Dashy Studios x Hology Game Jam - The community we are building and what we learned
Game jams can be the most exciting, adrenaline-thrilling event for participants, and it can also be nerve-racking for new game engines like us at Hology Interactive. Moreover, game jams are the beginnings of building the community that one envisions. Dashy Studios and Hology Interactive AB recently hosted a three-day game jam at Goto 10 in Stockholm, Sweden. From May 31st to June 2nd, participants from diverse backgrounds and educational institutions came together to try the new game engine developed by Hology Interactive using web technologies.
The Values Behind
Making a game jam is fun when there are courageous and daring partnerships that have values and personalities that align. We were so lucky that Dashy Studios had the spirit of not being afraid to venture into new projects and wanted to create a community with diverse backgrounds passionate about game development together.
To tailor the game jam to fit both Dashy Studios and Hology Interactive’s values, we picked a theme that represents a season while allowing participants to bring out the emotions of that season using our criteria. Dashy Studios emphasizes the importance of creating meaningful and memorable experiences to make others happy, while Hology emphasizes flexibility, collaboration, and creating one’s unique future, we decided on the theme of “Summer” where the criteria are derived from the best of both companies,
The Jam
With a "Summer" theme, participants were challenged to craft innovative and happy experiences that captured the season's essence. Throughout the jam-packed three days, teams worked tirelessly along with our staff. The atmosphere was electric, with mentors from Dashy Studios and Hology Interactive on hand to offer guidance and support, ensuring that we were there for the participants. We were amazed at the perseverance of the participants as they had never used our game engine before, yet able to learn in such a short time and execute their plans.
The Daring Ones
The team "5Left," comprising of
- Fredrik Svanholm (Artist/KTH)
- Natdanai Puthom (Programmer/The Game Assembly)**
- Malte Rook (Artist/SAE Institute Leipzig)**
- Florence Agostini (Artist/Södertörn University)
- Christoffer Eriksson (Programmer/KTH)**
- Robin Carlson (Sound Design)
emerged victorious with their captivating game "Vamp Cream," a delightful adventure where an ice cream character races against time to find ice cubes and avoid melting on a sun-drenched island. Not only did they take up the challenge of working with a game engine they had never used before, but their curious minds also intrigued us and gave us some ideas for the future. Their persistence embodied Dashy and Hology’s values of being adventurous while also bringing memorable experiences and happiness to others.
Thoughts
By working on this game engine, I met a lot of new people. Besides advertising on social media, I began reaching out to schools around the Stockholm area by email, going to universities and pinning posters on the available poster board areas, and going to game conferences to talk to other game development schools and companies to understand the current issues in the game industry and what kind of values we want to pursue when creating the community through game jams. Then when the participants asked us when is the next game jam, we were so happy because it meant they enjoyed our event. As the curtain falls on this remarkable event, the organizers and participants alike look forward to future opportunities to push the boundaries of game development even further.
Thank You
Dashy Studios: Thank you for being our co-producer for the game jam, providing food, prizes, and mentorships to the winners.
Indie Games Developer Magazine: Thank you for helping us advertise on social media and help us print out stickers for future events.
Goto 10 Stockholm: Thank you for providing us with an amazing venue with unbeatable views. Thank you to Matt who was there to help us for Friday and Sunday to set up and make sure our game jam was a success.
Ember Paw Games: Thank you to Disa from Ember Paw Games who took the time to judge our game jam entries and gave them valuable feedback on their games.
