Marmalade SDK top prize at GDC Plane Jam

Engine outfit Marmalade has pledged an indie license of its SDK for the winning entrant at this year’s GDC Plane Jam.

Plane Jam, organised by Xiotex Studios boss Byron Atkinson-Jones and Lazurus Game developer Andrew Roper – with input from Develop – challenges anybody attending GDC to make a game on their flight to the conference next month.

It can be any type of game, from any genre, and take the form of a computer, card or board game. In consideration of the limited development environment of a single plane seat, entrants are welcome to re-use code or assets as much as they like.

Dr Jo Twist from UKIE and Marmalade CTO Tim Closs will judge the best game. UKIE is to host the judging and presentation of the games at 4pm on Thursday, March 28th at its GDC Play stand.

"So far the Plane Jam preparation is going amazingly well, and we’ve got some fantastic support from UKIE and brilliant prizes organised from Marmalade," said Roper.

"To think that we are now in this position so soon after a Twitter conversation is mind blowing. We’re really looking forward to what gets produced in this jam, especially from different flight durations. This is shaping up to be quite a ride. "

“At Marmalade we think the GDC Plane Jam is a brilliant idea: long-haul flights are a great opportunity to focus on a project and the new Lua-based version of our SDK, Marmalade Quick, is perfect for this kind of challenge," added Closs.

"The winning entry will get a year’s free Marmalade Indie SDK license and we’ve got some highly qualified judges to make the selection. Good luck to everyone taking part; I look forward to playing your creations when we all arrive in San Francisco.”

“What better way to show off British talent than to arrive at GDC with some brand new games made on the flight over as part of Plane Jam," stated Twist. "I can’t wait to see the results – we’ll be hosting all the entrants and announcing the winners at the official UK stand that we’re running in this year’s GDC Play area to celebrate the best of British.

"So if you’re creating a game as part of Plane Jam, want to see the winners, want to meet the business that are using our stand or are just passing by make sure that you stop off to say hi."

To register click here, and for more information, visit the Plane Jam website.