Nitrome Jam
- "Jam 2014" redirects here. For the skin, see Jam 2014 (skin).
The Nitrome Jam is a game jam that took place from June 2 to June 6, 2014. During the event, the Nitrome staff was divided into seven teams and had to create a game based on a community voted theme over the course of five days. Other developers were also allowed to participate in the Jam.
History[edit | edit source]
The idea of starting the jam was first mentioned in the February 14, 2014 Friday update blog post.[1] About two weeks after, programmer Aaron Steed revealed the jam's tentative date to be around the month of June.[2] A date was not finalised until Monday May 12, where the details of the jam's structure as well as the event dates were set. Theme suggestions also opened, allowing Nitromians to give ideas in the blog comments.
Ten themes were selected and placed on the Nitrome blog for people to vote on.[3] Voting began on May 27th 2014[3] and ended on June 2nd 2014 at 9:15 GMT/UTC[3].
Structure[edit | edit source]
Prior to the jam, the community was provided the opportunity to suggest theme ideas and vote on them. Each competitive team then has five days to create a game inspired by the chosen theme. Fans evaluate the games and decide on a winner by voting.
Theme[edit | edit source]
Up until the 27th of May, the community was allowed to suggest themes for the games to be built around in the blog comments. Over the course of two days, the jam announcement post gained over five hundred comments, making it one of the most commented posts in the Nitrome blog. Two days after the official announcement date for the jam, Nitrome followed up with another post restating and emphasising guidelines for suggesting themes, particularly the fact that theme suggestions were not to be grounds for Nitrome game related requests.[4]
On May 27 2014, of all the themes suggested, Nitrome selected their ten favourite and listed them on the blog post Vote for the Jam Theme! for people to vote on by clicking on the desired option. The ten option were Numbers, Toast, Survival, Crossover, Dreams, Discovery, Isolation, Light & Dark, Infinity, and Kitchen. On June 2nd, the Nitrome Jam page revealed that the winning theme was "Dreams", meaning that all games made during the jam were to be "dream" themed.
Rules[edit | edit source]
Games made for the Jam have to be playable in a web browser, and thus can be made in any markup language or game engine that is playable in a browser. The dimensions of the game must be within a maximum of 550px x 550px. Created games must have content suitable for the Nitrome audience, such as no excessive blood or gore, or sexual content. This suitability is the same as that of Nitrome's own games.
Jam games have to be able to be hosted on Nitrome.com, and although post Jam the creator of the game is able to host it anywhere else or take it to another medium, this is restricted to the web browser medium if the game contains Nitrome assets. Games created for the Jam have to be created during the Nitrome Jam, and cannot have been created prior to the June 2 2014 Jam start date.
Jam games can have assets from other Nitrome games, such as sprites, characters, or game universes, but the presence of these will restrict the game's usability. Games with these elements will have their post Jam hosting restricted to only being playable in and the medium being web browser, potential revenue from the game restricted to in-game advertisements, and the game having to bear indication it was made for the Jam.
Contestants[edit | edit source]
Other developers were open to participation and could notify Nitrome of their interest via email. In order to join the Jam, the company or person joining has to create a Nitrome account, then go to the "Join" page of the Jam site and input their team name, and click "Join".
The entire Nitrome staff were split into seven teams, most teams consisting of two people, though some teams had more people or other people unconnected with Nitrome helping some teams out. Two Nitrome employees who are no longer working for Nitrome were allowed to come back to the Nitrome office to work on their game.[5]
2014[edit | edit source]
Nitrome staff[edit | edit source]
Current Nitrome staff.
Icon | Game | Team name |
---|---|---|
Computer Dreams | Team Ceaser | |
Run Bonita Run | Team Winning! | |
Rockitty: 9 Lives | Moose Pie | |
Nite Nite | Team Apfelstrudel | |
8bit Doves | Team Marthur | |
Loop | Team Awesomotronica | |
Sleepless Pug | Team Insomnia |
Other developers and teams[edit | edit source]
Icon | Game | Developer |
---|---|---|
OCD Dream Bot | Ish Games | |
Ratmaze Nightmare | PixelJAM | |
Slumberland | Halfbot | |
A Kitty Dream | Raiyumi | |
The Mind | Wolve | |
In drmzzz | Bart Bonte | |
Dream Hopper | Askiisoft | |
Nitromare | Team Nitromare | |
Dreamin' Brothers | Chizu Nordenstam | |
Teddy Gear | Mabi Games | |
Yellow Dreamer | NazoSystems | |
Dreamtrain | #octothorphe | |
Baku: The Dream Eater | ChrisJeff Games | |
Psy Cop | AlienCow Studios | |
MareEx | MareEx | |
Frantic Dream | Infokub Arcade | |
Dream Trek | Neptune | |
Oneironaut | Etaercion | |
I sometimes dream... | Agecaf | |
The Lucid Dreamer | 5x5px | |
Guardian of the Brain | RGB Games | |
Emprise of Stratus | Ceosol | |
Cloud Chap | Amazingcookie | |
Dreamventures | Jett Panopio |
Participants that left[edit | edit source]
- Bomb-o-cracker[5] - Was said to have been participating yet did not submit a game
- Ignatus Zuk[5] - Created a game yet presumably did not finish it
- Sinclarian[5] - Was said to have been participating yet had to drop out due to his game being corrupted[6] due to computer problems[7]
- Crocadino - Had to drop out due to not having access to their computer for a while[8]
- Alex Pang's team - Were unable to finish Jam entry due to both being sick[9]
- Stefan Castelli[10], Matteo Romanelli[11], Marco Giammetti[12] - The game was submitted to the Nitrome Jam but was requested to be removed by the creator due to the game's glitches.[13]
- Deryk Buckarev[14] - Presumably did not finish their game
- Lucien Fatima - Was not able to finish game before the end of the Nitrome Jam[15]
Schedule[edit | edit source]
The Nitrome Jam was started on Monday June 2, 2014 and ended on Friday June 6 at midnight. Games had to be submitted to Nitrome prior to midnight, however, over the weekend Nitrome allowed Jam game creators to to fix bugs and polish their game and resubmit the game before Monday.[16] However, the game had to be submitted to Nitrome first before a modified version of the game could be submitted. All the submitted games would be made available to play on Nitrome.com on Monday June 9th 2014.
Mini site[edit | edit source]
A mini site for the Nitrome Jam was set up on May 16, 2014, and housed the rules for the jam as well as the method of entering it.
Blog images[edit | edit source]
Each post entirely concerning the jam pictures a jam jar with Cuboy's face on the front in front of some fruit. The first post with the announcement date used a cerise background; the subsequent post used blue.
Gallery[edit | edit source]
The Nitrome Jam logo in Loop and Computer Dreams
An advertisement for the Nitrome Jam
A slider animation for the Nitrome Jam
The Nitrome Jam logo that is used in most of the Jam games
Coverage[edit | edit source]
Nitrome has allowed for anyone over the age of eighteen to come directly to the Nitrome office during the Jam in order to take pictures and write blog posts[17] John Kennedy later posted a video showcasing some of the Nitrome staff's work midway through the Jam.
- Prior to the Jam starting, the Jam was featured on the front page of Newgrounds in a list of upcoming events. [18]
- The Jam was mentioned in Wriathkal's Indie Gaming Corner June 2 post.[19]
References[edit | edit source]
|
External links[edit | edit source]
v • d • eNitrome Jam 2014 | |
---|---|
General | Nitrome Jam • Jam 2014 |
Nitrome teams | 8bit Doves • Computer Dreams • Loop • Nite Nite • Rockitty: 9 Lives • Run Bonita Run • Sleepless Pug |
Other developers | A Kitty Dream • Baku: The Dream Eater • Cloud Chap • Dream Hopper • Dreamin' Brothers • Dreamtrain • Dream Trek • Dreamventures • Emprise of Stratus • Frantic Dream • Guardian of the Brain • In drmzzz • I sometimes dream... • The Lucid Dreamer • MareEx • The Mind • Nitromare • OCD Dream Bot • Oneironaut • Psy Cop • Ratmaze Nightmare • Slumberland • Teddy Gear • Yellow Dreamer |
See also: Games made by Nitrome • Published games |