The Game Jam Survival Guide is an insider view of game jams packed full of expert advice; leading with tips and tricks on how to build a great game with just 48 hours; but clearly defining what should be avoided at all costs during Game Jam mayhem. The reader is led through each half-day phase; from the beginning of your quest in hours 1-12 to breaking through "the wall" on day two and finally reaching the finishing line in hours 37-48. Although the book is intended for beginners and experts alike, the reader will already know how to program (in any language). He or she will love games and want to learn how to best make their own game in a wild and crazy 48-hour period.

Author Biography

The author of this book, Christer Kaitila, B.Sc. is a veteran video game developer with 17 years of professional experience. A hardcore gamer, dad, dungeon master, artist and musician, he never takes himself too seriously and loves what he does for a living: making games! A child of the arcade scene, he programmed his first videogame in the eighties, long before the internet or hard drives existed. The first programming language he ever learned was 6809 assembly language, followed by BASIC, Turbo Pascal, VB, C++, Lingo, PHP, Javascript, and finally ActionScript. He grew up as an elite BBS sysop in the MS-DOS era and was an active member of the demoscene in his teens. He put himself through university by providing freelance software programming services for clients. Since then, he has been an active member of the indie game development community and is known by his fellow indies as Breakdance McFunkypants. Christer frequently joins game jams to keep his skills sharp. Over the years, he has programmed puzzle games, multiplayer RPGs, action titles, shooters, racing games, chat-rooms, persistent online worlds, browser games, and many business applications for clients ranging from 3D displays for industrial devices to simulations made for engineers. He is the author of the book "Adobe Flash 11 Stage3D (Molehill) Game Programming Beginner's Guide" and is the curator of a popular news website called http://www.videogamecoder.com which boasts over 30,000 articles and zero ads. He is one of the administrators of Ludum Dare, and has hosted a mini weekend jam with the theme of "all talk: dialogue and conversation". He also created the keynote lecture for Ludum Dare 21, an 8 minute video filled with words of encouragement and advice. His client work portfolio is available at http://www.orangeview.net and his personal game development blog is http://www.mcfunkypants.com where you can read more about the indie game community and his recent projects. He lives in Victoria, Canada with his beloved wife and the cutest baby son you've ever seen.