Make something that makes something. Sound familiar? It should, seeing how The 2017 Procedural Generation Jam is not exactly the first of its kind (remember?). And like 2016, 2017 will also play host to a jam during which participants… get random. Doesn’t matter if it’s a game, art, audio, or even text, so long as it is… wait for it… procedurally generated. Oh, and this year’s edition is looking to Kickstarter for funding.
While the jam itself – like last year’s – won’t begin until November 4, its crowdfunding campaign will end in less than a month. That said, it is only about $250 short of reaching its goal of $2,573, so this one should be joining the ranks of successful Kickstarter projects before long. As for why I decided to cover it anyway, well, simply put, it’s a good way to spread the word about the upcoming Procedural Generation Jam, ya know? And information sharing is what the site you’re currently reading this article on is all about.
Anyway, their reason for launching a crowdfunding campaign is not so much for the jam itself, as for ‘additions’, really; or as they put it, “art, tutorials, zines and more”. Good stuff. For starters, an artist will be brought on board for the creation of a Creative Commons-licensed art pack, a second issue of the zine, Seeds, will be put together, and there’ll be… video coverage! As in, Jupiter Hadley will make videos about everyone’s entries. Also, tutorials, because everyone has to start somewhere, and such things are as great a place as any!
But… all that stuff requires money, which brings me back to the crowdfunding bit (and bytes… eh? eh?). To summarize, The 2017 Procedural Generation Jam has until July 1, 2017, to gather a grand total of $2,573 in pledges, and hey – spending at least $13 nets you a copy of the groovy Generative Mixtape. What makes this so groovy? Well, it’s “a collection of small experiments and unreleased projects from some amazing people”, including Tom Betts and Emily Short! Should you choose not to support the campaign financially, might I ask that you give it a shoutout on social media still? Let’s get it kickstarted!
