Dream Disc '24 Game Jam - More Details and an Interview with the Organisers

On the 23rd of October, the organisers of the Dream Disc ‘24 Game Jam revealed their forthcoming event to the world, and, in the days that have since passed, their announcement has produced quite a buzz, not only within our niche scene, but across the wider gaming world too.

For some, the title of this hotly anticipated 'jam' may be confusing though, so let me break it down in lay terms. A game jam is a time-restricted event at which developers of various kinds will conceptualise and begin creating games. Much like a musical jam, the idea is that people with complementary skills will band together, sometimes with total strangers, and experiment in an open-minded environment. The hope is that the focused attention these conditions produce will result in some innovative results. Alas, it’s always a possibility that some of the outputs will be hideous abominations, but the learning and networking experience can be useful in and of itself nonetheless. 

In the case of the Dream Disc’ 24 Game Jam, developers are being encouraged to congregate online around itch.io and the Simulant Discord between Friday 20 December and Friday 3 January to “collaborate, build, tinker and show off” their projects. That being said, projects that were begun prior to these dates can be submitted, and entrants are welcome to drop by and introduce themselves whenever they may wish. In another wise move from the organisers, it’s also the case that, in addition to games, software utilities and even hardware can be accommodated for too.

So, that clears up the sticky issue of what ‘jam’ means. What about the ‘Dream Disc ‘24’ part? Well,  thanks to one of the event’s main sponsors, Orc Face Games, the top ten entries (as judged by public vote and expert panel) shall subsequently be featured on a physical CD-ROM to be made available to the public for the cost of shipping alone. If that wasn’t enough incentive, there is also a cash prize pool to be shared by the top three entrants. This currently stands at close to $900 USD, and in a peculiar twist of fate has been buoyed by advertising income that had been set aside for a contest to be hosted by the website DCEmu 15 years ago that never materialised. Those funds are now finally being put to good use thanks to one of the administrators of that OG website, darksaviour, digging them out all these years later. Of course, the pot is likely to grow further too as news spreads and additional donations are received. 

Voxel, a regular in our Discord server (and nifty developer in their own right) succinctly summed up why this is generating excitement in the scene:

“All the ports to the Dreamcast are cool, but what I love are the new, original games - even the short demos and tests that people release to demonstrate certain features. The jam will likely lead to a whole bunch of new small games to play and discuss.”

They also neatly encapsulated why budding developers should consider using this opportunity to dip their toes into the world of the Dreamcast:

“The Dreamcast is powerful enough that you can get great performance for a small game without spending weeks writing low-level machine-code, but retro enough that the kind of simple assets you might produce during a jam don’t look completely out of place.”

Given that we are a nosy and interfering bunch here at the Junkyard, we couldn’t help but get our sticky mitts involved somehow. Therefore, with all the groundwork already laid, we have now globbed on to the hard work of Psyop Studios and Orc Face Games and can confirm that the Dreamcast Junkyard will be acting as a sponsor too. Practically speaking that means we are committing to giving the game jam the coverage it deserves over the coming months, both here on the blog and on our podcast. It also means Derek ‘ateam’ Pascarella shall be representing the Junkyard on the judges panel alongside the likes of The Sega Guru and DreamcastFreak. When asked to comment, Derek had the following to say:

“It’s a big honor to be selected as a judge for this year’s competition! The Dreamcast scene is full of so much talent, and I simply can’t wait to see what awesome stuff my friends churn out this time around.”

Game jams have undoubtedly contributed to the liveliness of the Dreamcast’s burgeoning homebrew scene right from its earliest days. Notable outputs from more recent jams include: Dreamcastnoid: 128 Bit Wars which emerged from DCJAM 2016; Dungeon Ross, a precursor to the forthcoming HarleQuest!, that arose from Global Game Jam 2016; and Swirling Blades which stemmed from the DreamOn 20th anniversary game jam in 2018. 

The mini-CD physical release of Dreamcastnoid. 

Given these past experiences then, there is ample reason to be hopeful that the new Dream Disc ‘24 Game Jam will lead somewhere fruitful. Uncontent with simply daydreaming though, we decided to probe the jam’s organisers Cypress (Psyop Studios) and Ross (Orc Face Games) to gain a little real-life insight, and are pleased to publish our exchange here for your reading pleasure.

Interview with the Creators of Dream Disc '24 Game Jam

DCJY: Thanks for taking the time to speak with us, chaps! To kick things off, perhaps you could let us know what inspired you to organise the Dream Disc game jam?

Cypress: I’ve always loved the Dreamcast and I was jealous that the N64/Saturn/Game Boy scenes always had active jams, so I decided I should start hosting Dreamcast jams myself. This is my second one, the last one being the SummerJam24. My goal with it is to have a yearly recurring jam to help grow the development scene. The Dreamcast is an amazing console, and it’s a shame that there’s not more Dreamcast developers.

Ross: We need more Dreamcast developers! It also gives the community something to rally around and helps motivate existing developers to try new ideas and get something finished.

The Dreamcast indie/homebrew scene has been lively for over two decades now. Presumably there are some talented and experienced Dreamcast developers that you’re hoping to attract?

Cypress: Absolutely. I have gone through and personally emailed or messaged dozens of well known devs, including the people who initially created KallistiOS. It’d be amazing to have a big turnout of OG Dreamcast developers.

Ross: Definitely! We have Ian Michael (a veteran of the scene), Voxel (Dashy no Blast), Lerabot (Fragmented Almanac) and Freakdave (Driving Strikers) all taking part, and interest from some hardware designers too. Some Dreamcast developers don’t really frequent the Simulant Discord server where the jam originated, but hopefully we’ll be able to attract some people from outside that community too.

Will those that are newer to development or the DC dev scene be able to get involved too? If someone doesn’t already have a project/team of their own, could they hook-up with one that already exists?

Cypress: Absolutely! Not only are there plenty people to team up with in the Dream Disc ‘24 Simulant chat, but we now have access to easy graphics and development libraries that are designed for new developers with Raylib4DC. For simple games, Dreamcast has never been easier to develop for. Plenty of developers are looking for artists and musicians to work with as well.

The game jam has a wide scope, anything from game demos, to applications and even hardware can be submitted. What examples can entrants take as inspiration? Are there any Dreamcast homebrew/indie successes that you can flag up?

Cypress: Our aim is to let every part of the Dreamcast development community participate, and none of the categories are really meant to be a cut-throat competitive experience. As far as games go, I think Pier Solar is a great example of both a complete game and what can be done with Dreamcast homebrew if someone puts their mind to it. Harlequest! from Orc Face is looking like it might end up being an amazing game. Another good example is Driving Strikers, a Dreamcast game that boasts the unique feature of online play and is also ported to PC/Android thanks to its engine Simulant.

When it comes to hardware submissions, we’re talking about things like optical disc emulators, VMU replacements, coders cables, stuff like this. We didn’t want to exclude our scene’s active hardware devs, so we’ve made a side competition for them. Typically, game jams don’t have any physical components involved, so we don’t really have a reference to work from, but we’re hoping that we can make it fun and engaging nonetheless.

Lastly, with regards to tools or utilities. This is also an uncommon category, but we know there are plenty of folks who are actively involved in their creation, and there really isn’t a good reason not to get them involved too. Examples could include art programs for obscure formats, libraries for Dreamcast development, GUI tools, and so on. Pretty much everything that isn’t a game but has to do with Dreamcast will go into this category.

Ross: For new projects being made specifically for the jam, it’s very important that developers limit the scope of their projects and keep it simple. Inspiration could come from arcade games or entries from previous jams on various platforms. In terms of the Dreamcast itself, starting with the raylib samples or KallistiOS examples is a good idea for beginners.

We get the sense that the game jam announcement has created quite a buzz. What has the response been like from your perspective?

Cypress: As an organiser, it’s been fantastic. We’ve seen new developers join the Dreamcast scene already because of the event and it’s helped bring those who were already here closer together too.

As a participant submitting a game, it’s made me less certain that I’ll be able to make the top ten! We have way more entrants than I could have imagined, and the number keeps getting higher. I’ve had to set aside extra time to work on my entry.

Ross: It’s been great! Everyone seems excited and ready to go. We have some developers getting a head start already and YouTube creators like The Sega Guru joining the jam as a panel judge. The key now is to keep up the momentum and ramp up the promotional side over the next few weeks.

Are Orc Face prepared for the huge demand there will be for the Dream Disc’ 24 CD-ROM? All that packing, labelling, and then having to handle the surly staff of the Post Office. What a palaver!

Ross: This is actually a great opportunity for us to test our production pipeline. Being a fairly new company in the Dreamcast scene we’ve put a lot of care into making sure our compilation, artwork design, pre-mastering and manufacturing processes are smooth and predictable, but ultimately you need to battle-test these things to make them robust. We also have two games in the publishing pipeline now, and of course with our own game HarleQuest! in active development there’s no shortage of things to do!

How excited are you for Frog Feast 2? You do know it is going to blow everything else out the water, don’t you?

Cypress: I’ve already given up on my ambitions to get first place. I simply don’t think there’s enough time to create something more beautiful and emotionally moving than Frog Feast 2.

Ross: Wait, there’s going to be a second one!? Do they need a publisher?

Before we let you go, is there anything else you’d like the Junkyard’s readers to know about the game jam? 

Cypress: Please be assured that absolutely anyone is welcome to participate. You don’t need to know any secret handshakes or anything to get involved. If you’re interested in programming, making art, or composing music, please join the Simulant server and start a project or find a partner to make a game with. You won’t regret it! (P.S. I’d like to shout out both Darc and Falco Girgis from the Dreamcast dev scene for both putting up with me and helping me while continue learning to code).

Ross: Just that the jam is made possible thanks to the amazing sponsors and individuals who have donated to the prize pool. If anyone wants to sweeten the pot and help motivate our devs, head on over to the Orc Face Games website and click the “Prize Pool” donation button.

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Thanks go out to Cypress and Ross for taking the time to speak with the Junkyard crew. As and when any other jam-related news drops we'll be sure to cover it right here on the blog. Of course, we're always interested to hear the thoughts of readers too. You've made it this far, so why not leave us a comment below?