anyone here participating in the NVIDIA Funhouse Gamejam this weekend?
#game-jam-chat
viral gate
stable kiln
i dont have VR ๐
ruby cradle
So today is the big day for the September jam and also I'll be announcing the Epic MegaJam's prizes
WHO WANTS A TEASE???
No?
ok too bad
safe halo
Aww. Dang it
safe halo
Yea. Me too. Doesn't matter though. HYPE HYPE HYPE!
stable kiln
i jut might get a mention for my awwsome concept art tho ๐
safe halo
Oh snap. Maybe that's what the tease was
safe halo
That was probably his plan all along!
small fern
I think so as well
safe halo
What a tease
stable kiln
i want a pony ๐
ruby cradle
1080 i7 16gig RAM 1TB SSD
@stable kiln Yours was the one with the alien looking creature that used a controller to change colors right?
stable kiln
yea ๐
ruby cradle
Maaaaaybeeeee
stable kiln
one of my best works ๐
ruby cradle
Hah, I made Daniel Kayser come over and we guess at what it was
small fern
well, if they raffle that, I may have theoretical chances to win it
ruby cradle
I think this year has a better balance of prizes and raffles
ruby cradle
mostly because chance isn't raffling off random stuff he found
stable kiln
growler
small fern
there was ue4 logo on it though
stable kiln
or something ๐
small fern
so it's instantly 10x more appealing
ruby cradle
growler :p
That's strange.... there was just this update https://forums.unrealengine.com/showthread.php?122362 ๐ค
small fern
so, single team could win all three categories? ๐
heh, under 100mb category
that'll mess up with peoples plans for sure ๐
package, rats, few mb over, tweak, package..
ruby cradle
We put in the special categories like that to give people something to aim for if they are afraid of not making the finals
So a solo dev really does have a chance to get a prize
small fern
well, those are different for sure
stable kiln
under 100mb with sound?
ruby cradle
Haha, the under 100mb was a challenge for sure
ruby cradle
Yeah, it's a hard limit, no being nice to the 101mb games
ruby cradle
Actually, that's a brilliant way around it
Whatever it takes to minimize the HD space
small fern
you could stream in 1 gb of stuff on demand
I already found the first loophole on rules!
stable kiln
what if the game is 100 mb but sound is dlc? ๐
glass fossil
its not a loophole if its just you being a smart dev ๐
that is how we do a major part of the content in the mobile world
small fern
well, it would still kinda suck if the person who would test the game didn't have good enough internet connection
but you could kinda hide the download into generic loading screeen ;D
put some minigame there
ok, will stop throwing out ideas for others
stable kiln
lol u gunna sneak in 6 gigs of content ? ๐
glass fossil
gotta keep those ideas hidden until day after the jam ๐
glass fossil
make sure not to include the starter content!
stable kiln
isnt that all gone if u press package?
small fern
I actually wanted to do some photogrammetry for this, if the theme allows it
but that's instant over 100mb already
hmmm
glass fossil
well you don't HAVE to go after the 100mb prize
glass fossil
thread doesn't say, we'll have to get @ruby cradle to clarify but I'm sure its the uncompressed size
small fern
@glass fossil you keep telling that to people and we know what you are targeting yourself at ;D
wow
I just checked my previous gamejam entry
I really didn't use many textures
I reused most of them
as they were just random noise mostly
it was still 280 MB uncompressed
and 109MB on zip
oh
audio uasset waas 60 MB though
so no music, until it's some tiny loops
well, basically, only few textures, minimal sfx and next to no music and you could get under 100mb
wonder if BP <-> c++ makes much difference
I couldn't use nativize BPs on that last project, otherwise I could have done a comparison
if it could save few MBs
glass fossil
I don't think it would make much of a difference in a small project
but in a larger project maybe
small fern
well, with this limited size budget, everything matters
stable kiln
hmm my last game was 126 mb, but i rather solo versus 5 man teams than take 26 mb off perfection ๐
stable kiln
i will not limit my atristic skills with stuff like this ๐
small fern
I'm packaging 4.13 FPS template as is, without starter content
to see somewhat how much headroom there would be
for own content
stable kiln
lol goes back to version 1.8
small fern
heh
well
unreal package sizes have actually shrunk
well
default fps template as is, BP only and 4.13
is 328 Mb
๐
small fern
ok
I'll try blank project
without skydome
but I somehow doubt I'll be aiming at that 100mb
even 200mb would take some effort
frigid mist
@small fern hahaha
small fern
oh hey
frigid mist
They made that to no one win
small fern
package compression isn't enabled by default
small fern
lol
what is this option ๐
"Do not include editor content in this package may cause game to crash / error if you are using this content."
that's unticked by default btw
and it's spelled like that :p
I think that sentence is missing word "that"
oh wow
and "include prerequisites" is on by default
I really shouldn't give these tips away
let people struggle with c++ runtime binary installers included ๐
heh
got this on my blank c++ project while trying to build shipping build
"UnrealBuildTool: c1xx: error C3859: virtual memory range for PCH exceeded; please recompile with a command line option of '-Zm480' or greater"
huh
so
with blank c++ project
and compression enabled, everything stripped about, no starter content, no prerequisites, no skybox, no baked static light (so no lightmaps), I basically just have empty level here
and it's still 106MB uncompressed
I mean, without zipping it
@ruby cradle is that 100mb for zip file?
glass fossil
maybe building from source with certain things removed
small fern
I mean, if even most bare bone setup fails to go under 100mb, with 0 content, I don't see how people could make that challenge
if it's for zip file, then it's totally doable
stable kiln
more coffee mugs in the prizepool ๐
small fern
although
if they accept 7z for compression
that would make the file like 2/3 of the zip size
heh, yeah, I could make a custom build that goes below that 100MB, but I doubt it's the meaning of that challenge
or just find engine version that goes below that
btw
on development build, exe size for blank project was 93.4 Mb alone ๐
shipping was 38.9
stable kiln
ill skip on the 100 mb challenge for reasons: no fun ๐
small fern
after some magic, I got into 76.4 MB
tepid light
Special category for a single person? Now I'm wondering if I should look for a team.
small fern
well, if you think about it
one person teams don't stand a chance against 5 person teams
and there will be many one person teams now
so it doesn't necessarily mean that going solo would improve your odds to win
tepid light
One person doesn't stand a chance? I dont think thats true
glass fossil
still if you want to maximize you're chances for a prize you'd do a team, because most categories can be won by a team, but only one prize is one person team exclusive
tepid light
maybe in visual category
small fern
there's no visual category ๐
tepid light
but it's not like single devs dont win normal jams
small fern
unless you count allegorithmics prize
it's bit different on megajam though
with one weekend jam
you can loose lot of time organizing a team
and getting all working together
with one week, that 5 people can do a whole lot more work
tepid light
Aren't normal categories: visual, gameplay and theme?
small fern
nah
"Coolest Character Design" for the game with the most awesome and unique characters.
"Best Game Under 100mb" for the best game that doesn't take up too much space.
"Army of One" for the best game made by a team comprised of only one person
tepid light
also, for that under 100 mb category... what is the minimum size of package? like empty project?
can't test right now
small fern
also All entries will be judged for their aesthetic, unique use of the theme and gameplay.
you haven't followed the conversation much now? ๐
I've been testing that all along
by default
fps template is over 300 mb
glass fossil
I think Epic got it down to like 50mb for a nothing project, 0lento's managed to get it down to 76 so far, but once again that is for a nothing project
small fern
so far, I've gotten absolutely zero content, no sky etc project to go into 76 Mb but that's with only special settings
was that 50mb for desktop though?
or mobile
glass fossil
mobile I think
small fern
yeah, I think that side goes lower
then again
if it's 100mb for zipped project
then it's totally doable
I wonder if 32-bit builds would go lower
I can't get them to package on this project
getting that error
tepid light
I think you would need to use a custom build to shave off more.
stable kiln
ALLEGORITHMIC'S PICKS might be one of the best cats u can win other than finalist offc
small fern
I already have their tools though ๐
glass fossil
a year of substance live is pretty sweet
stable kiln
honor wize i mean
prize wize too i think, unless they put a coffee mug in the character design ๐
tepid light
a Fortnite Alpha access key per team member, a Shadow Complex Remastered key for Steam per team member,
wow
now we are talking ๐
Such rewards! Much glory! ๐
small fern
shadow complex was free on unreal launcher for a while though ;D
stable kiln
yea, its mostly a glory award ๐
small fern
there wasn't any paragon stuff?
tepid light
but it wasn't on steam ๐
stable kiln
put a coffee mug in there... hint hint ๐
tepid light
but I have been hoping for Fortnite key for literal years I think ๐
tepid light
btw. is the swag bag the same every month or does it change?
use older version of UE4?
less features, less size?
disable baked lighting?
remove materials
stable kiln
use UDK? ๐
tepid light
lol. write a browser based game in JS ๐ I think it has to be ue4
and cant be built for html5
small fern
game should run on windows or mac I think
so if it's a browser game, I think it qualifies
they didn't define how
stable kiln
just make a D12 in UE4... here go play DND or something....
tepid light
name your game "a" and your team "b". that will save few bytes from the file name ;P
wait... how is it even possible to go under 100 MB? project with nothing in it is 191MB, not zipped
stable kiln
the probles is that a high res picture of some1 playing mario bros is bigger than mario bros ๐
small fern
I've so far gotten into 76MB
tepid light
how?
small fern
but I'm getting little more soon
"magic"
I can share my findings once I'm done testing
I mean, it's not the spirit of the competition that one has to find magic packaging settings
tepid light
Empty project has a content pak that is 72 MB in size. whats in there?
stable kiln
remove the unreal icon
small fern
but make a game that uses content efficiently
@tepid light skysphere materials, that level lightmap
unless you removed those
stable kiln
usueless garbage!
small fern
I doubt engine content itself will be there
tepid light
and then deleted the level itself
small fern
unless you use some of it
stable kiln
delete delete delete
tepid light
Third party binaries are over 13 megs.
stable kiln
what does this button dooo??? delete!
small fern
I think my computer just froze both instances of UE4 I'm running
@tepid light you can remove those from packaging settings
tepid light
extras: UE4PrereqSetup_x64 39MB
tepid light
Magic of procedural content. You need 8 GB of ram to open a 50 MB game
small fern
hmmm
stable kiln
hmm skeletons and textures are doable, but sound is soo expensive for this
stable kiln
you can actually create sound in unreal on the fly
but to turn this into a real voice ๐
small fern
well, there's nothing in it
like, blank level
32bit builds seem to be smaller
also everything on shipping
stable kiln
i know its hard and pushes for optimization, it still is the most booring cat ๐
i played this game over null modem a bit, its super small ๐
somber hazel
lowest package size without "hacking": 36mb on version 4.11
stable kiln
well if u win the 100 mb and finalist .. hats off to u ๐
glass fossil
100 mb might be a good category to shoot for actually, less competition ๐
tepid light
you could totally do a game with no collisions
glass fossil
depending on if it is compressed size or uncompressed size
tepid light
if it doesn't break other stuff
it's funny actually... Biggest challange is making the empty project to be small. After that, 20 MB of content is a lot for a game jam
heh.. One of my pervious game jam games was 88MB, zipped
small fern
I'm still stuck at 63.2 MB on 4.13
rigid fog
And I am glad they did the Tiki that way
small fern
@somber hazel that must be zipped size
even the exe is more
or well
my exe is atm 29.3 MB
somber hazel
can you start with mobile and still package for windows?
if so, with compression you get the 36mb
I don't see why it's not possible
small fern
I tried that already
can't get below 60 MB so far
but I don't think my blacklist for packaging works properly atm
stable kiln
yea, the draw on finalists is nice, anything over a 1 in 5 shot of winning it is not worth it joining a team that wants to win and expect 12 hours a day of me
stable kiln
for me that is
small fern
so there's nothing to dismiss
somber hazel
and you did select it under projects settings?
stable kiln
but thats just the way i like it ๐
small fern
yes
small fern
also disabled the installer stuff, crash reporter
selected compress pak
all set to shipping
somber hazel
did you start with mobile?
somber hazel
maybe no scalability?
small fern
I'll try 4.11 later on
even if I could get it to 40's
it would be huge
when you have barely no space to begin with, you need to fight for each MB
if it's that 64MB, there's no real sense to even try to target that category
40 is barely any content
somber hazel
I got a friend in a gamejam, he used java.three I think, it was 3D and under 3mb ๐
small fern
well, that's without unreal overhead
somber hazel
Unity has 16 I think
glass fossil
@glass fossiljin java.three or http://threejs.org/ ?
somber hazel
probably what you said @glass fossil
glass fossil
yeah you can make super tiny games with threejs
small fern
somber hazel
except these docs are for reducing your own file size
should switch to mobile talk ๐ even though I left mobile on Unreal ^^
stable kiln
after 3 years a manager of 500 programmers got asked what he would change if he had to do it again
he said: take 10 of my best and do it in 6 months
somber hazel
@glass fossil how is the doc on three.js? saw my friend peaking a lot like if he needed a particle system, I think he just grabbed it from the docs
glass fossil
I haven't used it personally, but I follow a lot of JS blogs and they all sing its praises
pale eagle
We need to get Jess a better mic. :-P
somber hazel
I heard something with integrating cross platform code manually and was 2 scared ^^
somber hazel
I personally love when people go the hardcore way in jams and do stuff in like three.js and in the end you got a game that can run on a toaster ๐
stable kiln
yoo that timer is flippin ๐
stable kiln
ahh stream started allready ๐
somber hazel
woops, missed it
somber hazel
hihi, snatched the last steam code < 3
torpid nimbus
My life is complete
small fern
51.5 MB
although game crashed on launch ๐
so I guess I took something away it needed
hmmm
it needs vehicle wheel stuff even it doesn't use them
so
I guess that's about it
50 MB for your actual game content
torpid nimbus
It's good to win a game jam finally since the Unreal release
Tried few times only , should have more , but can't always find time or team ๐
small fern
congrats ๐
torpid nimbus
Thank you , it will motivate me to participate in next ones
safe halo
Gratz!
tepid light
gj
small fern
I only got like 9 megs on 4.13 physx
but I did BP project on 4.11
yup 9.26 MB on 4.13
that's largest individual thing on 4.13 besides final exe and pak
somber hazel
hm... you might be right
small fern
hmmm, 45 megs for game, graphics and sound ๐
well, that's a challenge alright
I guess there will be a lot of low poly art games on that category
small fern
I'll definitely go for the challenge
small fern
I just hope people will not actually do the streaming content thing ๐
that would kinda ruin the spirit of the category
glass fossil
its clever, but certainly avoiding the actual challenge ๐
bitter mango
I was wondering about that
do procedural content instead
build it all into memory on load
small fern
now he's giving away my secret plan ๐
glass fossil
Nick's evil polygon game would do well ๐
stable kiln
cant u build like 6 hours of sequencer with 50 mb? ๐
coarse hedge
who all excited about mega jam? We're looking to get a BP systems designer and possibly a sprite animator
tepid light
@coarse hedge I do blueprints, and I'm looking for a team
velvet echo
i'm excited about mega jam. taking a week off work to see what i can make
lament oar
Wish I could spare the time. I'm in the mood for making something new for a change
ruby cradle
In case anyone missed this: https://www.unrealengine.com/blog/epic-megajam-2016-prizes-announced
glass fossil
๐
tepid light
That PC...
@ruby cradle in the "Best Game Under 100mb", does the unpacked game have to be under 100MB, or can it be only under 100MB while zipped?
ruby cradle
unpacked
tepid light
ok
ruby cradle
I've seen many that weren't even trying get down to it, so I'd like to incentivize people to try to go as far as they can
grizzled zenith
Don't know if I should participate. I have school and not much time...
small fern
yeah
I did test runs for that
you can definitely shave it off
not going give out all my tricks for it but this is a good starting point: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Performance/ReducingPackageSize/index.html
tepid light
I wanted to try going for the solo category. but now I dont know...
so tempting to try for the big 3
small fern
you can get around 50-60MB on blank project if you do some testing and take all knownledge from that link
that amount could vary between engine versions, I did the blank project test on 4.13
small fern
by default, that blank project was 106 MB when packaged
yeah, obviously when you go cutting engine content itself away on blacklisting, you can't use those meshes or materials, but other than that, yeah, things still work
tepid light
thats great
small fern
I know it's a competition, but that link is publicly available to all so I think it's just fair to share it's existance ๐
mobile devs already know all that stuff
as they need to cut down extra to keep package sizes low
tepid light
I think it is a drawback in this category. That you need to shrink down the basic size.
It should be a gate on the size of your content
not on what you can cut out of the engine
small fern
pretty much yeah
tepid light
IMO
small fern
well
that link I put here is pretty descriptive
and if you are really trying to keep the size down, you should be aware of all costs
that's good common knownledge even outside that 100mb limit
also
just looking at the past game jam entries that have won
most of them has been pretty low poly
and many have been without any textures
so I'd go as far as saying that most of the past game jam winning entries could have been under 100mb by careful design
tepid light
for sure
small fern
people can probably tell I'm really excited about this category
tepid light
๐
small fern
yeah, I'd love some changing challenge
tepid light
hmm.
but thisone is not a challange anymore
sice now there is a tutorial on how to cut content
you just make a normal game in most cases
and it will fit
small fern
you still need to keep your content size small
you can't go nuts on content with these limits
for example
I was thinking I would have done some photogrammetry for this jam if it had fit the theme
but with 100mb limit, that's pretty much out of the question
at least for photogrammetry textures
tepid light
yea, sure, there are some things that can't be done in this limit, but as you said, most game jam games would fit anyway
so it's not really a hard challange
small fern
we'll see about that ๐
coarse hedge
I'm going to cry these prizes are beautiful... I'm counting on my girlfriend's character design to give her a fighting chance at the unique characters special category!
quiet thistle
hm maybe I should try to win Army of One lmfao
that sounds like an interesting challenge
kinda wish the local people would join me, hard to find others willing to join
glass fossil
Hey guys, remember to pre-register if you're going to take part in the Mega Jam. It's not required but helps the Epic team quite a bit!
Teams registered so far:
0lento (1)
Moonbeam (3)
sleepingdragon (1)
Perfuse (2)
Ticking Bomb (1)
VALKRYSA (1)
Lattasoft (1)
Quad Corps (1)
Paradise Module (1)
Agile Perception (2)
Succubi in Hats (1)
funkinessfactor (1)
MC Games (5)
BloodLine (3)
CodeBre4ker (1)
LIGHTIFICATION (3)
GrumpyTeam (3)
The Royal Bed (1)
quiet thistle
Im still looking aruond for potential teammates ๐ฆ
rigid fog
Go go go Solo Warriors @
ruby cradle
Thanks @glass fossil !
rigid fog
Def there
rigid fog
I saw it last time I looked
ruby cradle
Haha, I came up with some devious ways to make you all think about how to get some prizes
rigid fog
It was some good stuff @ruby cradle
ruby cradle
Yeah, it's under special categories
"Best Game Under 100mb" for the best game that doesn't take up too much space.
slim light
so it's not a rule it's a special catagory
rigid fog
Aye
slim light
cool
ruby cradle
Yes, same with solo devs and the character one
rigid fog
@UnrealAlexander how are people who are using existing projects going to weigh in vs people who do a 100% original project from scratch for the jam during that time?
slim light
It's a weird one cause I make tools to re-use so like I need to re-make my tools again in the time frame?
ruby cradle
The same way, we score on a curve. Anyone found to not be disclosing their pre-made assets is disqualified
glass fossil
you can just disclose the tools you used and then they'll take that into consideration
ruby cradle
Last month, one game did great in all ways, except all their art was premade, so they got a low score there
yes
rigid fog
Re using scripts and stuff cool, but not whole game projects
I think it defeats the whole point of game jams imho
slim light
I think it's a waste of time not to be using stuff that makes you more efficeint when you have so little time?
ruby cradle
That's why we have to curve it.
torpid nimbus
It is not waste of time, you will get unique content in return
rigid fog
Aye
You will learn a much more efficient way
Learn better techniques
Learn new things
/shrug
So many benefits from doing a jam the right way
Hard to judge though
slim light
sure but there's less time to learn new thing's if you spend your time re-making stuff like basic master materials and menus every time
rigid fog
I don't see those being a big issue as I do bigger game systems
tepid light
how much time does it realy take to make a simple main menu? 20 min?
rigid fog
But that is subjective
tepid light
or other game mechanics
rigid fog
It is hard for people who want to maximize their time
I mean, I get it. I see both sides.
slim light
I mean what's been added to the engine in the last 2 years that you would have need to have made yourself 2 years ago
that's the stuff I'm talking about re-using, your low basic efficency tools so you can make the interesting experimental content come jam time
meh
I also understand the purist intent
rigid fog
Eh, rules aren't going to change. I just know some of the participants just reuse whole projects
It is kind of lame imho
tepid light
But there, where do you draw the line between simple stuff and major stuff
rigid fog
Especially when they win :)
bitter pier
Silly question can we use premade BPs for the Epic mega jam?
rigid fog
Exactly. It is hard to draw that line. Which should just be.... all original content and everyone wins.
tepid light
yes. you just need to disclose it.
tepid light
in the post with your submission
bitter pier
ok
tepid light
... and in this perfect world everyone streams their work in progress
so that noone cheats
slim light
and provides the source ๐
tepid light
or we make a lan gamejam with no internet ๐
tepid light
I'm sure some people are doing UE4 hackathons
small fern
there's character one?
was it always like that? ๐
I must have speedread that by "coolest game design"
but yeah
I'm ok for people using their past scripts, menus if they mark it on the entry
last time I even marked ue4 mannequin and it's animations although it seems to be rare that people do that ๐
project after me had mannequin and youtube and line "we made all this ourselves"
so I dunno
slim light
well it's part of the engine so fair game?
small fern
but yeah, mannequin is obvious
well
I also marked engine content textures ๐
(not starter content)
slim light
I guess it's more serious this time cause prizes
I was talking more in general terms earlier
small fern
well
slim light
prizes make things differnt
small fern
it's fair game
you can use your past scripts
just mark them on the entry
if it's just main menu, I doubt it'll affect the score much
people who take few hours to remake those past things will not have to mark anything
tbh
I still prefer LD way
for their jam that is
on LD jam: "Youโre free to use any tools or libraries to create your game. Youโre free to start with any base-code you may have." "Youโre free to use 3rd party Artwork/Music/Audio assets, or assets you previously created, but we ask that you OPT-OUT of the respected voting categories (Graphics, Audio)."
I take that base code same as reusable scripts/blueprints/menus etc
as that's not actual game specific content
tepid light
yea.. but libraries in general are more generic than specific gameplay elements.
i mean, anything can be a library
but still
small fern
heh, that zero gets people all the time
glass fossil
Going to be using Adobe Fuse for the game jam, is that like halfway cheating?
slim light
like mixamo?
small fern
you just mark it
glass fossil
Okay so we should mark it. Cool cause I wasn't sure on that one
small fern
one could debate if using character generators is using sourced assets, but lets face it, the app really creates the assets for you
glass fossil
Since its created post jam start
slim light
yeah is that a tool or an asset
small fern
well, people can probably see it both ways
slim light
it's a tool to create assets ๐
tepid light
quick, make a game generator that uses all your code. Make it public befor the jam
small fern
most content creation tools are not seen same way
glass fossil
Cause it's like... It's just a tool, but it's a tool that massively speeds up one topic
small fern
only if @ruby cradle were here now
we could talk about libraries and plugins too ๐
Fuse contains all prebuild models though
you basically just assemble the pieces together with it
tepid light
I think we are going too much into details here. It doesn't matter in the end.
small fern
all clothes, bodies etc are uv mapped and textures are generated
you can blame me for that ๐
tepid light
whatever you do with fuse, just state "I used fuse"
if it's a sourced asset you will be judged accordingly
slim light
I doubt using fuse would results in a win for the character category so it's prolley fine D:
tepid light
if not, good for you
yea, thats another point.
for all the timesaving you can do with tools, premade assets and so on...
thing that always costs me most time
it trying to do something, having a problem, and wasting a day trying to solve it.
Don't do stuff you don't know how to do.
and 99% of problems goes away
coarse hedge
I agree with the above
I can spend a whole day wasting time solving a problem in a jam instead of finishing a level or a puzzle
small fern
btw
"Any team can win one of these plus other awards from other categories."
I seriously doubt they'd do that ^
coarse hedge
We're going to build off an old project that just has some content built and abandoned in order to save time since we may not have a huge team
small fern
like, make one entry win 2 or 3 out of 3 categories
quiet thistle
yeah seems unlikely. I think they just dont want to discourage people from doing things that may put them at a disadvantage for the grand prize (like the under 100MB one)
tepid light
I'm considering going for solo, under 100 and main prize
coarse hedge
And all our art is original made by us, just repurposed for the jam, in addition, we make new content on top of it so it's not just a refurbished project
slim light
well how do you know art will fit theme?!
Art style sure but actual assets is too far I think
tepid light
some people do that... Have a game in mind before the theme
small fern
I can get reusing old assets
small fern
but reusing whole old project is not in the spirit of game jam
quiet thistle
cheating is lame
tepid light
sure. but that doesn't stop people
quiet thistle
I dont go without sleep just so some jerk wins D:
tepid light
with all this talk here about how people don't sleep during the jam I think this time I will need to log exactly how much time it takes me.
slim light
I think the competetive aspect for prizes is kinda anti game-jam ethics if we are gonna go there
quiet thistle
I generally do nothing but develop, eat and sleep during these things personally. Idk if i can do that for this week long one though
small fern
bunch of projects that people had showcased around the internet weeks before the jam even started
also one team dared to tell they didn't start beforehand ๐
even all the evidence was still on the web
quiet thistle
lol
small fern
and their youtube account
slim light
game jam is not a compo it's just a thing to do for fun, oince it gets hyper competetive people get upset about being cheated out of wins etc
it's not in the spirit of a jam, which is a bunch of people mkaing cool stuff in a short time
tepid light
didn't someone submit a unity game?
small fern
yeh
quiet thistle
I got pretty competitive about this last one hah, but eh you win some you lose some
slim light
raffle is fine and winning for prestige
small fern
doesn't make people feel good when others cheat though
tepid light
but rewards are a good motivation
slim light
but prizes for categorys I don't like
tepid light
they dont have to be fancy
tepid light
I dont like raffles. You have no impact on your chances.
slim light
yeah but big prizes take the focus off that
quiet thistle
I dont mind it personally. Better to have the prizes than to not have them
I think some competition does the jam good
tepid light
yea, you are right. More prizes means it's more about winning than about competing.
slim light
lol
tepid light
๐
small fern
I kinda wished they didn't announce the prizes beforehand this year
civic dock
Man. I hope I have time to participate in the Epic MegaJam.
small fern
just remembering how last year went
quiet thistle
lol hope you lose smell you later
torpid nimbus
^^
civic dock
I'd love to go for the 100mb prize.
small fern
they could have revealed the prizes when the jam started
slim light
I prolley won't even cvompete I'm just stirring the pot!
civic dock
Make the tiniest game possible.
small fern
I'm definitely going for solo + 100mb
slim light
I'm gonna hack 0lento and add a 200mb .wav and attribute myself
small fern
lol
quiet thistle
is it 100MB zipped or unzipped
tepid light
I remember reading about a competition about making a game that fits on a floppy disk...
small fern
unzipped
tepid light
unzipped
quiet thistle
ah
small fern
that's been confirmed few times
civic dock
What's the smallest anyone's gotten a packaged game with UE4?
glass fossil
I think epic got a project to 50 in a stream once
civic dock
I love the idea of making that part of the challenge. How small can you get it?
slim light
there are pico8 game jams, that's 32k
quiet thistle
what do you have to do to decrease it? just not include large assets or is there more to it
civic dock
Also, I'm fascinated with the idea of getting as much game as possible into a single room.
One room games, if you will.
slim light
that's a whole genre ๐
civic dock
Example: An entire game that takes place inside a broken down elevator.
slim light
escape the room games
civic dock
I should have specified video games. ๐
tepid light
like toys
civic dock
But yeah.
tepid light
you can make a tabletop video game.
civic dock
Ah, sure that's true. Not terribly interested in that though. ๐
tepid light
anything can be made in a single room
civic dock
That doesn't make it less challenging.
tepid light
but challanges like that are nice.
maybe for the future jams
- use only one room
- use only 3 actors
civic dock
Oh man.
slim light
just make it so you're in a room sitting at a computer playing the game you wanted to make ๐
tepid light
- game has to take no longer than 10 sec to complete
coarse hedge
I'm not playing for the prizes. I want to make a game with an interesting and unique atmosphere that's fun to play. I just love being in unreal and creating my game worlds and that's all the reward for me so if there's a BP systems designer who is passionate about creating interesting gameplay, hmu
slim light
that should be a rule all the time
civic dock
I might do a future Unreal Slackers jam inspired by the 100mb challenge. Make an entire jam out of size constraints.
@coarse hedge I hear you 100%.
I don't care about the prizes.
Shipping a little game is reward enough for me.
tepid light
sure, I'm not participating FOR the rewards but wining would be a nice addition ๐
I need that special badge
slim light
if you make a good one the prize is probably better than anything you can win! getting people playing your stuff and expsoure can be much more valuable
coarse hedge
@civic dock that's what I'm here for. I love this engine and I'm about making a small game to give people a taste of our team's creativity
quiet thistle
^^ yeah thats why i do it honestly
civic dock
โค
tepid light
@slim light Sure, recognition is most rewarding.
tepid light
My first public game every was actually for the ue4 jam.
quiet thistle
if your city has em, check em out imo
slim light
Yeah I've been to London one but it's been gone for a few months
tepid light
Oh, how I would like to live in a city that has meetups
glass fossil
@civic dock #botsaysjam part 2: the revenge
slim light
back this month though! There's talk of a jam team or two from it shall see what happens
tepid light
so far, I don't think there even was one in my whole country.
slim light
where are you:?
tepid light
Poland
civic dock
@glass fossil Aw yiss.
glass fossil
Sounds like a great opportunity if you are onto community organizing
quiet thistle
you could probably start something with schools or universities, would be an easy way to start a meetup
slim light
you can'ty be that far from warsaw? ๐
quiet thistle
I say all this, but im not a community organizing type either lol
small fern
even if you win one category, your chances to win the computer raffle is still pretty slim
tepid light
4 hours by train
slim light
ouch
tepid light
not that bad ๐
small fern
like in worst case scenario, it'll be raffled amongs 11 people
slim light
tepid light
worst is 1 in 15
small fern
nope
tepid light
3 teams of 5, right?
glass fossil
Those are just the special categories
slim light
man gdansk looks cool, are you near there?
tepid light
if you are solo and you win one of the three main places than you have at worst 1 in 11
yep
gdansk is 30 min by train
small fern
oh wait
slim light
well there's game dev meetup there ๐
small fern
are special categories different than 3 finalists?
glass fossil
I think so
small fern
heh
slim light
in addition to I suspect?
slim light
that's how those kinda things normally work
tepid light
@slim light thanks.
slim light
can be from winners or outside
small fern
oh right
tepid light
yes.
small fern
"Winners of these special category prizes will be rewarded with Unreal Engine stickers/buttons, an Unreal Engine Game Jam t-shirt per team member, a Fortnite Alpha access key per team member, and a Shadow Complex Remastered key for Steam per team member."
slim light
if one game had like awesome graphics but no real gameplay I guess It could win
glass fossil
Those 3 special categories are extra
small fern
heh, well, there goes my chances to win that houdini license ;D
glass fossil
They aren't the main compitition
tepid light
well, im the exact opposite. If I will have enything that will be the gameplay
small fern
yeah, I misread that
tepid light
everything else is just scaled cube
slim light
I feel bad I won one but I havn't used it I just have never had the need
or the understanding
small fern
heh
slim light
like it's probably awesome
small fern
I wish I had it
small fern
I installed Houdini Apprentice the other day
glass fossil
@tepid light you're making all the artists cry ๐
small fern
tried the vector field thing on it
got the vector field to unreal and it worked
would love to sim those + do more complex dynamics and get them to unreal via alembic
slim light
oh
now i'm interested ๐
I wanna experiment with that alembic thing and like dust clouds
is that something houdini would be good for?
small fern
houdini is industry standard tool for vfx
I guess full maya has decent tools nowadays too for stuff like that
but even blender can do that stuff
not sure how well though
but there's vector field exporter written for it as well
slim light
interesting, I watched some videos and I thought it was more about building procedural stuff
like buildints etc
which is interesting but not something I have had the need to do
small fern
well, that stuff is important in VFX
although, it's always bit hard to tell what part of all that is done in houdini
pretty safe to assume that effects are though
glass fossil
Wonder if people will utilize discord's voice chat to collaborate
slim light
@small fern neat! I'm gonna look into it more. I had a specific thing I wanted to do so maybe that's the best route
how is the discord voice chat? I've never tried it
clear?
small fern
I don't think there's easy way to simulate like whole particle sim though. vector fields are just snapshots of simulation vectors at that frame
well, I guess you could somehow bake the particle sim on alembic but I doubt it would be efficient with that amount of data
civic dock
@glass fossil I hope so.
You can start private voice chats with up to 10 people on your friends list.
I may also spin up a public Game Jam voice channel for people to bounce ideas off each other and such.
slim light
Unreal slackers was the last thing I had left still using slack at home so the move here's super nice for me ๐
civic dock
@slim light Oh nice! Glad that worked out for ya. ๐
slim light
just miss the reaction gifs!
quiet thistle
I didnt realize houdini was used for so many movies
glass fossil
Not going to be in a team but since I took the whole week off work will probably spend a fair bit of that in voice chat if the other solo devs want to chat a bit
coarse hedge
I'm excited. I had my HR at work schedule me around it as much as possible so I can have a decent amount of the jam off work
tepid light
thats nice
coarse hedge
ok I've posted my little want ad in the thread but we'd love to have a BP systems designer who can do simple health, enemy AI and puzzle objective systems since @tepid light is goin solo haha
small fern
hmmm.. if you really are going to base the jam entry on your past work, you might want to say that on the post where you try to recruit people
fairly certain that people who are looking for teaming up expect it to be a new game built for the jam alone
tepid light
yea. thats kinda my problem ๐
coarse hedge
Well it is being built specifically for the jam, we're just using a few premade assets to save time. It's literally just some untextured, non UVW-unwrapped base models. They're just assets that were started a while back and we're finally going to use them since they've been abandoned from projects over a year ago
tepid light
how do you know your assets fill fit?
small fern
and may as well do it all on gamejam
last year there were lots of entries that really didn't fit the theme at all
and probably most of them was started before jam
I mean, it's cool and all to finish your old projects eventually, but if game jam really the right place for it?
coarse hedge
no matter what the theme, our writer is capable of twisting the theme into the style. And it's just a couple base buildings. And I do need to save time because I'm a closer at work and the only level designer/environment artist on the team who also has to do all the sound, set up voice acting, special effects, particle, lighting, post process and a lot of the textures
small fern
buildings that are unwrapped and no textures?
coarse hedge
time management has always been an issue for us with a small team and I don't make money sitting at home so I have to work a night shift
small fern
I mean, that really shouldn't take that long to model if you need them
people are working one week on these games
coarse hedge
well what about people who are using marketplace stuff?
small fern
it kinda sucks too ๐
pine fulcrum
The idea of external content is using content everyone has access to
coarse hedge
I need to save time, bottom line. I'm not the only one using premade stuff and at least it's only a few assets and they're all created by me
pine fulcrum
paid or not paid
however if you bring in your own external assets you've made yourself
Its generally nice to disclose this in your entry
So that you won't qualify for art based stuff
coarse hedge
which was the plan yeah
small fern
I still kinda wonder why save on unwrapped buildings, like, are they some high poly architectural buildings?
just wonder as regular buildings are really fast to model
coarse hedge
no it's a premade low poly template from before that we'd like to use to save time when the jam starts that's like literally it
it's one less template that needs to be made during the jam because I don't know how much time off work I'll get and we don't even have a full team yet which means I, the level designer, am most likely doing all the BP systems
which I don't specialize in
tepid light
One pro tip for me, if anyone wants to save a lot of time during a jam.. Learn how to do the basics before the jam.
I'm not talking about making assets
but creating main menu system takes 20 minuts... if you made it before.
and 2h if you didn't
small fern
same really applies to basic meshes
tepid light
The longer I work with ue4 the less blueprints i need to make stuff
small fern
they don't take that much time to make once you know how the thing works
tepid light
good use of interfaces, events, functions.
and blueprints become much smaller and faster to create
all the meshes I need are the basic shapes from the starter content.
or rather, just the cube ๐
coarse hedge
I can tell you're not interested in helping. I was just here looking for help, not to be torna apart for wanting to have a base to work off of since time is always an issue for our small team. We can take any theme and work our style in it no problem cause we're creative enough, piece of cake. Every time we ask for help on here we get elitist devs trying to tell us what to do so I'll just do it all myself so catch y'all on the flip side, good luck!
tepid light
wow.
small fern
huh
velvet echo
awesome, my city does unreal engine meetups. never even thought to look until someone here posted a link to meetup.com and i decided to check it out.
glass fossil
That's great @velvet echo might be fun to meet local devs ๐
velvet echo
Yeah. This is the first time I will probably get to speak to others interested in game development face to face. lol
stable kiln
any1 doin this?
I might, but i have the idea the judges might be a bit biased if u dont use theit software ๐
stable kiln
if u use the stuff of 2 normal jams thats about what an extra member would do ๐
stable kiln
hmm sequencer might be really nice for that competition
small fern
which one?
(for which competition?)
oh right, they want video of the char design
gotcha
there's also two vehicle contests upcoming
other is Foundry specific (have to use modo for modeling and mari for texturing (2 different categories)
and other is generic use whatever tools you want and deliver most amazing render of the car-kinda thing
small fern
hmmmm
I did test how low size I could get on my last months game jam entry
just by tweaking the packaging, I got from 353 MB to 76 MB
it's pretty surprizing to be honest
so much unneeded stuff there included "just in case"
slim light
yeah turing off the pre-reqs and stuff helps loads
small fern
well, I did compress the audio track more too, but that was just the engine slider
slim light
'loads' is relative overall size I guess
small fern
yeah
but some of the things they include there by default... just makes me wonder
like mobile stuff for desktop only game, or tutorials
tepid light
Would anyone be interested in a video documenting my work on a gamejam game?
I can't stream, but I have been thinking about making a video summary of the process
slim light
like a timelapse?
tepid light
something like that. but maybe with commentary
stable kiln
I was thinking about tracking my actions per minute and total actions, but too much hassle ๐
tepid light
hehe, I did that like 10 years ago
had a small program that counted clicks
but I don't think counting actions is a good way of observing progress
stable kiln
or is it? ๐
tepid light
more clicks doesn't mean more progress
i probably deleate more nodes than leave in, in the final project
maiden loom
I don't see how you can pre-make assets for a jam before you even know what the theme is. You're just shoehorned into making some other game that might be totally irrelevant. Plus, if you don't disclose that you made the assets in advance, you're cheating, which is a big deal when there are prizes involved.
tepid light
and that's why games like this never win
i dont think it's that easy to spot a game not made for the theme
slim light
the interpretations are so broad that sometimes it's hard to spot one that is ๐
I don't think it's unusual to epole to have been messing with ideas then when the theme is announced thing - I could fit this idea to that theme
though I'm not saying that makes it cool to then re-use that work
but I'm sure it happens?
glass fossil
yeah with themes like "you don't know what you've got till its gone" you could easily fit a number of different art assets in if you're determined
wind mica
@slim light that would kill the joy of the jam!
slim light
sure I'm not arguing for it just giving counter argument to ambershee's point
wind mica
good thing, there isn't what is like theme voting, like most of other jams. i met some crazy poeple who would get prepared to fit any of the final round themes! it's some how feels cheting for me ๐ฆ
slim light
everyone has thier own interprtation of what's acceptable I guess
if it makes you uncomfortable don't do it but as long as it's above board I say live and let live, jams should be about having fun
above all else
wind mica
๐ wellsaid
frail palm
Do people buy /download sound FX and/or music for the game jam?
rigid fog
They buy/DL/produce their own
Majority of people I see just DL stuff with CC
As long as this Sound Designer is on board, we'll be doing ours from scratch
rigid fog
TBH, for this MegaJam
Being SOLO is a great choice and has a nice advantage than being in a group.
rigid fog
Heh, I don't mind either
Sometimes working alone has a lot of advantages though
For this MegaJam, I'll be LeadDev/Producer/GapFiller. Managing my teammates will take a lot of time away from actual dev work though.
We'll see how it goes
frail palm
How is being a LEad Ev for a game jam works out?
torpid nimbus
watching members and telling them how to improve their workflow ? ๐
rigid fog
Pretty much
Keeping everyone on time/task
Basic production stuff
Making sure everyone is fed and happy
Squash any issues between team members if anythign occurs
Just make sure everyone is on the same page
Also, making sure everyone is piping directly into whatver framework I create
It's a thankless job at times, but once the end goal is reached, only happiness ensues.
tepid light
Do you use source control for gameJams?