2023 Portfolio

Hi, I'm Yann.
▫️
Find a short descriptions of the video games
I created throughout 2023 below,
as well as an overview of the
project management tools and techniques I use.
▫️
cover photo by Josh E Wylie

Teldrassin ▫️ Global Game Jam 2023
February 3rd - 5th 2023 ▫️ game made in 48h
▫️
▫️
2023 was an ambitious year for making games:
I aimed to create a GTA-like game with my team
during one Game Jam (usually 48 to 72 hours)
by the end of the year.
▫️
The first step was to try creating an open-world game.
▫️
During the Global Game Jam 2023, partaking from the C-19 in Evry,
we had an 8-people team and we ticked that box.
▫️
Teldrassin was to be our game template this year,
dropping the player in a world to roam and explore
at will, to unravel its mysteries.
▫️
download and play Teldrassin here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Google Forms ▫️ Game Jam Invitation

⬑ here are the team's availabilities
throughout the Global Game Jam 2024 week
▫️
▫️
This year, I started sending a Google Form to the people
I wanted to work with for an upcoming event.
▫️
This makes it easier to centralize a bunch of information
all in one place from the get-go, such as:
▫️
● an introduction to the event, to align everyone
● who is available to partake and who isn't
● everyone's e-mail and username for each tool we use
● who comes on-site and who jams from home
● who's available and when, throughout the week-end
▫️
It's a one-stop-shop that takes us from project inception
all the way to the Pre-Jam, together as a team.
▫️
access my GGJ'24 Jam invitation here

Deviler ▫️ Ludum Dare 53
April 29th - May 2nd 2023 ▫️ game made in 72h
▫️
▫️
Teldrassin's success made our projet evolve:
● let's jam with the same team 5 more times in 2023
● we'll focus on one gameplay feature during each Game Jam
● let's combine these features into one GTA-like game
during the Global Game Jam 2024
▫️
Deviler is the next game in this project.
Our 7-people team created it for the Ludum Dare 53.
Everything came together and we all had a blast.
▫️
It's an urban driving game
where the player's mission is to
deliver packages throughout the city.
▫️
download and play Deviler here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Pre-Jam meeting

⬑ a glimpse into one of our Pre-Jams
▫️
▫️
The Pre-Jam is a meeting where the whole team
comes together, where we all get to know
each other, and where we talk about our tools,
processes and objectives for the upcoming Game Jam.
▫️
I've found it so useful I made this meeting
systematic this year.
▫️
It's reassuring to know you'll get along
with your teammates before the start of the event,
before the rush of the Game Jam week-end kicks in,
and it ensures everyone's vision and objectives are compatible.

John Gyver à la montagne ▫️ Game Jam dans l'Cantal
June 23rd - 25th 2023 ▫️ game made in 48h
▫️
▫️
Still pumped by our latest accomplishments,
6 of us were back in the starting blocks 2 months later
for the Game Jam dans l'Cantal, an event I co-created.
▫️
This time, it's the 3PS on-foot movement
and shooting mechanics we decided to zero-in on,
with crafting & zombies thrown in for good measure.
▫️
John Gyver à la montagne has the player,
as the titular character, fight off the undead
using guns fashioned from whatever's left on the shelves.
▫️
Side note: I recorded my voice for the in-game store's
announcements in the local cinema - that was a lot of fun!
▫️
download and play John Gyver à la montagne here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Game Jam Schedule & Sprints Structure

⬑ saturday's schedule for the Winter Path
▫️
▫️
I've been using a Schedule Google Sheets document
to keep track of my teammates' availability since 2016.
▫️
It's a useful high-level view to combine each
individual's agenda into one cohesive team experience.
▫️
Now how can I ensure:
● everyone has uninterrupted time periods to get work done
● we all synchronize often enough to stay on track?
▫️
My answer is the Sprints Structure I created in 2023:
● we clock in at 8AM and debrief over breakfast until 9AM
● we work on our assigned tasks from 9AM until midday (3 hours)
● debrief over lunch from midday until 1PM (1 hour)
● rinse & repeat
▫️
It's my best trick yet to gear the team towards
iterative development, and it helps us make sense of
the "48h time frame" --> that's four 3-hour Sprints/day, twice.
▫️
access the Winter Path's full Schedule document here

OrganFeast ▫️ Mini Jame Gam #20
August 4th - 6th 2023 ▫️ game made in 48h
▫️
▫️
Hot on the heels of our 3 consecutive successes,
8 of us rose to the next challenge in early August.
▫️
We set our sights on an easy-to-play mini-game
where the player, a possessed orgus, snacks on
some priests in a dark crypt.
▫️
One of our great achievements with OrganFeast
is cooking up a random level generator from hand-built
map pieces, so each playthrough is unique.
▫️
download and play OrganFeast here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Brainstorm

⬑ what we had at the end of Goose Slayer's Brainstorm
▫️
▫️
The brainstorm must provide us with enough time to come up
with a coherent game concept, without succumbing to the pressure
and starting work too early, before the game concept is exploitable.
▫️
We've been using JamBoard for a while,
and our Brainstorms follow these steps:
● 1 hour minimum for everyone to come up with their
own ideas individually after the Jam's theme dropped
● a few JamBoard slides to set some Brainstorm rules
● everyone writes down their own ideas then presents
them to the team individually, with some context
● they're organized into clusters as they're presented
● each team member votes for their favourite clusters
● we discuss the vote results towards a coherent concept
● we expand the concept into a Game Design Document draft,
nailing down the 3Cs and the such along the way
▫️
This allows us to seemlessly transition from
brainstorming to establishing our gameplay loops.
▫️
The whole process takes 3 hours which seems
to be the sweet spot for us.
▫️
access Goose Slayer's full Brainstorm document here

Goose Slayer ▫️ Ludum Dare 54
September 30th - October 2nd 2023 ▫️ game made in 72h
▫️
▫️
As September rolled around, so did the Ludum Dare
with its 54th edition.
▫️
Back at it with a 12-people team this time,
we aimed to surpass our results from April,
and we ticked that box too (292nd vs 547th overall).
▫️
Goose Slayer turned out to be an oldschool sprite-based
doom-like fueled by our team's culture and insiders,
as the dungeon's monsters remind you to keep your Trello
tasks up-to-date - who could that be based off?..
▫️
download and play Goose Slayer here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Jam Participation Video

⬑ excerpt from Goose Slayer's presentation video
▫️
▫️
Our LD54 participation was epic for another reason:
I rented an AirBnB in the greater Paris area for our team
to have a place to work together all week-end long.
▫️
To immortalize that experience, I urged Julien to join our team,
to film us throughout so we have a way to show what spending
a week-end to make a game from scratch with us is like.
▫️
This worked out great and having a video of our
Game Jam experience at the end of it is another outcome
I arrange for my team now, working with gifted video makers.
▫️
watch Goose Slayer's full Presentation Video here

the Winter Path ▫️ Chill Dev Winter Jam
December 1st - 3rd 2023 ▫️ game made in 48h
▫️
▫️
Now it's early December and there's one last nut
I want in our GTA-like game we haven't cracked yet:
Creating a story-driven game.
▫️
That's what we attempted with the Winter Path:
It's the tale of the exodus of a mischief of rats
fleeing the harsh winter for greener pastures,
for their young to thrive and blossom in.
▫️
Alas we aimed too high and planned more features
than our 11-people team could handle in 48h.
▫️
A stern reminder that though our last 5 did,
most Jam experiences don't go according to plans.
▫️
download and play the Winter Path here
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Trello

⬑ excerpt from the Winter Path's Trello
▫️
▫️
Is it worth presenting Trello at this point?
▫️
If you're not familiar with this tool, think
JIRA without the dependencies or workflows,
just a simple modular kanban board for tasks.
▫️
I've been using it since my Game Jam debuts,
it's simple enough to make sense for Jams,
yet comprehensive enough to track the team's progress.
▫️
This year I started using one single board for
the whole team, rather than one/domain
(devs, graphists etc.) as I had up until now.
▫️
I found that to be more user-friendly for the team,
as well as a challenge to keep things concise on my end,
which also helps.
▫️
access the Winter Path's full Trello here

Cat made me do it ▫️ Global Game Jam 2024
January 22nd - 28th 2024 ▫️ game made in 72h
▫️
▫️
On Friday January 26th 2024, 10 of us were back to Evry's
beloved C-19 to answer one very specific question:
can we rise up to the challenge we set for ourselves
and create our own GTA-like game by Sunday evening?
▫️
I personally believe we succeeded:
● the game is set in a city where you're free to roam
● it has on-foot combat with a gun
● it lets you enter cars and drive around at will
▫️
Is that a valid definition of "GTA-like game"?
Is the game we had on Sunday as polished as it should be?
▫️
Those questions are not actually that important.
What matters most is that we had a ball jamming
together all week-end long in Evry, and that it showed me
what to aim for next, for our 2024 Game Jam campaign.
▫️
download and play Cat made me do it here
▫️
The Global Game Jam Community Spotlight: Cat made me do it
▫️
▫️
▫️
▫️
project management tools
Post-Mortem

⬑ a glimpse into one of our Post-Mortems
▫️
▫️
Game Jams are a great way to gather
game making experience, and Post-Mortems
makes it possible to multiply that gained
experience by the number of team members.
▫️
Which is a great thing too when you have a 12-people team!
▫️
It's the last major ritual I decided to formalize
this year, to ensure we learn from our mistakes
and improve individually and as a team from Jam to Jam.
▫️
It's also a critical safe space for sharing,
where everyone can express themselves and tell us
about their week-end working with us.
▫️
I'm very proud of our team, our work, our culture,
I'm proud of our 2023 projects together,
and I look towards the future
with confidence and determination.
▫️
check out my linkedIn profile for more info about me
▫️
check out my itch.io profile page to play more games I made