This past weekend was the second time members of the Knoxville Game Jam took part in a game jam.  The theme was “Beneath the Surface” and each developer or team had to use this theme some way in their game.  There were a total of four games submitted from KGD teams, plus another game completed by Ruth Ann who choose not to upload her game but showed it off Sunday night.

Upper Crust by Dylan

Play the game here

You are a geomancer exploring beneath the surface of the earth. To move forward in your journey, you will need to bribe the giants who guard your path.

Archaeology by Levi

Play the game here

Welcome to Archaeology!

First select a surveyor to find good locations for treasure. If treasure is found nearby, the ground will be highlighted with a certain color.  Once you find a good location for treasure, assign an excavator to that area. If the excavator successfully digs up treasure, it will be shown in the world. Then assign an appraiser, who will determine the value of the treasure and add it to your total money.

Repeat until you’ve found all of the treasure, but you have only until 7pm before the game is over.

Under the Surface by Jacob

Play the game here

Jacob (age 10) went camping this weekend and created the game basically in a little over 1 day from Sunday – Monday. The game is a maze style game with a mining element and enemies trying to kill you. Arrow keys to navigate, some other hidden short cuts, in game warps and tricks. Dad did some debugging, score/health tweaking, and collision fixing, but Jacob did 95% of this one alone.

Jungle Noir by Rachel, Hannah, and Mike

Play the game here

We took the theme “Beneath the Surface” as a reference to hidden or double meanings, which lead to the noir setting.

Time-lapse Development Videos

It’s common for participates in the game jam to live stream their process, and then crunch the whole weekend down to a short video.  Both Mike (and team) and Levi made time-lapse videos:

This past weekend 3 developers plus 2 teams from Knoxville Game Design took part in the game jam for a total of five entries!  The theme was “You Only Get One” and it was up to each developer and team how they incorporated the theme.  Here are the five entries:

Weird Kingdom (Jacob, Jeffry, and Jon)

Play the game here

Jacob age 9 is the team leader (Lead Designer, Lead artist, Lead programmer). Dad and Uncle Jon provided technical assistance. Game done in GameMaker Studio 1.2. Tile Studio used for sprites. Audacity used for sounds. Game play with Arrow Keys, A = attack. Weird quirky glitches are by design. The final boss can be tricky to kill. You only get one life, one weapon, one boss fight.

One Gunman (Levi)

Play the game here

You play as One Gunman, who must gather the rewards for shooting the bandits (Evens, Odds, Fibonaccis, Squares). Each bandit has a numerical value associated to it, which determines if it is one that can be shot for a reward. The reward will change periodically to a new set of bandits. Shooting an incorrect bandit will result in One Gunman losing a life. When all of his lives are gone, the game is over.

YoGo Burger (Mike)

Play the game here

It’s your first day at YoGo Burger, and management has said it needs to make some cuts. Effectively immediately all customers can have only one item on a burger. Marketing suggests we do not tell customers of this new policy, and research shows people only care about one topping anyway so there should be no complaints.
Also, new policy for new hires: get one complaint and you’re fired!

One Card Hero (Dylan)

Play the game here

Collect the coins! Avoid the enemies! Score the points!
Power-up your robotic avatar by playing cards–but you can only hold one card at a time (that is, “you only get one”).

Shovel Master (DBRalir, Aarithian, Chume, Reginald, Ben)

Play the game here

You are are a skilled treasure hunter, exploring various areas in search of gold.
Collect at least 50 gold to pay for travel to the next area, but you only get one minute!

Time-lapse Development Videos

It’s common for participates in the game jam to live stream their process, and then crunch the whole weekend down to a three minute video.  This time, both Mike and Levi made time-lapse videos:

The response was very good this time, even with it being in the middle of the holidays, and we’ll likely do another in April. Be sure to sign up on the mailing list for future meetup and game jam announcements.

Congratulations to everyone who entered the game jam!

Members of Knox Game Design entered not one, not two, but three games in Microsoft’s Dream Build Play 2012 game competition!  Here are the entries:

EvilQuest 2 by Chaosoft Games

In a world on the brink of annihilation, a mighty warlord has appeared and seems hell-bent on delivering the planet a final crushing blow. But, in the small village of Aurora, a glimmer of hope appears in the night sky. A mysterious stranger has fallen from the heavens, fulfilling one of the planet’s most ancient legends. Is this man the people’s savior, as the legend claims, or something else entirely? In EvilQuest 2, play as a mysterious hero on a quest to discover the truth about both himself and the world that he has been thrust into.

Resistor by Levi D Smith:

The objective of Resistor is to build connections to carry electrical flow to activate LEDs (light emitting diodes). To avoid damaging these components, the flow level must be reduced using resistors. Each level is graded upon number of pieces used, the luminosity of the LEDs, and the time required to complete the level. This game teaches the basics of resistor color code values to help educate youngsters who are interested in learning about electronics.

Captain Dubstep by FuncWorks, LLC:

Captain Dubstep is sent in to fight the forces of METAL who have been terrorizing the peace loving people of Electronica. Approaching the METAL moon base, her ship is hit and her weapons scattered across the base. The Captain must find her equipment, then shut down the moon base once and for all!

Next Meetup – Sunday, June 24th 2-5PM

Our next meeting will be held Sunday, June 24th from 2-5PM at the Technology Cooperative.

Since CodeStock just happened, I haven’t had time to plan out much for this meeting, so the plan is to round table discuss submitting the games above to Dream Build Play with the creators present, and follow that with a screening of Indie Game: The Movie.

See you there!