First Annual Gamemaking Frenzy Opens At This Year’s Fantastic Arcade

Gamemaking Frenzy, a 48 hour game jam, will make its debut on the cusp of this year’s Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas. The first ever game making marathon is scheduled to run between September 14 and 16th, and will task teams of developers with creating a project based around the popular Cartoon Network show Adventure Time. The 48-hour Gamemaking Frenzy will lead up to the gaming portion of the festival, known as the Fantastic Arcade. Austin-based indie gaming collective Juegos Rancheros organizes the annual Arcade portion of the festival, which features a selection of playable indie games from all over the world. Standout games completed during the Gamemaking Frenzy will be also be playable in an Adventure Time-themed arcade cabinet during the remainder of the Fantastic Arcade, and all entries will be hosted on the Gamemaking Frenzy website following the September event. The TV show itself seems like a perfect fit for a game jam, as many of Adventure Time’s storylines and character designs regularly pay homage to retro video games (the show even has a delightful chiptune soundtrack). Pendleton Ward, the show’s creator, is officially supporting the use of his characters and world in the games created during the Austin event. “Guys, this is maybe the coolest Adventure Time thing.. for me.. I’m super excited about this,” Ward wrote on Twitter. If you’ve never had the chance to catch the quirky cartoon show, check out the clip below to get a proper, rainbow-flavored taste.

Gamemaking Frenzy will be open to developers of all skill levels, and is encouraging members of the global community to participate alongside developers in attendance. The event will have a local coding headquarters for on-site work, but anyone in the world can submit their own project to the Gamemaking Frenzy website.

Interested developers can register for free at the official event website to get started on their own Adventure Time-themed game, or head over to the official Fantastic Fest website to see what titles made it into this year’s Fantastic Arcade.