After a year's hiatus TagJam returns with a bang! This time round our four teams will be using either GearVR or Oculus Rift to see what they can come up with in just 24 hours. To spice things up that little bit more, we've also added a theme for the event, which is....
"You Only Get One"
One what you ask? One life? One phonecall? One shot at happiness? That's up to our GameJammers to decide, so let's meet the teams...
TEAM HIGHLANDER
With a dramatic and reassuringly Scottish name decided on by artist Joanna Jakubowska, Team Highlander will be using Oculus Rift to build their VR masterpiece. With Tom Goodchild on design duties and Steven Taarland and Andrew McLean taking up the coding, Highlander's effort promises to be a twist on the endless runner formula, where instead of controlling your character directly you build the environment in front of them. In a homage to Keanu Reeves' finest hour your construction skills will be put to the test in order to save an out-of-control bus filled with screaming passengers. You only get one life!
#BSD
Acronyms galore for our next team, whose full name is distinctly NSFW and not fit for publication on a family-friendly website. #BSD will be using GearVR to deliver a creepy cat-and-mouse game where you (the rodent) must grab the cheese and sneak past your feline foe. You only get one piece of cheese according to designer Carlos Salvado, so you'd better keep your wits about you. Will artist Lara Bendoris come up with a suitably intimidating moggy foe? Will programmers David Andrews and Davie Farrell drink enough Lucozade to stay awake until tomorrow? Keep an eye on our blog to find out!
In a move as pretentious as Prince's early 90s decision to represent his name via a few squiggly lines, our third team's name is comprised only of two obscure graphical icons, so from now on they'll be known only as (symbol)(symbol). In less than 24 hours, they'll be using Oculus to show us a forest-based survival horror title, where you only get one candle to stave of the blackness of the night. Radu Bogos is currently hard at work at the designing, Joe Dixon and Tom Kane will take care of the coding and Kerri Targett will be flexing her artistic muscles on the forest. As you can see from the suitably moody picture, they're taking the challenge seriously.
How is Possible
Their name is a touching tribute to our absent Italian chum Marco, their GearVR project references a famous scene from The Bourne Ultimatum and as you can see from above, their levels of physical intimacy sometimes get a little out of hand. Set in a busy train station, designers Ross McWilliam and Guillaume Llhoyer have envisaged a 2-player experience curiously reminiscent of family favourite boardgame Guess Who, where you only get one guess. Stewart Graham will be in charge of penning the noses, mustaches and everything else, whilst code will come from seductress Scott Downie and Jordan Brown.
Our teams are all already hard at work, so keep an eye on our blogs and social media feeds for live updates on how our projects are progressing.