On top of a passion for web development here at Firefall we also have a bit of a passion for gaming ( We even recently setup a Minecraft server for the office ). Prior to my work here I used to do game development on my free time and ran a small studio to help teach others the process of making a basic game from the ground up. One of the annual rituals I have settled into is participating  in the Global Game Jam. The GGJ is a global event held over the last weekend of January that involves many locations from around the world. Newcomers and veterans alike come together and make a game from the ground up in 48 hours. Some people take it easy and get good sleep in between working during the day or you can power through the event without almost ever sleeping if you want ( and some do!.. like myself ). The short explanation of it is that everyone assembles in their meeting location for wherever they live ( NYU was NYC’s location ) , gets a theme to create a game around, make their own group/team and get to work. At the end of the 48 hours everyone presents their game and teams get to vote on which they thought was the best in one of several categories.

This event takes a lot of blood sweat and tears to get done and a lot of really cool stuff , and sometimes really BAD stuff  can come out of it. This year was the third year running of the event and I have been to every one of them so far. This year’s theme was “extinction” and the idea I brainstormed out with the help of others I worked with was going an obvious route but making it hilarious. In the case of our game that would be a T-rex piloting a meteor smashing planets. Humor was a big important factor of our game as the idea was ludicrous and we used Flixel, a game engine written in AS3, to make it. Before I get to linking you the game keep in mind everything that you see/hear/play was done in the period of 48 hours. So without further ado, HERE is the game!