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The Japan GameJam organised by The Dutch Game Garden and the NLGD Foundation kicked off March 8 in Utrecht. After all participant had registered a crash course in Japanese gaming was provided by Michael Sheetal and Marc Wesseling of the Tokyo-based interactive agency UltraSuperNew Inc. The over 40 participants that made up nine teams were given a quick guide to contemporary Japanese culture and how people interact with their mobile phones in Japan. After the introduction they were given 31 hours to come up with a proposal for a new game and present the outcome to the Dutch and Japanese jury.
The goal of the Japan GameJam was to create a proposal for a game to celebrate the “2008-2009 Commemorative Years” between Japan and the Netherlands. The Netherlands is celebrating a 150-year diplomatic relationship this year and next year will commemorate a 400-year trade relationship with Japan. Along with such serious underpinnings, it was important for the teams to look past the typical stereotypes of windmills and clogs and look to show off something a little more progressive with the aim of demonstrating both the creativity and innovation that Dutch game developers are capable of.
Many of the practices in Japan were new to the teams, but the
possibilities seemed to trigger a number of creative ideas. The new
features available on the latest range of handsets from DoCoMo that
allow for various types of physical interaction such as shaking or
yelling into your phone certainly got the Dutch game designers going.
Many of the proposals made interesting and unique use of the features
and showed a lot of promise.
On the second day, after 31 hours of brainstorming and preparation,
teams were asked to present their game proposals to a jury. The jury in
Utrecht consisted of Dutch game advisers, Erik van der Pluym (formally
of Guerilla Games), Marinka Copier (Utrecht School of the Arts) and
Jeroen Elfferich (Ex-Machina), as well as Japanese industry advisers
Marc Wesseling and Michael Sheetal.
Two finalists were selected on March 9 and another two finalists were
added when a jury in Tokyo viewed the presentations the following day.
On hand for the Tokyo jury were representatives from two of the top
Japanese mobile phone game developers, Cell and Taito .
The guidelines for selection were innovation, use of technology,
promotion of Dutch culture and appeal to Japanese audience. The four
finalists selected were: “Water Power” from Khaeon Games; “Mizu Maze”
from 3DFlash; “Trade Joy” from Ronimo; and “Happyard” from O!.
On the 22nd of April the final presentations of the contestants were
done in Utrecht and were broadcasted to all members of the jury in
Japan and the USA. The jury picked ‘Waterpower’ from Khaeon Games as
the winner as they presented the Dutch theme ‘water management’ in a
playful way. Next to this the use of new technology as part of the
gameplay impressed the international jury; the game is played by using
the motion sensors in the mobile phone.
Winning the Japan GameJam is the start of a huge challenge for Khaeon
Games and partner Elements Interactive as the game is to be released in
six months on the Tokyo Game Show 2008 that kicks off on the 9th of
October 2008.
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