Super Game Jam is an episodic documentary—in each of the five (30-minute-ish) episodes, two people get together and spend 48 hours making a game. Because each episode features different people, the entertainment value depends on ten individuals and the chemistry of five pairings. That's why episode one is, by far, my favorite. And why I could barely finish episodes two and four.

As others have mentioned, the technical quality varies dramatically throughout the documentary. The camera work in episode five is especially awful. You will also see the cameramen sometimes, which is just poor editing.

Each episode starts by showing you some things the jammers have made in the past, or are currently making. Then you get a game prompt (episode one's prompt, for example, is "breakup"), and a discussion of what the game will be. Then they start programming the game, making the music, making the art, and recording the sound, depending on the episode. There are points during each episode when they play the game. Mostly it's just the jammers discussing the game, with over-the-shoulder shots of their screens. The episodes finish with a quick play of the game, a short pub/house party segment of other people playing the game, and mini-interviews with the jammers talking about the experience/game.

A lot of people will find this boring. I found it boring.

SGJ isn't just five video files and five games. It's a surprisingly buggy, fullscreen-only application with absolutely no settings, which comes in the form of an 11.5 GB download. The video player has three features: pause, volume control, and seek. Thankfully, you can avoid the application altogether and view the videos in your preferred video player by browsing through the SGJ's files. (Which you should do if you have blurry video in SGJ's built-in video player.)

These are jam games. While some of them are cute, you probably won't play any of them for more than five minutes.

SGJ comes with "uncut discussions" and/or deleted scenes for each episode. Some are quite short (1 minute), others relatively long (18 minutes). And you probably won't watch them.

It also lets you listen to the music. I didn't like the music.

Is too high.

I really did enjoy episodes one and five. Some people enjoy all five episodes. If you think the entertainment you'll get is worth the price tag, then you should buy it. But maybe only when it's on sale.

I expected a little bit more technical overview and motivation for beginning game designers/developers.

First episode - Navigator

As I wrote at the beginning of the review it wasn't what i expected. It was a little bit too shallow for me I would expect a little bit more of a in-depth documentary rather than "This is buggy, hmm, I know how to fix it!" and proceed to fix it without any explanation or comment.

Even though 48 hours isn't that much I think they could make the episode longer than 30 minutes

The game itself seems to be pretty good though, the design feels a little bit more mobile orientated to me, but heck, what do i know?

I'm curious what will the other episodes bring.

Who would I recommend this for?
Someone who's interested in hearing some known indie developers talk about game design ideas and see how design iteration happens during a game jam.

Who would I not recommend this for?
Someone who wants to know how games are made.
Someone who wants insight into the game industry.
Someone who expects great cinematography.
Someone who expects a story.

I bought it after all 5 episodes were out so I had no concerns over whether the price was worth it. For me, the second episode was the only slow one. I had no expectations of it being better than "Indie Game" so all in all it was worth the price for some entertainment in a topic I love.

I enjoy game jams, and really enjoyed episode 1. I have to question if the project is still going on because it's July 12 and the June episode has yet to be released. I get wanting to hold things back if it's not ready but let the fans know first. Especially paid fans.

My recommendation is a YES to watch the series but a NO on purchasing it until all the episodes are released.

I enjoyed the content but the client that Steam boots up is broken. It’s links don’t work, for me only episodes 1 and 2 would load up. The others I had to rummage through the files to find, which wasn’t ideal but it’s better than nothing.

For anyone that might not know how to do that, go to the directory which you downloaded the game in, go to SteamLibrary > steamapps > common > SuperGameJam > content > films and then navigate from there.

I would down vote due to the actual product being broken, but I’m going to go off of the actual content, which I enjoyed.

I liked the concept of bringing two indie developers together at one of their houses and spending the next 48 hours making a game based on a theme that the previous pair had suggested. Five episodes in total, It was cool to see them work together, mind map all their ideas and throw together a unique little game with such little time. It was also interesting to see the chemistry between each pair. Some got on really well, others didn’t seem to as much. I actually really liked the way the guys in episode 3 worked together. Overall it was fun, and you can even play the prototypes that they worked on.

If you have an interest in indie game development and want to kill some time, then give this a watch.


TL;DR : Thing Steam boots up is kind of broken, might have to rummage around in the files but overall it’s a fun 5-part documentary with an interesting concept that shows how developers work together and bounce around ideas.

For those of us who participate and enjoy game jams, this series is an absolute must-watch. For those of you who are aspiring game designers, here's your introduction into the industry. I have enjoyed every installment that has come out so far. In each episode, two game developers (you might recognize a few of them) are given a theme and are given 45 hours to make a game based on that theme. In every case so far, the two members seem to have very different backgrounds and talents. You'll watch them struggle as they come up with basic game mechanics, visual / audio effects , and work around various bugs that come up along the way.
It is unfortunate to me that most of the episodes have failed to meet their respected release dates. However, I'll let this slide, since every episode so far has been well put-together and properly polished into a professional looking product.

What's here is good. Sadly, that's a single episode when the schedule says we should have three by now. When it's finished and all five are released, it might be worth the money. Based on the first one... eh. Wait for a sale.

And that "music" that starts the first episode? Please never do that again.

There's a lot of people that've left negative reviews because they're frustrated about the delayed release of episodes. I held off buying Super Game Jam until all the episodes were released (partly because I was most interested in the final episode) and for the sale price of £7.49 I don't at all feel duped or scammed.

If you're interested in documentaries - and in game development - then this is a fun little collection of short films that shed light on how indie developers operate. Though it doesn't represent everyday game development, the conceit of a 48h 'jam' makes for some interesting tension over the course of each episode. The strength of the documentary itself is probably the cinematography - it's filmed beautifully with a very intimate feel (especially since the setting is always the home of one of the developers); the score is also spot-on. As a designer I can really appreciate the way the content is presented through the Steam client in a very clean, simple interface. A similar attention is paid to the graphics in the documentary itself. And if you don't want to watch it in the Steam client the files are available as HD .mp4 files in the local files - so you can just pick them up and move them about DRM-free.

If you're only interested in the games...then I wouldn't bother. The price you pay is not worth the five rushed prototypes - but that's because at its core, this project was about the documentary. It's about the process of making the games, the people who make them and how they cope in a high-pressure environment. The games included in the purchase are not the focus - they're almost like special features. Speaking of special features - the 'posters' aren't all that great (in terms of resolution/quality), but you also get some nice bonus cut content and an EP-sized bundle of music from Doseone and Kozilek.

For £15, this is a tougher sell but you have to realize that not only is this a unique venture, it's an independent film. You'll pay something like £10 for a DVD in the high street, so consider the extra 33% the price you pay for supporting independent artists (the filmmakers and developers). If you don't feel like paying £15, wait for it to go on sale - anything below is a steal if you like quality, interesting documentaries made with a clear love for the subject.

It was a great experience for me to see all 5 episodes with an extra bonus material. However, compilation of these videos & small games has one big minus - the price is very high.
7/10

First episode is great! It's really interesting to see 2 people sit down and make a game within 48 hours. It's inspiring, which is always something that is a plus with something like this. Highly recomended. Also, the first game, Navigator, is pretty fun!