XNA Mad Game Development Ends

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Mad Game Development Final Survivors

Compare this with the original picture……

Well, that was some wild ride. I feel like I’ve been to a really good, but really long, party. And in a way I have. We started yesterday at 11:00 with a game idea, some assets and some partially finished game engines. We ended today with 14 teams showing off some polished and workable game programs that I hope you will see on XNA Indie Games real soon. In between we’ve had pizza, snacks,  chocolate, a whole bunch of fizzy drinks and a lot of development. A lot.

I kept going into the labs thinking to myself “They must be ready for a break by now” and finding everyone working flat out. At three in the morning, four in the morning and five in the morning.  I watched teams get stuck, get inspired and finally get it working. Amazing stuff. Not everything went as planned,  but having that happen is just part of the development experience….

There is nothing quite like debugging somebody else’s code at 3 in the morning.  Peter and Sarah from 360 magazine were taking notes and pictures and getting into the spirit of the whole thing. Peter was even producing artwork for one team.

This morning we had the judging and the awards and then everyone went home to collapse. Especially me.  Congratulations to the winners:

  • Judge’s Choice: “Team Ice Cream”
  • People’s Choice: “Unhandled Exceptions”
  • Technical Flair Award: “Left 4 Dev”
  • Look and Feel:  “Who needs to go outside?”
  • Cheesiest Game: “Generic Game Developers”

The judges also wanted to make a special award to team “Rusty Spoons” who came in on Saturday as First Year students who have only been coding for a few weeks and produced a fully working game by the end.

Mad Game Development Final Judges Choice

We then had a bunch of further awards and then headed off to bed. Best bit for me? When I asked if they wanted to do it again and everyone looked up with sleep deprived eyes and said “Oh yes”.

Great fun. Thanks to Peter Gothard from 360 Magazine for the idea and the swag. Microsoft UK for the extra swag, Warren for paying for the food and our two other judges, Jon Purdy and David Miles.