Ritual. It was the only word used as a slogan by the thousands of developers who, for 48 hours, submitted themselves to the creation of videogames all over the world last weekend. This initiative, called Global Game Jam, had 90 Uruguayans as protagonists, who created 12 titles.
«Si te dicen creá un juego no es tan fácil hacerlo. Ahora, si te dan una consigna, es más fácil desarrollar la creatividad», cuenta Juan Lagisquet, integrante de uno de los equipos locales.
Luego de asignar una palabra, armaron los grupos. El trasfondo de la iniciativa era que trabajaran con personas hasta entonces desconocidas. Siempre «se terminan conociendo y hablando de distintos temas», cuenta Fernando Sansberro, quien organizó el evento en la academia A+.
Once the teams were formed, 36,000 people from 93 countries around the world began to work.
The teams - made up of programmers, designers and sound designers - defined what they wanted to do on Friday afternoon. Then, those who were at A+ last Friday were able to go home to sleep, bathe and eat. At 8 o'clock, they went back to the arena. At the Antel Tower, they went on.
Lo que siguió fue una jornada «intensísima» de trabajo, según los participantes. «Se pasan momentos tensos y muy intensos donde todo el mundo está muy loco, pero se aprende mucho», dice Lagisquet, quien fue sonidista de uno de las creaciones.
A contrarreloj, los videojuegos quedaron prontos sobre la tarde del domingo. Luego, los creadores debieron explicar en qué consistía su desarrollo y mostrar su «jugabilidad».
The organization asked the creators to upload their creation to the website. On the website, in addition to finding images and explanations of what each title consists of, you can download the version to enjoy it.
What did they create?
According to the organization's figures, 68,000 games were created worldwide.
In Uruguay, there were all kinds of initiatives. Some were based on the endless runner methodology: a video game without an end, in which you have to run forward. They are score-based (the player must beat his or her own records) and end when the player loses.
A much applauded one was Morning Ritual, invented by nine people, which forces the gamer to run forward and not fall asleep. The protagonist must grab coffee beans and dodge other characters who seek to kill him. The difficulty lies in controlling the levels of coffee you drink, so you don't explode from caffeine or slow down because you need it.
In Totem Garden the main character must run forward, to the rhythm of the music. The player must listen and jump depending on how low or high pitched the sound is.
Others appealed to create games linked to witches. For example, Black Cat Ritual features a witch, who with her black cat must perform a ritual to defeat a monster. In the process, she must fight zombies and bats.
Prize: the experience.
Quienes participaron del Global Game Jam no obtuvieron ningún premio. «La experiencia de vivirlo es tu recompensa», señala Sasha Alentorn, una de las artistas que trabajó en Totem Garden.
Many people participated for the first time in this initiative. Some of them did not come from the videogame industry but took the risk to do it. Others, more experienced, took on some challenges.
Lagisquet, por ejemplo, dijo que como sonidista tenía el desafío de, en este evento, hacer música con su voz. «Me puse yo el desafío», cuenta.
El trasfondo de la iniciativa era vincularse con otras personas de la industria. «La idea principal es que trabajen con gente que no conozcan y que hagan networking», cuenta Sansberro. Es algo que se fomenta mucho; sino, te encerrás mucho en tu trabajo, apuntan.
«Se fomenta porque mucha gente relacionada a los videojuegos suele ser introvertida», puntualiza Lagisquet. Sobre todo, cree que se da con las personas que trabajan en el área de programación.
Para Alentorn esto es una muestra de «amor a los videojuegos». «Es cooperar con personas que sienten ese mismo amor y llegan a no dormir durante un fin de semana. Divertido y estresante por momentos, pero vale muchísimo la pena», asegura.
Aid to the industry.
Many people who already work in the industry participated in the event, which according to Sansberro improves year by year in terms of the quality of the product presented and the number of developers. Juan Lagisquet, for example, does it from Polyraptor Games, a small company that is incubated in Ingenio, an organization that is responsible for accelerating technology-based initiatives.
These types of events are an instrument to accelerate the industry here and around the world.
This is one of the fastest growing areas in the XXI century. According to estimates by PwC consulting, during 2015 the industry mobilized 75,000 million dollars in the world. For the future, estimates are better: in 2016 it will be 79,000 million and 84,000 for 2017.
Uruguayan creations are coveted. In 2014 they had 10 million downloads, according to a survey by the National Telecommunications Directorate (Dinatel).
There are 20 formalized video game companies in Uruguay.
More and more people (and companies) are looking to create video games in Urguay. According to a survey conducted by the National Telecommunications Directorate (Dinatel) there are 20 formalized companies in the country, two of which have more than 20 workers. The rest do not have that number of employees. One of the main tools to develop is incubation. One of the platforms that allows this is Ingenio, which provides an office to establish a company. Today, according to data from the organization, there are eight incubated video game companies. The cost for physical incubation has a monthly cost of 6,373 pesos plus VAT. It is also possible to do a remote incubation, which has a cost of 3,187.
Source: JUAN PABLO DE MARCO for Portal elpais.com.uy
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