The last time we ran Dublin GameCraft was in 2019! And we are back at St Laurence’s Church at TU Dublin. Big thanks to Bryan Duggan for organising the venue and catering!
Big thanks to everyone who came along!
Here are the announcements from the morning: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vQzcpHn-gs8mnFSjJZraviOj0n4ho_la_1NUJXLc8Zac8n6s4rjZoWHp4p0a4CHo9BLEMcJT2uqQIsU/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000
The day was packed full of excitement, and there were some quiet moments when folks are brainstorming and trying out physical prototypes and digital platforms. But mostly people enjoyed themselves, which is what we hoped. With people from different backgrounds, some first-timers, returning faces, it was such a fun-filled day.
The theme was “POP” and was announced at after 10am, although we forgot to announce it on social media for those who couldn’t make it!
We had 8 games made on the day. It was a mix of digital and table-top games. The digital games were made on Godot, Unity, Pico-8 and Playdate.
Pop-pop!
I (Vicky) manage to create a mini-game in Pico-8 where you pop bubbles as fast as you can before the time runs out. Think Wario-ware-like games.
Pop your Bubble
Mick was having a go playing with the Playdate’s SDK and made a breathing in-and-out game using the crank
Pop
Kasper, who runs Cork Game Dev Group, made a tower-popping-balloons game with Donal, it was made in Godot.
Bubble Merchant
Here’s another game made in Godot, try and not go bankrupt selling your carbonised creations.
Other games that haven’t uploaded yet
Pop the bubble
Dice-rolling game for 2-players. Each has 3 x D12 dies and you only roll 1 dice at a time. You try and pop the bubble, there’s a score to reach for each bubble. Each player gets to roll 3 times each. During their go, if you accumulate a score equal or larger than the bubble points, then the player wins. If not, keep going until a player pops all the bubbles.
Pop the watermelon
This game was created in Godot. When it was playtested after the jam ended, it was played via a phone app, and it was 4-players (it can be more). You basically choose to snip a number of rubber bands, go to the shop and buy a pump to pump up the watermelon, and even skip your turn (only 1 for the whole game). If it doesn’t pop on your go, you get a point. Once someone selects their option and hands the phone to you, keep an eye to see if the watermelon is about to burst. Good luck! I (Vicky), went big and chose the biggest number… POP!
Pop
This is a rhythm dancing game but with the alt.ctrl (source) - it’s made with Unity. Lots of fun and laughs.
Check out their wee mascot IRL as well.
XR Pop
Bryan and Darren’s game! He explains it better than I can via his LinkedIn post:
[...]created a pass-through MR game where you use a slingshot to pop alien-shaped balloons created by a weird, golden musical instrument powered by a hand crank. We used hashtag#FOSS: hashtag#Godot, hashtag#Blender, hashtag#Audacity and XR Toolkit and got most of the mechanics working within the time and everyone got to try it out! Looking forward to polishing our game and releasing it in the coming days!
Looking forward to see all the rest of the games on itch. 🤩
In the meantime, check out and play the games uploaded so far (more hopefully coming soon): https://itch.io/jam/dublin-gamecraft-2025
📚 Game Resources Doc
We also have a games resources doc, and it’s a live doc. If you have anything that’s useful to add, please let us know: info@gamecraft.it
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LjO_VMTTE0WsAw-OjRRmj1Vl4qJFj7D3wbrqtz1JA3s/edit?usp=sharing
Upcoming Events
Cat Making Games: Making Games Sound @ Mayfair Library (Kilkenny)
- Thu Feb 27, 18:00 19:30
- https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/making-games-sound-tickets-1244855850359
Galway Game Dev @ CREW
- Tue Mar 4, 19:00 - 21:00
- https://www.meetup.com/galway-game-makers-meetup/events/303648989/
AniMates #8 @ The Belfast Barge
- Sat Mar 8, 18:30
- https://www.animates-events.co.uk/events/p/animates8
The Games Co-Op: Game Set March!
- Mon, Mar 10, 19:00 - 23:00
- https://www.meetup.com/the-games-co-op/events/30622224
FÍS Games Summit 2025
- Fri, Apr 11, 09:00 - 18:00
- Radisson RED Galway
- https://www.eventbrite.ie/e/fis-games-summit-2025-tickets-1252829479699
🤔 And to answer when our next will be...
...normally we have another one at the end of the year, but it all depends on the venue. Ideas welcomed, some suggested Microsoft Garage, The Digital Hub, Baseline.
💬 Join our discord for chats, sharing laffs, and find out when more GameCrafts are coming up as well as other community and games events are happening: https://discord.gg/kvEfKFvC22
🙏 Again, thanks to all who came along and hope to see you again at the next one! Let’s bring more people from different backgrounds and see what we can make together!
-- Vicky, Mick and Bryan
Top comments (2)
This theme stresses me out lol
Turn the pop into something less anxious! :-D
I'm thinking other ideas like something to do with Pop art, Pop tarts, or even just a popping bubble wrap simulator 🥰