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Jam ran 4th-31st January 2021 

The Ray Casting Kajam has finished! 0

toasty • 3 years ago 

Congratulations to everybody who participated! It looks like we have a lot of intriguing entries, so well done everybody :)

Even if you didn't manage to create a full game, you should be proud - this is a particularly technical challenge, after all.

This means there are games to play!

Even if you didn't enter, I suggest you take some time to play the games these excellent folk have made! As always, if you can, please provide them with some of that lovely, juicy feedback. A bit of encouragement wouldn't go amiss either :)

There's still time, sort of

If you haven't yet finished your game, don't panic! This is a casual jam, so entries will be left open for a few days yet. Do try to get it done soon, though: the longer you leave it, the less chance people have to play your game!

What's next then?

We have a bunch of exciting stuff coming up.

11th Alakajam! 26-28th February

The biggest event of 2021 so far: theme voting for the 11th Alakajam! will start in early February, with the actual jam taking place on the weekend 26-28 February. Don't miss it!

Alakajam hackathon, 1st & 8th February

An informal hackathon with @wan, @toasty and others will take place over at Github on the 1st and 8th of February, in the evening Central European Time. If you're interested in fixing bugs, polishing pages or just hacking on your favourite niche magical game jam site, ask in the Alakajam discord or on IRC.

The Ray Casting Kajam has begun! 3

toasty • 3 years ago 

That's right! From the 4th to the 31st of January, we're having another Kajam event. Your mission is to make a game that uses ray casting in some way, graphical or otherwise.

But what is ray casting?

In 3D graphics, ray tracing is a rendering method in which "virtual light rays are "cast" or "traced" on their path from the focal point of a camera through each pixel in the camera sensor to determine what is visible along the ray" (Wikipedia article). For a resolution of 320x240, that would be 76800 rays each frame! Ray casting is an optimised version of Ray tracing where only one ray is required for each column of pixels, which means only 320 rays each frame! This is the technique used in classic games like Wolfenstein 3D!

So I have to write an esoteric retro 3D renderer?

I encourage you to give it a go, but it's not required! There are plenty of other reasons why you might "cast rays" in a game. The same ideas are often used in physics simulations, AI, and sometimes seemingly simple operations, like checking if a player can jump. So please feel free to use your imagination! If it involves rays, we're happy :).

But what is a Kajam?

Kajam competitions are month-long events in which people make a small video game focusing on a specific aspect of game development. They're a perfect opportunity to learn, experiment and level-up your gamedev skills!

Detailed rules here.

Some relevant links: