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TOJam #5  -  April 23 - 25, 2010
185 People. 25 Virtuals. ~70 Completed Games.

Did you attend the Jam?

If so, please take a moment to record your memories at the bottom of this page. We promise to keep and treasure these comments forever.


Latest Media
The Official TOJam Twitter


May 3
Andrew Traviss



Andrew Traviss, a TOJam veteran and OJ founder, delivers a post-mortem worthy of Gamasutra. I played an early version of "Reentry". Learning how to control that ship was both fun and frusterating (on purpose). When you finally achieve a Lunar Lander degree of control, you feel very smart. Andrew's post will leave you with the most precious gift of all... words.


May 3
great great grand



Andrew Gardner and teh Andrew Gardner Group of Companies created "Throw That Fight", a hilarious looking game I've been hearing a lot about (but did not get a chance to see). The man does sketch comedy in real life, which is amazing. If you've never attended TOJam, this April 24th Twitter might convince you: "This is a nice, reasonable group of people."


May 3
Mulling Over The Multiverse



JPLC details his not-so-good experience at TOJam #5. "It felt to me just like constant pressure. Some may find that fun, and maybe it would have been if I had been in a team, but I was NOT digging it." It's actually more like constant, horrendous, all consuming, nightmarish pressure.


May 3
Harry Mack



Harry Mack talks about sound floating! Floaters are the unsung heroes of TOJam, and I'm glad Harry had a good time. How hard do floaters work? Harry's first entry is Friday 3:00pm. His next entry? Sunday 11:00pm.

Note: HillBilly Willy is my new favourite song!
Note: Harry Mack's mother's making Mary Mack marry me...





Apr 28
The Torontoist



Steve Kupferman returns to TOJam and gets the inside scoop on pizza mountain. The ongoing coverage from the Torontoist is truly appreciated.


Apr 28
Untold Entertainment



Ryan once again creates a pithy summary of our event. Be sure to read his brutally honest coverage of previous jams as well (links at the bottom). Ryan has been a huge supporter of TOJam over the years, and is Toronto's secret weapon.


Apr 28
Alex Bethke



Alex is not only a veteran TOJammer, but a development video maniac. He's detailing everything he went through in 18 small pieces. The first 6 clips have been posted, and we'll post again when there's more.


Apr 28   NotSoft



NotSoft is bignobody, which is about as clear as I can be. Great writeup including huge pictures and some video to boot. The raw data contains some priceless moments including "7:35 - Oh hell... Am I still here?" and "9:53 - Back with 3rd 2L of coke for the Jam and another 4 Vegetable Samosas." Be sure to check out his pixel art T-shirts.


Apr 26   Ludum Dare Conflict

Toronto Game Jam

A simple scheduling conflict with Ludum Dare escalated into all out war. Confession: I helped escalate it.

The Summary

This year we divided and conquered. Friday we locked 100 of the most beautiful proprietary monitors in solitary, then split jammers into 4 posh rooms and 2 classy alcoves. 40 birdies arrived Friday @ 10:00am, another 20 by noon. By 4:00pm most everybody was here, seated and clicking away.

Many of the students just finished writing exams that morning, and several were showing off final portfolios that afternoon. And yet... they still came. Stick that in your hat and eat it.

The security guards are saints. The main doors were locked friday evening, and remained that way throughout the weeekend. Security needed to manually let every person in while also making rounds. No matter the time, no matter how far away, they never failed to let jammers in with a smile. Saints.

If you had Adobe's Flash Player, there'd be a cool movie here.

Alex Bethke created this video Friday ~2:00am. It gives a great overview of the space, and some hardcore jammers.




Saturday morning bagels rained down like dogs. In the afternoon, Gorm Lai of Nordic Game Jam organization fame, invaded. After chatting about our latest war with Ludum Dare, Gorm cut to the chase... "I understand that we are also at war..." The conversation that followed was not nearly as ackward as I imagined.

A free, delicious chinese buffet (thanks again sponsors) caused happy stomachs. Jammers had seconds, even thirds. Good View Restaurant, never change! I spent most of the evening gathering teams for photos. I was forced to draw a diagram. The unrefrigerated remaining chinese disturbingly dissapeared before morning.

We planned to take the overflowing garbage out the back entrance, but "the man" varnished that floor that afternoon. Security (of course) had the answer - use the freight elevator. After 20 minutes of searching, I couldn't find it. I received clandestine instructions to rendevous with security outside a beautiful locked office. Inside lay the freight elevator protected by double doors, a wall that split vertically, and a wood gate. Zangief made short work of it, although the illusion caused by an unexpected set of garage style slats momentarily confused him.




Sunday morning, while I slept, the Internet broke. No-one knew anything, and dialing H-E-L-P was impossible thanks to ethernet phones. Someone suggested talking to the security angels. They dialled straight to the top and quickly determined what happened. Apparently, a nuclear bomb exploded killing everyone outside. Luckily, security expected the Internet back by 2:00pm. At 1:30pm, it returned. I love those guys.

Pizza Pizza for all my friends. Surprise visitor Eskil Steenberg, in town for the amazing FITC, dropped by. We managed to squeeze a half hour presentation on his famous 1-man MMO into our schedule. The room was packed... with love.

Squeezing 185 people into the hall was a challenge. We raffled off lots of prizes including a printer, Blu-ray burner and Fujitsu Uber netbook! Thanks Notebook Empire! Despite rigging the raffle, I failed to win.

Alas, I never had a chance to play the games.
Security held the door as we left.
I kissed him on the lips,
and he drove me home.




Da Numberz

1000 Megs of Internet
210 registrations (in 8 days)
29 Teams, and 13 individuals produced 70 games.
8 Game makers from Montreal, 6 Hammers (we didn't hurt them)
2 Whitby, 1 Sunny San Fran
1 14-year-old Blender master
0 dollars out-of-pocket (first year evah)
0 dollars salary (every year)


TOJam 5 Certified

Jammer Memories

Add your thoughts here.
Good, bad, hungry, anything goes!

May 19, 2010 11:55:45 PM

Reckless as always, I chose to attend TOJam in the middle of my exam period. Unlike last year, I never went home and I barely slept. I would have stayed up even longer, but eventually I was cut off from the Red Bull... Oh my precious poision...

Anyways, due to unforseen circumstances, my team didn't fully materialize, so there's not much of a game. Still, I was able to write a very flexible 3D physics engine for rays, spheres and boxes. It'll come in handy for next year's game, which will be amazing. You'll see! It'll shine with such blinding glory, you won't see it at ALL! MWA HA HA HA!

Otherwise, the venue was fantastic. I'd never seen a real Acadamy Award before, which they had in the lobby. The internet was blazing fast, if you could get it set up. The special guests were equally excellent.

Finally, I have to give enormous credit to the organizers and sponsors. Every TOJam they produce a miraculous feat of unyeilding administrational power.

See you next year, and God save TOJam's lunatic fringe!

Jordan Macklem
May 19, 2010 10:37:15 PM

no one told me there was a comment board >: (

but srsly..srsly guys...best TO Jam yet!  HUGE thanks to all the organizers and sponsors.  Holy #%@&...SPONSORS!!!  Looking forward to the arcade in June!  

Also, about the verification question...what I'm human and just really bad at math???

May 13, 2010 11:46:26 AM

Really freakin' awesome. So many days of awesome.

May 11, 2010 5:12:24 PM

You think you're funny, but I beat you to the punch. I married Mari a couple of years ago! I'll definately be dragging her along to show off all the great games in june.

May 10, 2010 8:59:07 PM

... how'd we end up with so many Kyles?

May 8, 2010 7:40:55 PM

Loved the new location, great atmosphere. Wish New Team could have stayed for the demo'ing on Sunday, but we had an Exam the next day.

Looking forward to the Pub Night!

Kyle Wolfe
May 8, 2010 1:58:47 AM

Simple math people; 3 days + nearly no sleep + redbull = Socio-coders! 

And of course a LOT of awesome games!

Chris Towle
May 7, 2010 1:04:47 PM

I think I`m pregnant. thanks TO jam.

May 2, 2010 2:43:39 PM

 I was a little worried at first that it just wouldn't feel like TOJam if the space didn't seem shady, but George Brown compensated for lack of shadiness with free pizza and proximity to The Patrician and Tim Hortons. Well played, George Brown. Well played.

April 30, 2010 10:52:11 AM

 Ah, TOJam. Though it was only my second one, the jam has become one of the highlights of the year for me. It's like running a marathon with your fingers and brain. A test of endurance and mental stamina.

Thanks once again to the organizers and sponsors for making this the best Jam yet!

Also, Hail to the Monster King, who made this jam a little extra surreal.

April 30, 2010 10:31:55 AM

Well, I wished I'd shown up at the very beginning and took better advantage of the community that was there instead of working remotely. I was pretty amazed by what I saw and look forward to downloading and trying the games out.  Next year, maybe I'll float to get my hands dirty in the variety of art styles needed.

Thanks for putting this on guys.

Kyle Moser
April 29, 2010 6:43:31 PM

Wow what an experience from drinking toxic amount of redbull to actually pumping out a working game after being awake that long. Can't wait for the arcade and the next Jam.

Karen Halloran
April 29, 2010 10:53:25 AM

 The fruit tray was intense.

OK, Jim? This thing pops up a simple addition question and afterwards says that only I can stop the robots. If you've ever seen any technophobic 1970s-80s sci-fi actioner, you'd know that the only way to stop a rampaging super-sentient computer is to instruct it to divide by zero. Now go watch Electric Dreams, for Christ's sake!

 
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