Train2game Game Jam - Interviews
Danny Palmer spent some time talking to the hard-working aspiring game developers and game jam organisers over the weekend. Now you can read the transcripts below. If you don't have time to catch up with them now you can download a pdf file and read it later on your desktop or movile device.
For more interviews, ranging from Train2Game Student radio to BBC county stations please visit the Train2Game AudioBoo page or you can listen to them through the web widget on the home page.
Lee Davis - Train2Game Game Developer Student
Train2Game Game Developer student Lee Davis was one of over 100 participants in the event and the Train2Game blog caught up with him on the Saturday afternoon – halfway through the event – to see how he was getting on.
Interview: Lee Davis
Download interview (Requires Acrobat Reader)
We're about halfway through the Train2Game Game Jam, how are you finding it so far?
Yeah, it's good! It's frantic, it's a little bit mad; it's everything I was expecting and quite a few things I wasn't. But the one thing I was expecting was to be absolutely exhausted, and the fact that I don't feel absolutely exhausted is a sign that I'm having fun. It's good to meet everybody as well and just do what we want to do.
The theme is Sherlock Holmes. Were you surprised by the theme? And what idea have you come up with around it?
The theme was a bit of a surprise. I think we were all expecting something a lot less specific, so in a way it was a good thing because we have to focus a little bit more on a very specific area rather than in one everyone can get a completely different game on. In terms of what we've done, we had quite a few ideas, but we came back to the idea of a mini-game – sort of Professor Layton type thing – which started off in one form and over the course of the last 24 hours has changed two or three times, and now we're at the final it's more like an interactive story type set up. But yeah…it's coming along after a few hairy moments to start with, we've picked it up and - touch wood – we should be ok for finish.
So what have those hairy moments and whole short development time taught you about Game Development
You can plan as much as you like and things go wrong I think. We had a bit of an issue in terms of – initially it was a silly little thing – we'd all been up- I think the excitement builds and then you start work and then you get stuck in something that's so simple and it took us 7 or 8 hours to solve something that was really, really, simple. And from when we solved that we've managed to crack on. I think the key thing is when you actually get on a good run and things are going the way that you want them to, it's a blast
And do you think this whole experience is benefitting you in terms of getting a career in the games industry in future?
I hope so! It's good that it's something you can put on your CV. It's something that you've done, you've been through the experience, you've tried to produce a game in 47 hours – as it is obviously we lose an hour tonight [Due to Daylight Saving Time] – but yeah it's working with a team, it's getting to work with other people, knowing how they work and applying their skills to your skills and coming up with something everyone's proud of really.