BUMBLE RUMBLE - A Post Mortem
In October of 2013 Studio Blimp took part in the annual 48 Hour Game Making Challenge. It was our second year competing in the challenge and our third year attempting it. As such we thought it might be interesting to do a bit of a write up on our experience.
For the uninitiated, the basic premise of the the 48 Hour Game Making Challenge is that roughly 20 teams of up to six people cram into a hall together and have a 48 hour period to make a video game. At the beginning of the 48 hours, three randomly chosen words are revealed - the games produced must be based on these words. By the end of that time period each team's games are analysed by a panel of judges and the best are awarded prizes. It's an insane undertaking. As Truna, one of the main organisers of the event, once said...
"I think they're all mad... All of them."
She couldn't be more right.
So here we are a couple of hours before the contest starts and teams are slowly trickling in. This year Studio Blimp is comprised of Ben, Alex, Andy, myself (Sean) as well as Kylie who joined us as an honorary crew member for the contest.
We're waiting for the doors to open, so as to rush in and lay claim to a good table - an oft overlooked part of a good 48 Hour Game Making Challenge strategy. A table in a prime location ensures you can work for the contest's duration in relative (and I do mean relative) comfort, whilst also being highly visible to the public crowds at the end of the contest... One of the more coveted prizes is People's Choice, after all.
The doors open and a pretty decently located table is claimed. With that taken care of, a supply run to the local supermarket is made. Snack foods, some fruit, energy drinks and other such items are what will keep us going for two days straight in this ridiculous undertaking. As soon as we get online, I fire up Skype and start a call with Andy, who'll be working remotely.
Me: "By the way, there's a "Best Audio" Award."
Andy: "I'M GOING TO WIN THAT AWARD."
Soon enough everything is more or less set up. Now there's nothing to do but relax (Ha!) and wait for the key words - the three words that will dictate the next 48 hours of our lives - to be revealed.
Growth. Arms. Sticky.
Yeah, we can work with this.
The next hour or so is spent brainstorming. We can't afford to spend too long thinking about what to do, lest we have less time to actually do it. Before long we've settled on a multiplayer arena game, where players control bees trying to collect pollen and return it to their hive in order to grow it. They can also throw sticky honey at players to stun them momentarily then beat them up with their beefy arms, causing them to drop their collected pollen. Yeah ok, so some of that's a bit of a stretch but it'll do.
Work now begins in earnest. Alex is coding. Andy is experimenting with music. Kylie is 3D modelling general assets whilst I paint some honeycombs and Ben is doing what he does best - badass concept design. Soon enough we have a rough layout for our arena as well as character designs which are in turn made into rigged 3D models by Kylie, ready for me to animate.
All in all, everything's moving at a pretty respectable pace. By now we're at the second night of the contest - roughly 30 hours in. We have the game functioning and playable, and assets are slowly but surely making their way in. The game also has a locked-in name... BUMBLE RUMBLE.
A close call was had on the dawn of the third day, when Alex awoke to find that his latest build of the game had ceased to work properly. After some mild panic, as sleep deprived developers are wont to experience in such a situation, we've got a backup of the game working with some ad-hoc patches.
Moving onwards, I keep myself busy painting UI whilst Alex gets it functioning. Kylie continues working on scene assets to make the game that much prettier. Ben is painting cover artwork for the game. I finish with UI and throw together some particle effects for the pollen as well as to highlight the player's respective "drop zones" for the pollen.
At this point, in the final push of the challenge, the hall is full of sleep deprived individuals though the atmosphere is conversely... electric. Hurried conversations are had about last minute fixes and adjustments. Tears are shed over lost work. Adrenaline pumps through veins as second winds spur people onwards.
By now, Andy has finished with the game's soundtrack. We can't get enough of its playful hilarity and it's being complemented by many of the other developers from around the room as they wander around to see what everyone else is up to. In a sudden stroke of unabashed genius I tell Andy he has to make one more track - a parody of Let It Be by The Beatles. Half an hour later he messages me Skype. It's done.
Once I manage to stop laughing long enough to do so, I upload the parody to Soundcloud, whilst the game's OST goes up on Bandcamp.
We're looking pretty good right now. The game is more or less complete, an hour before the deadline! We invite people over to play the game as Kylie collects gameplay footage. To our relief, it seems to be quite well received.
Meanwhile the rest of us work on tidying up our workstations and make our general area presentable for members of the public who'll soon be arriving, eager to see and play games that just two days ago had not even been conceived.
Several hours later, the entries have been processed and judged... It's time for the announcement of the winners. I start up a Skype call with Andy so he can listen along with the rest of us.
And the first award of the night, the prize for "Best Audio" goes to...
Studio Blimp!
Andy, you magnificent son-of-a-gun! We head on up to gratefully accept our prize - mugs of jelly beans with "Best Audio" printed on them. Andy's will have to be mailed to him.
And that's that!
We part ways and wrap up the weekend with a great sense of fulfilment, and not just because we walked out with an award. In the space of 48 hours the five of us pulled through and produced a fun, playable game (and accompanying music!) that was genuinely enjoyed by people... And that's the real prize.
Now the countdown begins until the 2014 Challenge!
- Sean
PS: In the days following Ben texted me a photo; He'd "fixed" his mug...
PPS: If you're interested in a more detailed writeup of the overall experience of one of these challenges, check out this epic 3 part series following the events of the 2011 48 Hour Game Making Challenge. [Part 1] [Part 2] [Part 3]