Global Game Jam 2018 - INSECT!ON

This year's Global Game Jam has ended. My first in loco game jam, at IADE, Lisbon, Portugal, and one that will surely be remembered.

While perhaps not as good as last year's Extra Credits appearance, this year's Keynote (particularly the exercises with Thorsten S. Wiedemann - see .gif) was spectacular, being quoted widely, with many exercising in front of the livestream camera. If nothing else, it at least kept us all active and moving.

We feel you, Mr. Thorsten!

​This GGJ18's theme was "Transmission," something some felt was close to last year's theme of "Waves". Many, however, found ideas beyond the closeness of these themes, creating games about a Dr. Gill's Radio Show (a fish giving life advice on his radio show), about soul transmission, about hacking T.V. broadcasts and, in my team's case, about hacking someone's mind via a nanobot mosquito that sucks thoughts from your nerve cells - an outlandish idea, fit for a game jam.
Even if we had finished the game - as Thorsten suggested, we didn't - the friendships gathered, the inside jokes ("a round of applause, everyone!"), the 5AM thoughts fueled only by coffee ("sofas are just pillows with legs"), the failures and successes, they made this weekend, this Global Game Jam, worth the 4 hours of sleep.

When you have to animate D. Trump, you can't resist turning him into a DJ, leaving your computer on, when going to sleep, with this .gif playing to the sound of "epic sax guy".

​Sound-wise, I found myself working on more than music, but on sound design as well. As opposed to what I was told (this being my first in loco jam), I wasn't "stolen" by many teams to work on their game, but stayed only with one.
At the end of this jam, I have a few suggestions for anyone working or playing with sound design and music for videogames in game jams:
- Bring a good computer (I had to freeze/pre-render whole projects to continue working on them);
- Bring good food (burgers and energy drinks may not be enough);
- Don't expect a decent internet connection (but expect the GGJ's site to crash during the last hour);
- While waiting for others, work for others (if you're waiting for some part of your game to work on, then offer your services to some other team);
- HAVE FUN! Make .gifs of D. Trump dancing, go fill someone's white board with cheer, laugh at the bugs you caused (especially if they happen during the final presentation), go exercise in front of the camera, dance and sing with others!

You can play what came out of this year's Global Game Jam at globalgamejam.org/2018/games
You can play games made at IADE at globalgamejam.org/2018/jam-sites/iade-%E2%80%93-universidade-europeia/games
To play my team's work during this great (the greatest) weekend, you can find it at  globalgamejam.org/2018/games/insecton
If you'd like to hear the short soundtrack of INSECT!ON, you can find it here: