FAQ

BUGJam FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions.

Q: Why is it called BUGJam?

A:   The Seattle Blender User Group (SeaBUG) and the Vancouver Blender User Group (VanBUG) have been sharing Blender knowledge for all purposes. We have many users interested in game development, which includes participation in game jams: Blender User Groups "BUG" - "Jam"

Q: What is BUGJam?

A: This will be a short event where we work together to produce a single minimal viable polished game project with our collective skills.

skills using free and open source software.

Q: What's the point?

A: I (Xury) am a professional game developer, professor, tutorial maker, and many other hats. For well over a decade I've shared my knowledge and skills with people that want to create 3D art, and video games. My career in the AAA game industry has given me access to professional workflows that I want to share, but these workflows can't be taught properly in isolation. BUGJam is intended to be an environment where members of the group will have a chance to practice professional workflows and learn skills that can help you develop projects correctly, and possibly help you land a role in professional game development.

development by learning core skills you would be expected to have (this by no means guarantees getting a job in the game industry, sorry I don't have that kind of influence).

Q: What's the difference between this and a game jam?

A: RegularTraditional game jams have a focus on moving fast and breaking things. They are a great way to develop skills, but the don't provide any mentorship. If you don't already know professional workflows, a traditional game jam doesn't really do much to help that. So rather than dozens or hundreds of teams competing, this will be one group working and learning together under the guidance of a few members of the group that have professional experience.

Q: What "professional workflows" will BUGJam use?

A:

At
• Most it'simportantly core, this projectwe will use "Source Code Management" (SCM) aka 'Version Control" AKA "Source Control" for all files in the project. Professional game development typically uses either Perforce or Git. - We will be using Git, as it is free and open source, while it's less popular for game development, it is something you can start using in your personal projects after you learn to use it during BUGJam.
• We will be documenting the design of the game, defining standards for our work, and writing tutorials for our processes. Professionally, this type of documentation is typically done in software called Confluence. However, BookStack is a free and open source alternative, which you're already looking at on this webpage right now!
• We will be tracking tasks for the project, a popular professional solution for this is a tool called Jira. Again we will be using a free and open source alternative called Vikunja.

What game engine will we be using?

We will be using Godot 4.6