The Easter Event Registration Open

Registration is now open!

To sweeten the deal, here is a playlist of videos I have made to entice you: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLR3LLHiz0fUze06acCulHDxu37TCwxTv. If you are really good, I may add a new one.

It is my pleasure to announce that the magnificent, marvelous, mad, mad, mad, mad, mad, Three Thing Game is a go! For those not in the know, Three Thing Game is a Game Jam run over a weekend. Teams of enthusiasts (that’s you people, as well as me and my ‘kind’) gather (this time virtually) to challenge themselves to create a game based on 3 random words that they will be given. At the end of the weekend you get to subject your game to a thorough Judging against various criteria like: adherence to the Things, how complete is your game, and how much money you slip the judge discreetly. Over the years teams from all years of study have made some great stuff, some of which has even been published in various app stores. So you should definitely not be discouraged from taking part in your first year. This is an excellent opportunity to put your skills in to practice, to hone your craft. This is also one of those ‘extra-curricular’ activities that help to distinguish you in the eyes of potential employers from the hundreds of other people that will be graduating from here at the same time.

Hullumni

I am very pleased to invite our alumni to come play with us. Many of our former students are Three Thing Game veterans and it would be great to see them again. You are very welcome to come with preformed teams (getting the band back together perhaps) or go stag and see who else comes. Also if you want to have some time to talk to the students in your professional capacity (maybe you want to entice them to your company) then you are welcome to do that also. If you are interested in taking part in any capacity, then please get in touch.

Celebration

We will spend time having all of the teams (that want to) showcasing their work to all of the participants. So we will down tools at the usual 1500 on Sunday and transfer to Microsoft Teams where each of the groups can present the video that they have made of their game.

Don’t worry though. For those seeking Judgment, the scrutiny of your peers will still be available for prize and pride in the form of the People’s Choice.

So what do I need to do?

I am glad you asked. First thing is to put the date in your diary.

It’s Easter baby! Or, pretty close to it. So that makes it a bit easier to remember. The weekend of 27th and 28th March 2021. That is the weekend that perfectly bridges the last Friday before the Easter break and the first Monday of the Easter break.

Form teams! Generally speaking, you want to have a maximum of 5 people in your team. Under the pressure of 24 hours it can be very difficult to integrate the efforts of large numbers of people. Even 5 is pushing it a little. You can register online here: https://forms.gle/tKdNfLnHsBS83Ny56

Registration will close on Friday 26th March so please get your registration forms to me before then.

If you would like to take part but can’t form a team then you can go stag and be a team of one (some people have made this work very well before) or you could identify on your form that you would like to be in a team by using “need a team” as the team name on the form. We can then pool you together into teams. Where there is a will there is a way.

itch.io

We are using itch.io for hosting some of the bits and bobs for the games this year. So I have set up a jam site there which is at the end of this link: https://itch.io/jam/three-thing-game-march-2021. Using this site you can host the games that you make, including screenshots, videos, and playable demos etc. This will be neat for disseminating your excellent efforts.

Finding teams

You may already have a team in mind which is fine, but check out Hull Games: Bonus Level Discord site. In short it is a place for us to communicate amongst each other about making games, whether you are an artist, programmer, or musician, or anything else really. It is here:

https://discord.gg/QM4turg

There is a room in there called ‘#looking for help’ where you may consider putting things like ‘looking for a digital artist/musician/programmer to join our team’ so we can properly integrate some amazing diverse skillset teams.

When do I get my words?

Excellent question. On Friday 26th March at 1700 in Microsoft Teams. So I guess that you probably want to remember that as well. Once you are signed up, I will email the Teams link so you can join.

We will be having a second trial of a rather jazzy new way of allocating the three things to the teams this time. One of my Honour Stage Project students last year created the fabulous ThingBay, an online auction for Things. So you and your team will be allocated a modest account of Bank of Thingland pounds to spend bidding on the words that you want for your team. This will all happen live during the session on Friday 26th March.

What about on the day?

At 1000 Saturday 27th March we will kick off remotely.

When does it end?

The celebration of achievements will take place at 1500 on Sunday 28th March. You will have 3 minutes to pitch your game and show a video of your game. This will take place in Microsoft Teams. The groups should also be prepared to answer questions about their game. And, to answer the actual question, it should all be done and dusted by 1700.