The Omega Jam consists of a group of indie game developers getting together to push hard on individual milestones in a shared work environment. We started on January 21, 2014 and have the space until February 21, 2014. It originated with 6 teams of 1-3 people each.
Check out OmegaJam.com for game info, live streams of our work, and more.
What’s amazing is we found a space inside/right next to Double Fine. They pop their heads in every so often, and I go into their kitchen to pillage their water supply.
The idea for the Omega Jam began when Alex Austin of Cryptic Sea (Creator of Gish, Bridge Builder, Sub Rosa, etc.) wanted to jam on games for a month. He has something silly like 16 games in development and needed a kick in the pants to finish a project. We all thought it was a cool idea so we hopped on board. I’m still waiting for my chance to kick him in the pants.
The original goal was to get everyone to go in on a shared space and finish their individual games during a month of focused work. Apparently it’s pretty hard to coordinate getting everyone to finish their games at the same time so it turned into more of “What am I going to finish this month?”
As an indie who works by myself this is a really exciting opportunity because I get to hang out with other game developers all day long. During non-Omega Jam times my work days are spent at home or in cafes, with a day or two a week working at a friend’s place. Being around other people with similar goals is invigorating, great for my brain, and even greater for my game since I can get immediate feedback on design decisions.
My new game
My goals for the month:
- Make an Alpha build – This means my game will pretty much be feature complete and playable from start to finish. I can send the build out for feedback and make any design tweaks and bug fixes as necessary. A Beta build would follow shortly after that, and then a full release.
- Test out what it’s like to work in a shared environment – I’ve toyed around with office space in the past but it wasn’t quite like this collective space. If it works out we might even continue renting a shared space together.
- Have a schedule – In the past I’ve struggled with keeping my work habits in check. Being around other people who are keeping their own schedules will help me keep a better schedule myself.
I’ll do more posts, tweets, maybe some live streaming, and hopefully a video or two of my progress. See the “Stay Connected” area in the sidebar for ways to get updates.
Be-Rad