company can be used not only in order for designers to show their muscles, but also to solve problems that you don’t even guess.

The game is available in Steam . Judging by steamspy , the game owns approximately 500,000 players. But this statistic does not take into account purchases in their own store . Interestingly, part 2 of the game bought only about 100,000 players .

Super Time Force from Capybara Games

Where the game originated: as part of the 2011 Toronto Game Jam .

What can be useful to extract? The developers spoke at GDC , where they gave a lot of advice on how to bring the game from the prototype from gamejam to a commercially successful product. Nathan Vella (co-founder of the company) emphasized that gamejack prototypes should be treated differently from prototypes during the normal development process. Gamejam is about how to "complete something," while a regular prototype should "answer the question." He noted that, in fact, both types of prototype “about the idea”. Vella also talks about the process of hiring new employees to work on the project.

The game is available on PC and Xbox Live since 2014. On a PC, the game can be obtained on the developer’s website or in Steam .

Classroom Aquatic by Sunken Places

Where the game originated: as part of the 2013 Oculus VR Jam .

What is the game about? Stealth game where you have to fool other students who are, um, dolphins.

What can be useful to extract? Classroom Aquatic was one of the participants in the 2013 Oculus VR Jam. The demo can be downloaded in Steam .

Release: scheduled for the end of 2015. At the moment, the release date is postponed to 2017. Perhaps this game should not have been included in this list. But since now VR is very promising, you can leave - approx. translator .

Gods Will Be Watching by Deconstructeam

Where the game originated: Ludum Dare 26. Ludum Dare is a regular gamejam that takes place on weekends, where it should be on a specific topic (in this case it was minimalism). About this event can be read in Habré from the participants themselves.

What is the game about? This is an adventure point-and-click game that has grown into an interesting story based on a hard decision-making process by the player.

What is useful? Gods Will be Watching is a dark and brutal game that forces you to follow dark paths in order to “win” in this gloomy scenario. In the original prototype, the essence of the game was to ensure the survival of a sufficient number of people in a harsh winter, the game forces you to make decisions about how much time you spend on each team member. The final version of the game lures the team into these scary scenarios and turns them (scripts) into a full-fledged adventure.

The game is available in Steam since 2014 and is owned by about 250,000 users.

Surgeon Simulator from Bossa Studios

Where the game originated: Global Game Jam 2013.

What is the game about? I think everyone heard about this game. A sort of surgeon simulator with crazy controls.

What can be useful to extract? It is impressive how the developers change the game. As soon as you have achieved mastery in the game, a boom, a new unit comes out, where the operating room is replaced with an ambulance, which introduces random movements into the game. When you get comfortable here, the next step will be the rescue of patients in space, where gravity is absent.

In Steam since 2013 and she owns more than half a million players . This is not counting users on iOS, Android, and PS4.

Coffee Stain Studios Goat Simulator

Where the game originated : the internal jam that the company organized after the development of Sanctum 2.

What is the game about? Hmm, goat simulator.

What is useful? Those who have seen this bizarre game will not be surprised by the fact that the game was not intended for sale at all. But this kind of sandbox could not resist letspleyry. Video about bugs in the alpha version , quickly spread around the network and became viral.

If most of the games on the list were about polishing the game from prototype to release, then Goat Simulator is a story about how a prototype itself can become a fully-fledged commercial product. Armin Ibrisagic spoke at GDC , where he also noted that their main mantra was “try not to try too hard”

In this list, this is probably the most successful game. She already had a bunch of DLCs. Available in Steam . The game has more than 2.5 million owners . On this NG she even received an award in Steam for “The best use of rural living creatures” (:

Naturally, this is not a complete list of games that originated as part of gamejams and have become commercially successful. If you have other examples of similar titles, then write in the comments.

PS Yes, the article is old, but I thought it would be interesting to know that sometimes there are quite successful games on gamedjes. Before reading the original article, I personally did not know that the Goat Simulator and Surgeon Simulator originated in gamejs - approx. translator

UPD: ATP Mastak_A for a link to the group Ludum Dare on Steam with a list of games.