XNA Mad Game Development Ends

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Mad Game Development Final Survivors

Compare this with the original picture……

Well, that was some wild ride. I feel like I’ve been to a really good, but really long, party. And in a way I have. We started yesterday at 11:00 with a game idea, some assets and some partially finished game engines. We ended today with 14 teams showing off some polished and workable game programs that I hope you will see on XNA Indie Games real soon. In between we’ve had pizza, snacks,  chocolate, a whole bunch of fizzy drinks and a lot of development. A lot.

I kept going into the labs thinking to myself “They must be ready for a break by now” and finding everyone working flat out. At three in the morning, four in the morning and five in the morning.  I watched teams get stuck, get inspired and finally get it working. Amazing stuff. Not everything went as planned,  but having that happen is just part of the development experience….

There is nothing quite like debugging somebody else’s code at 3 in the morning.  Peter and Sarah from 360 magazine were taking notes and pictures and getting into the spirit of the whole thing. Peter was even producing artwork for one team.

This morning we had the judging and the awards and then everyone went home to collapse. Especially me.  Congratulations to the winners:

  • Judge’s Choice: “Team Ice Cream”
  • People’s Choice: “Unhandled Exceptions”
  • Technical Flair Award: “Left 4 Dev”
  • Look and Feel:  “Who needs to go outside?”
  • Cheesiest Game: “Generic Game Developers”

The judges also wanted to make a special award to team “Rusty Spoons” who came in on Saturday as First Year students who have only been coding for a few weeks and produced a fully working game by the end.

Mad Game Development Final Judges Choice

We then had a bunch of further awards and then headed off to bed. Best bit for me? When I asked if they wanted to do it again and everyone looked up with sleep deprived eyes and said “Oh yes”.

Great fun. Thanks to Peter Gothard from 360 Magazine for the idea and the swag. Microsoft UK for the extra swag, Warren for paying for the food and our two other judges, Jon Purdy and David Miles.

Welcome

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Welcome to the home page for the Destruction Golf Mad Game Development

We presently have 13 teams signed up to take part:

  • Rusty Spoons
  • C4
  • Who Needs To Go Outside
  • The knights who say ni
  • Fresh Pot
  • Curve Of Pursuit
  • TBC
  • Left 4 Dev
  • Simon Grey Song and Dance Troupe
  • Army of One
  • A Bunch of Folks
  • Team Bean
  • The Team with No Name

You will be receiving confirmation emails soon.  We have room for a couple more teams, but not many more. Please contact Rob Miles if you have a team and want to take part, or you are looking for a team to join.

The initial meeting to kick start the project will be at 1:15 pm in the Design Lab (room 312) in the Robert Blackburn Building on Monday 18th October. If you are in a team or want to join one, please turn up then. During the meeting on Monday we will go through the arrangements for the week and the weekend. There will be further presentations on Wednesday 20th and Friday 22nd, all in the Design Lab at the same time.

We will be providing food and drink during the "Final Push" session on Saturday and Sunday. The event is being sponsored by the Department of Computer Science, but we ask that you make a small contribution (2 pounds each) towards costs. For this payment you will get a personalised, full colour, luxury ticket.

We have some initial Game Assets available, these include some game scenario information and concept art. We wil be providing some code assets during the week after each presentation. To access the assets you can follow the link above.

The scenario can be summed up in two words "Destruction Golf", with the subtitle "Why shout fore when you can yell FIRE!".  There are some ideas in the scenario files. You are welcome to use these or come up with better ones. The only things that cannot be changed are:

  • Players use golf clubs to hit different kinds of explosive (or other kind of weapon) golf balls onto destructable scenary to clear the tee for their next shot.
  • There should be multi-player and single player versions. Multi-player games can involve bombing each other if you wish. If you want team based games that's OK, but they must adhere to the rules of golf.
  • The game can be 2D or 3D
  • There should be at least three different level scenarios. Some are suggested in the level document, others might include "Tee Totalled" where you destroy a pub, "Water hazard" where you play an undersea level and "Club House" where you destroy a disco.