Australian game developers are incredibly talented, creative, fun people. To celebrate that fact, studio Paper House recently announced the inaugural Cake Book Game Jam. The event, inspired by the classic Women’s Weekly Cake Book, was designed to promote creativity and team work in the local games scene, with developers of all experience levels invited to create a cake-inspired game over a weekend in April.
“Just like everyone, I’ve had that same weird nostalgic obsession with the The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book, and The Cake Book Game Jam is something i’ve wanted to organise since we first got the studio space a couple years ago,” organiser Terry Burdak told GamesHub.
“I was flicking through the book one time and realised that a lot of the cakes were almost just complete games in themselves. They had characters, environments, rules (like the racing ones) and I was genuinely curious to see the kind of things people could make using just the cakes as stimulus for creating.”
With the event now wrapped, there’s a raft of awesome little creations now available on itch.io, with mini-video games and physical games included in the Cake Book Game Jam collection. Per Paper House, there were about 60-70 people who participated in the event, with games including “actual cakes, physical games, and a soundtrack.”
“I think the genuine excitement and appreciation for the concept [was very rewarding],” Burdak said. “I never know how my silly ideas are going to be received and this one clearly struck a chord with a lot of people.”
“[There was an] incredible vibe and good energy on the day from the people who were involved, and not just participating in the event … We had people baking cakes, so the whole studio smelt incredible, we had people stop by dropping off cakes and gifts for people, other people saying hello and bringing their kids. I’ve never really been go a games event like that before, let alone a game jam.”
“I think what also made it feel special for me personally was that it was the intended goal. I wanted it to be like that and it was, so that was nice. [What was also rewarding] was the level of support, quality and creativity of games that were being made by everyone. Some of the games were honestly just operating on a different level, and seeing how people not only interpreted the different cakes but how they wanted to express themselves was very humbling.”
“We really do have some incredibly talented people in this town.”
Developer Olivia Haines created Candy Castle for the game jam, and this wonderfully twee game evokes a lot of childhood nostalgia. In the game, you are wandering a tabletop, searching for lollies, and gazing upon the magnificence of a castle cake.
Read: Paper House announces game jam inspired by the famous Women’s Weekly Cake Book
I Spy Cake Jam is a neat little experience developed by Holly Wouters that tasks you with finding objects on the Women’s Weekly robot cake.
There’s also a sweet-looking candy-wrapping mini game called Rawring Candies, from developers Alysha, Lori, Mishal. In this game, which features hand-drawn environments, you pick up candy, wrap it with wrapping paper, and then deliver it to a dragon “for he will grow stronger into candy dragon to unlock his RAWRING CANDIES abilities !!“
Quack in Cakeworld by Khatim Javed Dar and Yee Hui Wong is all about collecting decorations in a strange cake factory, overseen by a giant bunny.
There’s also Let Them Eat Cake? which tasks you with cake decorating, an adventure starring the famous Mildred Mouse cake, a fun little adventure set in a splodgy house cake, an astrology-themed game that tells you which Women’s Weekly cake you are, and a physical board game where you travel to the classic Pool Party cake.
The games included in the inaugural Cake Book Game Jam are an eclectic bunch, and show off the full scope and wild energy of the local game developer community in Melbourne, Australia, and beyond. It’s also goes to show just how much of a game can be created in a single weekend, powered by dogged determination. The games included on itch.io are a delight, and represent a wonderful portion of the creative spirit backing Australian-made games.
You can now check out all the games from the Cake Book Game Jam on itch.io.
