After the theme was announced everyone got intensely into the Jam.

Thanks to all who attended the games jam and participated in making a game around the theme “Signals”. It was great to see people happy to discuss the challenges and share their results at the end of the day, some of which have been showing up bit by bit on this thread. For those who weren’t there a brief description of the day would go: early start then theme was announced – then lots of intense quiet talking for about 7 hours with a few interruptions for a raffle and tea or to talk to the guys from PopCap Games – then the time was up and the room was full of buzzing interest before finally off to the pub or back home for a good rest. I’m sure some were surprised by the quality of the people in the room – and extra kudos to the guys who attempted to also integrate the circuit board concept from the pamphlet into their idea.

Pete McNally of Havok presents Patrick Cronin with a PS3 bundle

Speaking of surprises I think there were a few looks of shock when the raffle prizes were announced. Many thanks to Sameer Baroova of PopCap Games for sponsoring an iPod Touch, with iTunes card plus 4 PSN games (plus swag) and Dave Gargan of Havok for sponsoring a PS3 bundle including Uncharted. Thanks also to David Bishop of PopCap Games for giving a nice speech on spec!

While seemingly a small event there are plenty of people to thank for making it happen, first being Jonathan Ruttle for lots of behind the scenes admin and second being Pete McNally of Havok who handled much of the real work on the day. Then we move to the School of Computer Science and Statistics, TCD (Michael Manzke, John Dingliana, Catherine O’Connor, Tom Erwin) who were the first to get behind the event and offer support and who sponsored the wine and helped with logistics.

David Bishop of PopCap Games gives a speech.

The school is also the same place that I work and where I previously attended the IET MSc in games programming (note applications are still open until the end of June and it’s a great course for programmers). Of course we then move to GameDevelopers.ie and Dr Aphra Kerr who quickly offered support for the event at an early stage and got everyone those very nice pastries plus coffee, tea and soda. Finally and not least a big thanks to Lea O’Flannagain and the people at the Science Gallery for hosting us

I hope that taking part in the Jam may have encouraged some enthusiasm for further events of this sort and instilled a hunger for further collaboration and interaction.

John Halloran, Sameer Baroova and David Bishop from PopCap present Martin Gibney with his prize

If you are interested in running or participating in another event I would encourage you to discuss what you liked/disliked on GameDevelopers.ie. If you are just interested in keeping in touch with people then Gd.ie is also a good place for that – or you could try out the Facebook page where you can also check out some photos too. Finally I’ve created a public twitter list of people who were tweeting at the event.

“At 9.30am, on Saturday 19th of June, we invite you to come to the Science Gallery to make a game of your own in less than 7 hours. This event is open to professional, independent, hobbyist and college game developers with talent who want to express themselves through the medium of games development. We hope that people will take this opportunity to collaborate and mingle with fellow developers in this burgeoning independent scene.

So what can you expect? After the early introductions, the “theme” for the day will be announced and participants can start designing, coding or drawing their game ideas. We encourage experimentation, daring and collaboration. You are free to work solo or in a group, you can make use of whatever tools you wish and you should bring your own laptop. Early tea/coffee will be supplied and the cafeteria is open all day. At the end of the day you can take a well earned break and enjoy a drink of wine while checking out the other amazing gems created on the day.

Tickets 10 euros. Seat, Table, Wireless internet and power supplied. You bring the skills, laptop and ideas. For further info please contact info@theshindig.org.

This event is hosted by the Science Gallery and is kindly sponsored by PopCap Games, Havok, GameDevelopers.ie as well as the School Of Computer Science and Statistics, Trinity College Dublin. This event is in association with the Interactive Entertainment Technology MSc at Trinity of which both event organisers Jonathan Ruttle and John O’Kane are graduates.”

Frequently asked questions

Facebook event page

The Science Gallery is on Pearse Street in Dublin and the event will take place upstairs in the studio. Click the map below for directions.

This event will see speakers from PlayFirst and PopCap talking about both the technical and business side of developing casual games for PC and iPhone.

Speaking on the night will be Barry O’Moore, Senior Producer of PlayFirst International Inc, a recent startup in the Guinness Enterprise Centre and a branch of a highly successful US based casual games company. He will be followed by Paul Breslin, Operations Director at PopCap Games International Ltd, the well known and regarded casual games company with offices in Dublin.

The industry speakers will be followed by a ‘Show n’ Tell’ event where indie, company and individual developers show current projects. This will be accompanied by some refreshments.

Show n’ Tell presentations:

• “Porting PlayFirst’s games to iPhone” by Chris Gregan.
• “Coretex: An indie iphone game made for under 500 euro” by David Kelly
• “A look at Digital Sideburn’s first iPhone game” by Alan Taylor & David Sims
• “From Photoshop to iPhone (for non-Photoshop users)” by Colin Barrett
• “Succeeding on the App Store”, Steven Troughton-Smith

This event is free but spaces are limited due to the size of the room and allocated on a first come first served basis. If you would like to attend please register at www.sciencegallery.com/events. If you have a project you would like to show or if you have further questions please contact us at info@theshindig.org. UPDATE: Unfortunately all the tickets are now allocated but please feel free to join in the pub afterwards. We have a few tables reserved in The Lombard from 8.30 onwards. It can be found very close to the Science Gallery on the corner of Lombard and Pearse Street.

The Science Gallery is on Pearse Street in Dublin and the event will take place upstairs in the studio. Click the map below for directions.