Big Scary Game Jam is a UCF Student only Game Jam, hosted by E2i Creative Studio in the Partnership III building in the research park next to UCF. The Jam will focus on making Scary, Spooky, and otherwise Halloween themed games in a 48 hour period.

Teams are not required prior to the event, any UCF Student is invited to join us. We are interested to have people with broad backgrounds come to the event, so if you are interested in art, music, programming, designing, or any other aspect of making awesome games fast, please join us. However, if we do not recognize your name we will email you to confirm you are a UCF student, and if you do not reply you will be dropped from the list.

Whats that? You want to dress up? Awesome! Costumes are highly encouraged!

For all of you brand-new developers, here's a brief guide to getting started:

(Note: this guide is based off of the amazing Pixel Prospector Game Development Guide)

1. Choose a Game Making Tool - we'll be providing 3-month Unity Pro licenses for all the jammers, so we highly recommend (and this guide will be focused on) using Unity! If you're interested in other tools, there's a list here: The Big List of Game Making Tools

2. Need programming? Regardless of the game, you're going to need to do at least some scripting (if you're using Unity). Unity published some really good and up-to-date tutorials for getting starting with scripting. If you have never used Unity before, you should start here: Editor Tutorials. Then, perhaps move on to Scripting Tutorials, or if you want more direction, give the Projects a shot. The easiest is the Roll-a-Ball project. The Survival Shooter is a little bit more complicated, while the Space Shooter is a little more complicated than that.

3. Need graphics? If you're into making art but not sure where to get started making art for games, look here for tools used to make game art: Graphics Programs. If you're looking to make Pixel Art, look here or here. For integrating pixel art (sprite) animations into Unity, look at this tutorial (it even features a zombie!). If you're interested in 3D art, tutorials are much more difficult to find (and often older ones don't work, as tools are getting updated all the time) but you can look here for some good guides. If you're not into creating art you can always use royalty-free art, which you can find here.

4. Need sounds? A list of tools can be found here: Sound + Music Creation Software. The tool BFXR is especially popular for jammers as it allows you to make 8-bit sound effects really easily. If you're not into creating music you can look here for royalty free music. If you have software like Ableton or Fruity Loops then you can follow this video to create epic game music. For integrating audio into Unity, look here: Audio Listeners & Sources.

5. Need help? There will be some incredibly nice and friendly people (denoted 'Helpful Resources') that you can go to and ask questions regarding game development. Don't be afraid to ask! If they are all tied up, look to Google or ask some people in your team or nearby. This is a Game Jam, everyone is learning and everyone wants everyone else to make awesome stuff! Make some friends! Make some games! Have FUN!