Global Game Jam 2011: "Extinction"

"48 hours, 44 countries, 170 locations, 6500 participants, almost 1500 games later..."

I can say with 100% certainty that this past weekend with all the lack of sleep was TOTALLY worth every second. I can proudly say that I helped make a game. It wasn't groundbreaking. It didn't have cutting-edge special effects. It won't win any awards. But, it works. Sure there are some errors, which I'm sure you'll discover and there's plenty more we wanted to add, but realistic expectations sometime get the best of you.

The theme for this year's Global Game Jam was 'Extinction'. There were lots of talks of Dodo birds, pandas and dinosaurs, but our final concept was preserving "the circle of life" with a simple matching game (similar in function to Bejeweled). The user must keep a balance of life between lions, zebras, grass and water. If at anytime, a resource runs out on the board, the game is over. It's all about managing your resources. There are other rules and games are better when you actually PLAY THEM as opposed to someone telling you how awesome they are. So without further delay:


Play the game here.

And please be sure to vote for our game here.

And here's a group photo and we look pretty damn good for working almost non stop for 2 1/2 days. You wouldn't guess that we were living off carbs, coffee and our own exploding excitement that we made something. And game I am very proud of.

Thanks to everyone on Team Sunshine. You guys are awesome and I hope to work with you in the future to make cool games. Thanks to all the organizers, the IGDA Seattle head who brought us a delicious ziti and all the participants. I will definitely see you again next year!