Given that I'll be both partaking in the event, and a judge for the competition, it is only fitting that I start blogging about this!

The Week of Awesome II?
While the linked thread does a good job at explaining what this competition is, I'd like to take a moment and define the reason why "I" chose to join in this event.

Bit of background here: I'm an indie developer with industry experience that does a lot of freelancing in many different areas of game development.
My most recent indie project, Grand Strategy: Space Wars "Mercenaries" is an HTML5 arcade game inspired by games like Raptor: Call of the Shadows, Spacewar! and a variety of other similar games.


HTML 5 vs Unity?
When I decided to develop games again after a while of focusing on the industry, I picked up where I left off but chose a new technology (without any good reason). I ended up using DartLang, which is a web language developed by google (and probably isn't the most fitting for game development).
Several fellow indie developers argued that I should take a look at Unity.

After several months, I finally gave in and took a look only to witness, with awe, how Unity could contribute to the games I was making.
Let me put this out there first: Unity isn't GOD, but for indie games, it's goddamn close!

I took a bit of time to consider how long it would've taken me to produce results similar to what I had in DartLang in the last 3 months, and I realized that I could probably squeeze everything into 2 or 3 weeks of dev time. Several elements such as input management and cameras made me realize how "promising" Unity could be for game development, but I simply wasn't sold... yet.

This is where The Week of Awesome II comes in. I knew that, if I was to change techs midway through my current project, I'd need to have a feel of what Unity is really like, and verify how I was to adapt to its editor environment. In essence, I needed a short-term, small-scope project to work on in Unity.
Also, I did not want to define the parameters too much, because my subjectivity for or against this technology could've allowed me to pick something simpler/harder on-purpose. I needed something a bit more random.
Having a week-long competition sounded just like what I was looking for: 1 week to do something based on a theme defined by an external entity.


And Judging?
Put simply, Slicer4Ever reached out to me after figuring out I was participating and offered that I be a judge. I was hesitant because I had good reasons to partake in the event as a regular member, but I was also interested to look at what the others had done from a critics standpoint.

As an Indie, one thing I'm trying to get better at is to judge the worth of other people's work (hopefully, in turn, helping me best determine the worth of what I do).
There are very few scenarios with an practical approach to this, and judging a "game jam" is possibly one of the most formative (or so I hope).
Judging in an event where I'm also partaking is thus even more formative as I'll be able to try and evaluate how "well" I've done compared to others, as objectively as possible.

Since I'm not in for the money, and that I like to promote the indie culture wherever I can (I think it's a bubble only so long as it is unsupported), I stepped up as a judge, forfeiting any of the prizes (which I insisted on) and even going as far as adding a tiny tribute to the prize pool. I figured that, as many more members would join the cause, it would only be fitting that a 4th position also be awarded a prize (thankfully, someone followed in my wake and helped craft a 5th!).


Where did you get the time?
The single most prevalent question I've heard ever since I've told my close friends I was taking part of this is: Where did you get the time?
I'm a father of two, deeply encroached in the industry and I also happen to do both freelancing and indies projects on the side. Adding "game jam" to the list is possibly an extremely risky move that could break the foundation of my entire schedule (especially the part where I sleep/eat, etc.) but I'm willing to try.

I feel that, without incentive, nothing ever gets done. Committing to something with other people constitutes some form of bond, which in turn, allows me to overcome fatigue and deliver more on an average day. While this does take a toll on other aspects of my life (social what?) I feel it's worth it.

It is entirely possible I won't be able to deliver a quality project, especially under limited time constraints. I anticipate other competitors will be able to sink in several hours a day where I, anticipate that I will spend at most 1-2 hours daily (if even that). My intent is to try to squeeze as much potential under these limited conditions as I possibly can and more importantly, deliver something within this timeframe.


Your plan?
I don't have much of a plan. What I know is that I will do a 2D game. Given that I'll do everything on my own, this allows me to put together visuals fairly quickly and focus on simple physics and easily readable mechanics. The theme will probably determine everything else.
I'd really like to try my hand at a platformer, but I feel Unity is too supportive of that genre (making it artificially too simple) so I might mix things up a bit and see where that leads me!

- Language: C#
- Engine : Unity
- Graphics: Paint.net / Possibly Tiled
- Sound FX: Goldwave / Possibly freesounds.org
- Music: Goldwave, Audacity

- File hosting: On my website

I'll post again once I know the theme!