2011 JAM Schedule

[TomFulp]

For 2011 we hope to set an aggressive schedule that involves one jam EVERY MONTH, alternating between game and movie jams.

Here is a rough draft of what this calendar could look like and I'm interested in feedback. Let me know if this conflicts with any common exam periods, holidays, etc. NG event days included for reference.

Jams could typically run from Friday @ 7pm until Sunday @ 7pm if that sounds good. The theme could vary for each jam to maximize excitement.

TENTATIVE SCHEDULE

January 28-30th
Movie Jam

February 25-27th
Game Jam

March 18-20
Movie Jam

April 15-17
Game Jam (should it relate to Pico Day?)

April 30
Pico Day

May 13-15
Movie Jam

June 10-12
Game Jam

July 10
Robot Day

July 15-17
Movie Jam (pop culture theme leading to Comic-Con?)

August 15
Clock Day

August 19-21
Game Jam

September 9-11
Movie Jam

September 22
Madness Day

October 14-16
Game Jam (zombie game jam for Halloween!)

November 11-13
Movie Jam

December 16-18
Game Jam

Thoughts?

[Oney]

OMG

[14hourlunchbreak]

At 1/6/11 03:18 PM, TomFulp wrote: April 15-17
Game Jam (should it relate to Pico Day?)

Newgrounds themed Game Jam?

[Sequenced]

No Audio Jam? :(

[Dunso]

Allright.

[LewToons]

i would love an elaboration on how the movie jams would work - how many artists? and things such as this.

EXPLAIN TO ME!

[Makeshift]

At 1/6/11 03:19 PM, deckheadtottie wrote: I hate Jam.

We should call it Game Jellies and Movie Jellies.

But YEAH, this sounds like a grand idea.

[MonoFlauta]

AWESOME! lol, when are you going to say the winners of the actual jam?!?! :P

[NonPlusUltra]

Jam
Jam
Jam
Jam is excitement
(Ooh, Jam)
Jam is adventure
(Ooh, Jam)
Glamour and glitter
Fashion and fame

Jam is truly outrageous
Truly, truly, truly outrageous
Woah, Jam
Jam, the music's contagious, outrageous
Jam is my name, no one else is the same
Jam is my name

We are The Misfits
Our songs are better
We are The Misfits, The Misfits
We're gonna get her
We are The Misfits
Our songs are better
We are The Misfits, The Misfits
We're gonna get her

Jam
Jam
Jam
Jam is excitement
(Ooh, Jam)
Jam is adventure
(Ooh, Jam)
Glamour and glitter
Fashion and fame

Jam is truly outrageous
Truly, truly, truly outrageous
Woah, Jam
Jam, the music's contagious, outrageous
Jam is my name, no one else is the same
Jam is my name

We are The Misfits
Our songs are better
We are The Misfits, The Misfits
We're gonna get her
We are The Misfits
Our songs are better
We are The Misfits, The Misfits
We're gonna get her

Jam is truly outrageous
Truly, truly, truly outrageous
Woah, Jam
Jam is truly outrageous
Truly, truly, truly outrageous
Woah, Jem
Jam, the music's contagious, outrageous
Jam is my name, no one else is the same
Jam is my name
Jam

Tight schedule mr Fulp.
I like it!

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/42 0056

[XwaynecoltX]

should be a fantastic jam, i look forward to it, thanks once again Tom.

~X~

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:21 PM, Sequenced wrote: No Audio Jam? :(

I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD ASK. I was thinking of popping one in but really we could plug one in at some point along the way.

[MOC-Productions]

I'm going to sound like a noob for asking this, but what exactly is a "jam"?

[Mystery-Moon-Pie-Aud]

At 1/6/11 03:21 PM, Sequenced wrote: No Audio Jam? :(

A jam is a collaboration of people. The game jam includes audio people. But remember, this site is flash-based, so they aren't gonna really care about the audio. It's just like that =[

[Intrapath]

One jam a month sounds really hectic. Considering how dis-organized many of the teams were for each game jam, one every 2 months sounds a bit too much, but I'm really not sure, have to wait and see.

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:22 PM, RedHarvest wrote: i would love an elaboration on how the movie jams would work - how many artists? and things such as this.

EXPLAIN TO ME!

The setup could change for each jam... But one concept could be to have a lead writer, voice actor and animator, as an opportunity for writers to have a team at their mercy for a weekend... But other concepts could include mini-cluster collabs, or having multiple artists to manage a combination of backgrounds, characters and effects... THE SKY IS THE LIMIT.

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:30 PM, Manly-Chicken wrote: Wait! I just realized! The feb jam interferes with the NY meet up!
www.newgrounds.com/bbs/topic/1207581
And I'm on vacation the other weeks!

Noooooooo!

The tough thing with Feb is the 21st is Presidents' Day and I want to avoid messing with long weekends where people might have big plans... And Feb 14th is V-Day which would mess with relationships. It might just have to overlay the NYC meetup.

MAYBE the jam could have an NYC theme in honor of the meetup!

[Hacsev]

Well, It is a good idea, but at the same time I think it is a little too much.

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:36 PM, LDAF wrote: One jam a month sounds really hectic. Considering how dis-organized many of the teams were for each game jam, one every 2 months sounds a bit too much, but I'm really not sure, have to wait and see.

The key thing to note is that the same people won't necessarily do it every month - it creates more opportunities for people to find a jam that fits their schedule.

[ThePhenomenon]

Great! Rushed, short, unfinished, bugged and unpolished crap every month.

Just pointing out what's wrong with this jams.

[FatKidWitAJetPak]

I think this idea sounds fantastic. It will truly allow many artists, programmers, musicians, writers, and animators to get their talents recognized. I honestly think, however, that each jam should give AT LEAST one week for decent games and movies to be produced. Three days just simply isn't enough time for a great game to be created, in my opinion. Sure, people have done that in the past... but dear lord the general public will find it difficult to achieve brilliance in a short amount of time.

I am planning on really working hard in as many jams as possible in audio and writing work. Good idea Tom, I hope that this plan goes through well!

[VidGameDude]

i dont know...i just have mixed feelings about them.
i mean what speciffically are the jams meant? just to keep activities going or production of the artists being active?

maybe i just need better clarification.

[Rucklo]

At 1/6/11 03:33 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 1/6/11 03:21 PM, Sequenced wrote: No Audio Jam? :(

I KNEW SOMEONE WOULD ASK. I was thinking of popping one in but really we could plug one in at some point along the way.

If movie/game jams are supposed to be fullblown finished products, I don't see a major reason to have an audio-specific jam, as it'd exclude most parts of NG instead of the opposite, which I'm guessing is the whole point of the monthly jams (i.e. getting people with special skills to collaborate)...

However, it would be very cool with both game and movie jams that are "audio-themed" one way or another. First things to pop in my mind are of course music-videos and musicbased games, like DDR, punk-o-matic and whatnot.

[TankBeatsEverything]

I'm a little new to NG, can you explain to me what a Jam is?

[MoriChax]

Everybody get up it's time to slam now
We got a real jam goin' down
Welcome to the Space Jam...

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:41 PM, Phenom9 wrote: Great! Rushed, short, unfinished, bugged and unpolished crap every month.

Just pointing out what's wrong with this jams.

The birthing process isn't always pretty - jams are a stepping stone to future partnerships and better abilities.

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:44 PM, FatKidWitAJetPak wrote: I think this idea sounds fantastic. It will truly allow many artists, programmers, musicians, writers, and animators to get their talents recognized. I honestly think, however, that each jam should give AT LEAST one week for decent games and movies to be produced. Three days just simply isn't enough time for a great game to be created, in my opinion. Sure, people have done that in the past... but dear lord the general public will find it difficult to achieve brilliance in a short amount of time.

Maybe we could mix it up, have some week long jams and some weekend jams. I know I would have a better chance of participating in a week long jam personally. :)

[BoMbLu]

At 1/6/11 03:18 PM, TomFulp wrote: For 2011 we hope to set an aggressive schedule that involves one jam EVERY MONTH, alternating between game and movie jams.

FANTASTIC!! This should keep me occupied and looking forward to work on something whenever i get my creativity blocked ;)

[mindmaster123]

Sounds interesting should be given a subject each month whether the authorswould have an idea of what to do

eg
January is the month of ham (just an example)

February may be the month of space

March the month of Luis

And the candidates would do a work around this and so on each year could be 12 different contests.

yeah, the Halloween in October and Christmas in December could be combined with the theme of the month for example if you talk about that in October is the month of the ocean, the contestants could do horror stories about pirate ships or whatever.

[TomFulp]

At 1/6/11 03:46 PM, TankBeatsEverything wrote: I'm a little new to NG, can you explain to me what a Jam is?

The original NG Jams were collabs amongst artists:

• 

  Newgrounds Jam #1

  by T0MMY

  Newgrounds Jam is the first jam session with five of the top ranking artists

  Movie

  181,210 Views

  (Ages 17+)

But the more modern use of Jam is generally for short-timeframe events, such as weekend Game Jams. In the case of the recent NG Game Jams organized by AustinBreed, developers have been given 48 hours to make games. Teams have consisted of a mix of programmers, artists, musicians, voice actors and other wild cards.

Some of the benefits, IMO, of jams are:

1) The short time frame demands results, so successful teams will finish their projects and not risk dragging them out until someone on the team burns out (as happens with many larger projects).

2) They force people to work together, which can result in great long-term partnerships, or at the least, an education on teamwork and collaboration.

3) They give you a chance to experiment with new ideas and get your creative juices pumped for future projects.

[OmarShehata]

At 1/6/11 03:47 PM, TomFulp wrote:

At 1/6/11 03:41 PM, Phenom9 wrote: Great! Rushed, short, unfinished, bugged and unpolished crap every month.

Just pointing out what's wrong with this jams.

The birthing process isn't always pretty - jams are a stepping stone to future partnerships and better abilities.

What people don't realize that a lot of amazing games were first crappy beta's in a jam. If I'm not mistaken, this game:

• 

  Depict1

  by mirosurabu

  Do NOT play this game!

  Game

  1,325,025 Views

  (Everyone)

was first made in a 48 hour game jam. I remember the author talking about that, I don't think it was originally made in flash though. And look at how successful and popular that was.

Anyway, I don't think I'll be entering all the game jams in there, but I'm glad there's more of them. What I'd like to see, is more people experimenting with new and unique gameplay mechanics. Some games were done really well in the last game jams, but they didn't present anything new or untested before, gameplay-wise or otherwise. And I think that's the whole idea of the game jam, to rapidly prototype new ideas, rather than simply to see who can make the best game in 48 or 72 hours.