Why you should be doing game jams
What is a game jam?
A game jam is a group of people who decide to gather together to make some portion of a game in some fixed amount of time.
So, what do I mean by that?
Ok, so, the most traditional form of a game jam challenges developers to create a full game of a specific type or theme in a set amount of time. Sometimes, game jams are a weekend. Sometimes they are months. Sometimes, they are solo developers, teams, or a mix. The exact rules vary a LOT.
Sometimes, they are competitions. Sometimes, the goal is just to complete a game and submit it to the jam, no comparisons required.
Sometimes, developers can submit games they have already worked of prior to the jam, or just submit a vertical for a game. Other times, the rules do not allow you to start until the game jam begins.
I have never seen one without a theme, but the themes can be very broad or very specific depending on the game jam. For example, my current game jam is just a visual novel or text based game. The only limit is the type of game itself, subject matter can vary. I’ve done romance game jams in the past as well as game jams with very specific themes that are not revealed ahead of time.
Where can I find them?
The most approachable ones are on itch.io. They frequently require you to make your game free, which can be a bit of a bummer, but some allow you to monetize. There’s dozens going on simultaneously, and they are generally low commitment.
Ludum Dare is one of the most popular game jams, and happens a few times a year.
Outside of that, you may need to do some research. Local game jams in person in your area of totally possible, especially if you live in a major metropolitan area. If you are in school for game dev, there's a decent chance your school hosts one as well. You’ll have to do some digging for specific ones near you.
What’s the point?
Game jams are a great place to experiment and learn new things. Forcing yourself to complete a game in a set amount of time is also very motivating if you struggle to complete projects. If you’re working on a big game that is taking you months on months, I still recommend participating in game jams to give yourself a bit of a break and expand your comfort zone. Overall, its a great way to motivate yourself to try new things, see things from a new perspective, and manage your productivity and time. I try to do four a year, so at the end of the year even if nothing happened, I still have four little games I created that I can use on a portfolio.
How can I get the most out of them?
Every game jam I do, I try to challenge myself in some way. They are a great way to learn with pretty low stakes. Maybe I try out a new game engine, go deeper with new mechanics in one I already know, or try to handle the art on my own. These game jams are first and foremost to challenge myself and learn new things, so it’s important to be that I am clear on how I am going to do this going in.
I also really recommend competitive game jams. This is generally the best way to get feedback on your work, which is important for improving. Oftentimes with non-competitive game jams, you’ll see some traffic to your game through the game jam page, but you won’t see any comments that give you advice on how to improve.
This article is a part of an ongoing project of daily video game mini essays. If you like the idea of getting these mini essays dropped directly into your inbox, I am cross-posting on Substack. You can subscribe here for free: https://howtogrowroses.substack.com/
If you want to learn more about me or my games, you can find my website here: https://www.heyitsamanda.com/
