Crytek entered four teams into this year’s Global Game Jam. Today we’re looking at game number three, Get out and Play, and talking to the team who developed it about their experience making a game in just 48 hours.

CRYENGINE was proud to support Global Game Jam 2019 as a sponsor, and staff at our HQ in Frankfurt took part in the global event where teams are challenged to create a game in a weekend. The theme for this year’s game jam was “What home means to you,” and you can try Get Out and Play, a game where you play as a child who must help their mother with various tasks by venturing out from their home and exploring the island where they live.

Play Get out and Play from Team Spaceship

Check out the thoughts from the team in our interview with Maren Gerbach, Junior 3D Artist for Hunt Showdown, Manuel Härtl, Junior Programmer for Hunt: Showdown, and Umut Uyurkulak, Technical Writer for CRYENGINE.

Hey everyone, what did each of you do on the team?

Maren: I mainly created the 3D assets for the project.

Manuel: I was the programmer for the team. I built the game logic and various components which were used by our designer to create the level. I also put together the assets and gave new builds to team members, so we didn’t work on versions of the game which were too far apart.

Umut: As I had limited knowledge about actually creating games with CRYENGINE, I supported the team by providing audio files that they could use in the game. Other than that, I was more like a student, and I tried to learn as much as I could from the team.

How did you come up with the concept for Get out and Play?

Manuel: We all sat together and held a brainstorming session during which everyone explained what home means them. We then thought about how we can translate those experiences into the design of the game and what features would fit.

Maren: We sat together and discussed the first associations each team member had with the idea of home. We ended up agreeing that it was a place that you venture out from, but at the same time, it’s a safe haven to return to.

What advice do you have about creating a game in such a short time?

Maren: From an art perspective I think it’s important to pick a simple style and focus on the things that are the most important for gameplay first because you can easily get lost in creating details. To help with the limited time available, I didn’t make any textures and only used solid colors to avoid spending time on UVs.

Manuel: It’s better to start with a small scope. You should build one core feature for the game which feels good and then add different elements to it. It’s better to have a small polished game than a big one with lots of features which aren’t finished or feel clunky.

Umut: Be patient and passionate!

What features in CRYENGINE helped you make the game so quickly?

Maren: I mainly worked in 3ds Max and used CryExporter to get my models into the engine.

You can find out how to use this workflow by using the CRYENGINE documentation, which is simple to follow.

Manuel: I mostly used C++ in CRYENGINE to create components. Whenever I could, I used existing components, or I customized those components to get what I needed, which saved a lot of time.

What was the best part of your global game jam dev experience?

Maren: Working in a small team and seeing things come together so well in such a short amount of time.

Manuel: Again, working together in a small team. It’s really refreshing to have so much impact on the game compared to when you work with a huge team. You can see how fast the game is changing and testing different game features is really quick.

Umut: The best part about the event was actually all the things that I learned in 48 hours. Watching my teammates creating a game from scratch was inspiring. Seeing the game evolving into something engaging and fun made me feel like I had accomplished something, even though the impact of my contribution was pretty small. In just two days I learned a lot, and I can’t wait to start working with the engine on my own.

What did you find most challenging about the event?

Maren: The time constraint was definitely an issue!

Manuel: The most challenging thing was trying to stop adding features. We had some nice ideas, but unfortunately, they didn’t make it into the game due to the limited time available.

Umut: When my team started working on the game, I quickly realized that game creation required dedication and some experience which I didn’t have, and I was a little bit intimidated. However, I was amazed to see what could be accomplished in the engine in such a short time.

What would you have done differently?

Maren: Unfortunately I got sick halfway through the event, so I couldn’t finish a lot of the stuff that I had in mind. While I did finish the home base, the environment didn’t really get any attention. I think I should have concentrated on the bigger picture instead of putting so much time into the house in the beginning.

Manuel: I’m quite happy with what we achieved within 48 hours, so I wouldn’t really have done much differently except for allowing for more time at the end to polish the game.

Cheers guys!

Full Credits for Get out and Play:

• Maren Gerbach, Junior 3D Artist for Hunt Showdown
• Malte Groß, Junior UI Artist for Hunt: Showdown
• Manuel Härtl, Junior Game Programmer for Hunt: Showdown
• Maximilian Georg, Junior Graphic Designer
• Umut Uyurkulak, Technical Writer for CRYENGINE

Special thanks to:

• Lukas Keil, Junior Audio Designer
• Alexander Weiß, Junior VFX Artist for Hunt: Showdown
• Tom Busscher, QA Tester
• Viktor Ikkes, Senior Cinematic Designer for Hunt: Showdown
• Gabriel Yakir Ketteler, Community Developer for CRYENGINE

We’ll be looking at the final Crytek entry into this year’s Global Game Jam soon. In case you missed it, you can also check out Homebound and Escape Home to see more examples of what can be created with CRYENGINE in just 48 hours. We plan to make all the Crytek entries available on the CRYENGINE Marketplace in future so you can check them out in the engine. We look forward to your feedback in the comments, on the Official CRYENGINE forum, and via Facebook and Twitter. Don’t forget to join the community and CRYENGINE staff members over on Discord.

- Your CRYENGINE Team