Global Game Jam is an international event in which game developers create games within 48 hours. Due to space constraints this year, the Perth site was invitation only. It will also be the last game jam run by Different Methods. We’d like to thank Simon for running these events over the last few years (we know how much work it is to run events!), and we’ll try to keep them going.

This year, the theme was “extinction” and teams at the Perth site produced six games. Please check them out and leave some comments:

• Go Go Robot
• It’s lonely being alive (video, play online)
• Laggy Dash
• Plenty of Fish (play online)
• The Worm Turns (video)
• Troncraft

You can see these games and more at the Global Game Jam 2011 projects page.

Congratulations to all participants! We’ve been so inspired that we will be running monthly challenges to encourage local game developers to practice and hone their game-making skills. Actually, we’ve been planning that for a while and… well, more on that soon.

If you haven’t heard about Global Game Jam, the 2011 keynote provides some insight into the event:

Update: Just realised that a picture is missing from the montage. Fixing it now! Fixed!

Thankfully our resident videographers, Richard and Ben, have put together a fantastic short that captures the good times that were had. Enjoy the contagious enthusiasm of the Perth game development community!

Still craving more nostalgia? Check-out photos from the event, and the playlist of locally developed content that was screened on the night.

Music:

So we were ecstatic when, within a few hours of announcing Let’s Make Party, we had four local game developers contact us to lend their financial support! We made this flyer to celebrate (click image for large version):

Introducing this year’s sponsors thus far:

• Different Methods is once again our major sponsor for the second year running. A quiet achiever but clearly Perth’s premier commercial game developer. Unassuming and unpretentious, their website simply states: “We make games”. And that’s exactly what they do – with a positive and inspiring just-get-on-with-it attitude.
• Rockethands is also sponsoring us for the second year running. Regular game-jammers and event attendees, the Rockethands team have: a whole bunch of collective commercial experience; produced numerous indie games; released two iPhone games and one iPad game; and even produced a popular music video under their own label (Rocketband)!
• DrewFX joins us this year as our most eager sponsor (they contacted us within minutes of the event announcement, keen to get funds to us ASAP!). They are probably most well-known for their iPhone game Surf Prodigy or via their presence in the Torque community.
• Binary Space supported last year’s end-of-year party as volunteers, and this year they have come on board as sponsors. They are probably the only local game developer whose work has been featured on the National Geographic website (seriously, check out the link).

To our sponsors: We salute you! Thank you for your support!

It’s still over three weeks until the party, so there is plenty of time for new sponsors to sign-up, and we are still looking for volunteers to help on the day. Please contact us if you would like more information on sponsorship or volunteering.

Update: Handwritten Games has also signed on a sponsor!

The next Perth GameJam is just under two weeks away. That means we’re just two weeks and a few days away from playing some sweet, sweet GameJam games!

It also means that you need to sign-up soon in order to secure your place!

For more information visit the GameJam homepage.

Just a reminder that we are currently running three surveys:

1. Community (Scene): For everyone involved in games in Perth!
2. Developer: Former and current game developers, submit a profile!
3. Game: Provide us with information on games that you have worked on!

We hope that prolific local game developers will take some time to submit multiple responses to the developer and game surveys (assuming that they have worked at various companies and on various games, even if those companies are no longer around).

So how are the surveys going? Our estimates place the current response levels at:

All those responses and we still want more!

If you have yet to respond, please consider the following:

• If you previously experienced some technical issues (the dreaded “you have already completed this survey” bug), please give it another go. We’ve patched the server software and everything should be peachy now.
• Maybe you have worked on a game, but figure that someone else who worked on it will submit a profile (so you don’t have to). Well, they may be thinking the same thing! If we get multiple submissions for the same game, we will merge the results (resulting in an ever BETTER profile!)
• Maybe you feel that your game was: made a long time ago, not that great, unworthy of a listing… who cares anyway… sigh. Well, WE CARE! We want to know all about it and when you are a rich and famous game developer you’ll want to relive the old times!

By simply responding, you could join the ranks of these great local developers:

• Black Lab Games
• Kruger Heavy Industries
• Sandbox
• Gnomic Studios
• Binary Space
• Sam Zeid
• Sofia Varano
• Different Methods

Moreover, you could see your work featured alongside these great games:

• RocketFuse
• Star Hammer Tactics
• Eets: Hunger It’s Emotional (Mac)
• Interzone Futebol
• Adrenaline Snowboarding
• Square Off
• Halogen
• Zombie Outbreak Simulator
• Class 3 Outbreak
• Reveri.es Virtual World
• Codename – Edmonster (gosh, top secret project with no link!)

In summary: Every response we get helps us paint a more complete picture of game development here in Perth. Our past, present, and future becomes more clear with everyone bit of information you submit! So please, keep those responses coming!

The second ever Global Game Jam is on this weekend and everyone here at Let’s Make Games would like to wish all participants the very best of luck.

For those of you who don’t know about the phenomenon that is Global Game Jam, here’s a quick summary: 48 hours of unadulterated creative energy poured into collective game development at breakneck speeds by teams all over the world!

Here in Perth, the local site is being hosted at the Joondalup Business Centre. Setup begins at 5pm tonight and submissions must be in by 3pm on Sunday (the event officially ends at 6pm on Sunday – leaving some time to actually play the games!).

Thanks to the efforts of Simon Wittber (aka. Different Methods), Perth is very well represented as a regional centre for game jamming. Perth was the only Australian location for the first Global Game Jam (at which point Simon had already organised two previous local game jams). This year, the Perth site is also being supported by local game developers Rockethands and Subversive Games.

For more information, see: the Global Gam Jam website; the list of participants for the Perth site; the local event schedule; and the official website for the Perth site.

The Perth Game Jam blog recently posted news that registrations for the next Global Game Jam (January 29-31, 2010) are now open. Check-out the blog post for instructions on how to sign-up to participate in Perth. There’s also a page where you can see all the currently registered Jammers.

Game Jams are short-term collaborative game making events. They are great opportunities to meet other (practising or aspiring) game developers with different skill sets (programming, art, music), and to experiment with novel gameplay concepts. The Global Game Jam is a 48-hour event run simultaneously at numerous locations worldwide.

This will be the second Global Game Jam and the fifth Game Jam run in Perth. Simon Wittber is the organiser and driving force behind these local events. This makes him a beacon for the respect and admiration of local game developers.

Here at Let’s Make Games, we would like to commend Simon for his commitment to bringing Game Jams to Perth!

Thanks to everyone who attended (you make organising these events worthwhile), our volunteers (Stewart, Brett, Alex, Saxon, Steve, Nigel, John, Sam, Simon, Anthony), and our sponsors (Different Methods, the Innovation Centre, Subversive Games, Rockethands, Black Lab Games, and Reveries Virtual World):

Special thanks also to all companies that contributed to the showreel (apologies to Binary Space for not getting their “Class 3 Outbreak” teaser in) and to Game Pride for bringing along some laptops to demonstrate their latest game “Boo!”. Thanks also to Ben, who took most of the photos.

Here are some photos from the night in chronological order:

iParty 2.0 wouldn’t be possible without the kind support of our sponsors. When we put the call out a few weeks ago, we didn’t know what sort of response to expect. We’re incredibly appreciative and humbled by the level of sponsorship offered by the following local organisations, companies, and individuals:

• Different Methods: Apparently Simon is not content with just organising local and global Game Jams, hosting and maintaining Planet PIGMI, and undertaking some of the most amazing games-related work in Perth. He’s also come on as our biggest sponsor, making us feel all warm and fuzzy with his support.
• Innovation Centre: Always keen to lend a hand to local industry groups (such as ours!) the Innovation Centre kindly offered the use of their fantastic professional events venue. Our drinks will be kept cool in their fridges and our work will be displayed on their projector and plasma screen. It’s great!
• Subversive Games: Subversive creates training games and advergames for the rapidly expanding serious games market. One of a handful of larger professional games companies with a studio in Perth, Subversive Games continues to show it’s strong support for the local scene.
• Rockethands: If the group shot on their website is anything to go by, Rockethands are the coolest game developers in Perth… ever. You can tell that they keep it real, and evidently put their money where their mouths are. We know that money can be hard to come by for indie developers and it means a lot to us that you guys have sent some our way!
• Black Lab Games: The latest game development initiative by one of Perth’s veteran game developers (Paul started his first games company back in 1992!) Paul has an infectious passion for games and independent development, which he shares with others as a founding committee member of IGDA Perth Chapter.
• Reveries Virtual World: Avril is obviously a real trend-setter, jumping right in as our first financial sponsor. Reveries has all of us at Let’s Make Games very excited with anticipation. Thanks for being so forthcoming in supporting our community events Avril!

With all this support iParty 2.0 is shaping up to be the best night of the year for local game developers. If you haven’t yet RSVP’d, please do so using the contact page or by registering for the event on Facebook. It’s a free event with food and drinks provided (thanks to our awesome sponsors!).

See you all in just over 2 weeks!