The CCGD does cool things at TAG. Here’s a post on what they were up to last week. Check in every Thursday to be a part of their Game Jam!
Saturday, January 15th, 2010: It’s frigid outside, but a few dedicated programmers and artists managed to get together at TAG for the CART Collective for Game Development (CCGD)’s first Gamart Jam of the year. There’s something about collective creative energy… Things seem more fun, problems are solved quickly, and stuff gets done. So what is Gamart Jam anyway?
There are many different specialties in the club; there are people who work with sound, game level design, hardcore programming, 3D art, and animation. Because Game Jams are so popular, we decided to create our own, one in which artists feel welcome, too. Hence, the name Gamart Jam was created. The CCGD strongly believes that coming together will facilitate closing the gaps often formed when a game is created. For example, it’s all coded, but pretty ugly. Or, you have this great character modeled, but can’t seem to get it to move in a way that looks natural. This is where either mentoring or forming a team becomes your golden ticket to awesomeness.
Ramy, the president of the CCGD, explains what he was up to:
In the past few weeks, GEOHOT released a jailbrake for the Playstation3. This means, by loading his file, you can play “homebrew” games (games you make yourself without the authorization of Sony). I got the jailbreaking file from GEOHOT’s website and I downloaded the PS3 compiler tool chain. The tool chain allows me to write programs and compile them so they will run on the ps3. I built the tool chain (you have to compile the tool chain to compile games for your ps3, computers are fun like that) and I built a demo application.
Ramy is now looking into finding a PS3 he can jailbrake so we can test out some home-brewed games!
Mohannad, a very talented 3D artist, sketched up an awesome gas-masked, skeletal character head. He and Charlotte (myself), a 2D and 3D artist, will be working together on creating the art of a game they are working on with Ramy. There is already a demo online (made by Ramy)—now it’s time to use the jams to experiment, discuss, and progress.
The number of people at the Gamart Jam was below our expectation on the first day, probably due to a mixture of confusion after the holidays (back to reality), the cold weather, and perhaps a few hangovers. Whatever the reason, those of us who made it got something small and quick coded, a monstrous character sketched out in 3D, even hacked into a PS3—well, paved the road to it anyway. The CCGD had offered pizza to those who would come to the very first Gamart Jam, but we decided that, since there weren’t many at this Jam, we would save the pizza for next week. Because we are so caring : )
The CCGD hopes to get the word about the Jams out there—not just to CART students, but to all students who love games and want to make some great stuff. The It’s Not a Doll project team will be using this time to gather research, improve their site, and create artwork. The Mine game group will be building characters and sets, and improving level design. More games will come, big and small. If students want tutorials, help, just to play around and make quick games, work on their portfolio, or simply thrive on that creative energy, the Gamart Jam is definitely the place!
Where: TAG, EV 11.425 When: Every Thursday, 5pm – closing
Free pizza at the next Jam (January 22nd), so be there or be a hungry, equal-sided rect ();
Edit: please note our meetings have been rescheduled to Thursdays at 5 PM.