Some time ago I half-joked about setting up a GamingOnLinux Game Jam of sorts and got some positive feedback on IRC. So, I've recently been thinking about bringing the idea from joke stage and actually setting something like this up.
The general idea is that we would give you, the potential participants, a set time period to develop a game on Linux using native tools (SDL, Godot, Unity3D etc.) and have a submission page somewhere (Itch.io perhaps) for you to submit your games. The community could vote for their favourites and in the end we would have a winner.
As you can see, at the moment we don't have detailed plans of any sort. This is the first time we would attempt to do something like this. And that's exactly why I would ask you, the dear members of GOL, what do you think about an event like this? Would you participate? Should there be a prize for the winner(s) and if so what would that prize be?
There are a lot of open questions at the moment but I think it would be a really nice event to hold. I believe that it could benefit us by showcasing Linux as a game development platform in addition to allowing people to learn about game development and possibly promoting various game development tools we have available on Linux.
For the first event I think we should probably keep it simple and forget about themes to allow innovation to flow freely. I also don't think restricting the submissions to a single weekend would be beneficial for us, so maybe we should start with a longer submission time (2 weeks, maybe?).
If you have any feedback, please send it our way and we might incorporate that stuff into our plans should we run an event like this. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
The general idea is that we would give you, the potential participants, a set time period to develop a game on Linux using native tools (SDL, Godot, Unity3D etc.) and have a submission page somewhere (Itch.io perhaps) for you to submit your games. The community could vote for their favourites and in the end we would have a winner.
As you can see, at the moment we don't have detailed plans of any sort. This is the first time we would attempt to do something like this. And that's exactly why I would ask you, the dear members of GOL, what do you think about an event like this? Would you participate? Should there be a prize for the winner(s) and if so what would that prize be?
There are a lot of open questions at the moment but I think it would be a really nice event to hold. I believe that it could benefit us by showcasing Linux as a game development platform in addition to allowing people to learn about game development and possibly promoting various game development tools we have available on Linux.
For the first event I think we should probably keep it simple and forget about themes to allow innovation to flow freely. I also don't think restricting the submissions to a single weekend would be beneficial for us, so maybe we should start with a longer submission time (2 weeks, maybe?).
If you have any feedback, please send it our way and we might incorporate that stuff into our plans should we run an event like this. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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bryanquigley Sep 23, 2015
I was thinking it would be a bunch of Linux gamers getting to together to play some games multiplayer.. more like a virtual LAN party.
I actually did one back before Steam was on Linux -
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/linux-gaming-weekend-post-mortem
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/gaming
With some newer games being Linux vs Linux only, this might also be useful there.
I actually did one back before Steam was on Linux -
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/linux-gaming-weekend-post-mortem
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/gaming
With some newer games being Linux vs Linux only, this might also be useful there.
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Kurremkarmerruk Sep 23, 2015
I'm so in for this! Sounds like a great idea!
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For an idea for the prize, it could be CS:GO as a lot of peeps play it.
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slaapliedje Sep 23, 2015
Quoting: bryanquigleyI was thinking it would be a bunch of Linux gamers getting to together to play some games multiplayer.. more like a virtual LAN party.
I actually did one back before Steam was on Linux -
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/linux-gaming-weekend-post-mortem
https://bryanquigley.com/mindshare/gaming
With some newer games being Linux vs Linux only, this might also be useful there.
This is what I thought was being talked about! This could be a blast.
Actually I have a 7 Days to Die server set up that no one really plays on. I was thinking for the Gaming on Linux community I would not mind setting up a server of whatever game (I have almost 500 games on Steam, so pretty much any of the major ones could be on there). If someone would like me to set something up, I most definitely could.
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I think it would be a better idea to collaborate on a single project, or two, instead. I don't think this is the right forum to find enough skilled people for a full blown gaming competition. Also, the time period is way too short IMO.
Collaboration could turn into a series of articles describing the making of.
Collaboration could turn into a series of articles describing the making of.
2 Likes, Who?
I would be up for a game jam. I often participate in LudumDare, but that event has turned way too big and mainstream for my taste. I've actually thought a few times about making my own game jam, but never got to it.
I have a few propositions for competition rules that probably won't be well received, but I'll just write them down anyway :)
* Give it a theme.
* Limit it to a weekend, just like LudumDare. A week is too long imo, because you cannot organize meetups spanning over a full week. An intensive weekend of coding is much better imo.
* The resulting game must run natively on Linux.
* No pre-made engines like Unity, Godot, UE4, etc. allowed. Libraries like pygame, LÖVE etc would still be allowed.
I personally wouldn't be in it for the prize, unless you manage to come up with something really interesting that would otherwise be hard to get your hands on.
I have a few propositions for competition rules that probably won't be well received, but I'll just write them down anyway :)
* Give it a theme.
* Limit it to a weekend, just like LudumDare. A week is too long imo, because you cannot organize meetups spanning over a full week. An intensive weekend of coding is much better imo.
* The resulting game must run natively on Linux.
* No pre-made engines like Unity, Godot, UE4, etc. allowed. Libraries like pygame, LÖVE etc would still be allowed.
I personally wouldn't be in it for the prize, unless you manage to come up with something really interesting that would otherwise be hard to get your hands on.
1 Likes, Who?
I develop a big project in a team solely on Ubuntu and have participated in some gamejams.
Unity for linux is not stable yet. It's still Alpha and it IS very buggy.
I'm using it for the currently running "Mini Ludum Dare".
I have participated in Ludum Dare (Weekend Gamejam) and Mini Ludum Dare (1 week Gamejam).
I would suggest:
* Make it a week long. Clearing an entire weekend is super-difficult, even for Ludum Dare where we know the date 3 months ahead! This way anyone can find some time within the week to create the games.
* We need a theme. Themes make it creative. You can make the theme optional. "Make any game" makes it really hard to decide on what to make!
* Make games FOR linux. I personally only dev on linux, but Unity for example is not stable yet! You definitely should wait for the stable Unity editor for a "dev on linux" jam.
* test and rate games on Ubuntu only (no Windows), as that's steams supported distri as well. Devs can use this opportunity to actually setup a linux test box. It's ridiculous how many devs don't even test their linux builds before releasing on steam.
* Which prize? It's simple! Make an article about the top X games at the end and offer the winner an inverview! Indies are dying for publicity and in a Ludum Dare, most games just go under because there are way too many. I know I would die for an article about my team and our main project on GOL.
* Don't limit tooling.. That excludes people who do not regularly do gamejams, because they do not have ready code fragments.
In fact, I will PM you later when I have time. Setting this up with a small community should be quite easy. (20+ participants)
Unity for linux is not stable yet. It's still Alpha and it IS very buggy.
I'm using it for the currently running "Mini Ludum Dare".
I have participated in Ludum Dare (Weekend Gamejam) and Mini Ludum Dare (1 week Gamejam).
I would suggest:
* Make it a week long. Clearing an entire weekend is super-difficult, even for Ludum Dare where we know the date 3 months ahead! This way anyone can find some time within the week to create the games.
* We need a theme. Themes make it creative. You can make the theme optional. "Make any game" makes it really hard to decide on what to make!
* Make games FOR linux. I personally only dev on linux, but Unity for example is not stable yet! You definitely should wait for the stable Unity editor for a "dev on linux" jam.
* test and rate games on Ubuntu only (no Windows), as that's steams supported distri as well. Devs can use this opportunity to actually setup a linux test box. It's ridiculous how many devs don't even test their linux builds before releasing on steam.
* Which prize? It's simple! Make an article about the top X games at the end and offer the winner an inverview! Indies are dying for publicity and in a Ludum Dare, most games just go under because there are way too many. I know I would die for an article about my team and our main project on GOL.
* Don't limit tooling.. That excludes people who do not regularly do gamejams, because they do not have ready code fragments.
In fact, I will PM you later when I have time. Setting this up with a small community should be quite easy. (20+ participants)
1 Likes, Who?
Quoting: LinasThis is a great idea, but is not a small task to undertake alone. I would suggest partnering up with a Linux-friendly company like Feral, Aspyr, or Humble Bundle to get both publicity and support. Or with somebody who makes the development tools, so that they could be platform sponsors, and make it for example a Godot jam or Unity jam. And that is not even the hard part. The hard part is making this feel like an event. And in my mind that means an actual physical event. Which is certainly doable if you limit the scope geographically to, lets say, the Nordic countries. The most important is to limit the scope in some way, and go with it, because doing stuff on a global scale very quickly becomes overwhelming.
Partnering up with someone might be possible, we will have to have a think on that. Who knows, maybe even Itch will want to give us a banner on their site if we use their service for the hosting of projects and such as they have features for game jams on it.
Making it a physical event wouldn't work though, it would lock too many people out.
We wouldn't definitely not limit it to a single weekend either, as again it's far too limiting especially if like me you have a family.
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Red Ring Rico Sep 24, 2015
I'd be interested in this. Themes are important in game jams (even though 7DFPS doesn't have a theme, it's restricted to the first person perspective) to allow for developers to limit themselves instead of floundering around for a while thinking of what to do. Having a week or two to create a game would be great as well as allowing for any number of participants to work on a single entry. Giving at least one month's notice prior to the jam would help people plan for it.
Also, the entries should be restricted to running on Linux natively. No DOSBOX- or Wine-reliant entries, for example.
I think that participants should be allowed to work off an existing boilerplate code base, which would provide for them to get to making a game instead of setting up their input, camera, shader, polygon management, et cetera code for the first day or two. Of course, there shouldn't be any game-specific code present until the jam begins.
Also, the entries should be restricted to running on Linux natively. No DOSBOX- or Wine-reliant entries, for example.
I think that participants should be allowed to work off an existing boilerplate code base, which would provide for them to get to making a game instead of setting up their input, camera, shader, polygon management, et cetera code for the first day or two. Of course, there shouldn't be any game-specific code present until the jam begins.
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