SteemitJam

The second edition of SteemitJam is starting in 24 hours. SteemitJam is a game creation event where participants follow a specific theme to create a game under 72 hours. If you want to know more about SteemitJam or want to participate click here.

SteemitJam logo

There's currently an ongoing contest organized by @poet to design a SteemitJam logo here.

Tips to succeed in a game jam

Have a good sleeping cycle

I've seen in many game jams, participants not sleeping to "increase productivity". I personally think that this is wrong, especially for programmers. A good rest with half the time is better than no rest. If you can, I recommend timing your sleeping cycle optimally with the game jam in order to have a maximum time awake (This is usually done by sleeping before the event).

Understand the theme

The theme plays a crucial role in a game jam, the first part of the event usually revolves in finding an idea that fits the theme. I look up the theme in the dictionary to be aware of different definitions. I also write several ideas and put their pros and cons face to face in order to choose what game I am going to create.

Keeping it simple

A fun game jam entry is usually as simple as one well exploited mechanic. That's it and it should not be more. Don't try something overly complicated, you just want to have a fun game at the end, unless the event requires you to do it, it's a very bad time to start an MMORPG. Think of a single fun mechanic and exploit it in a creative way.

Manage your time

If you want a complete game at the end you need to manage your time effectively and avoid wasting it on something that does not really add value to your game. Here's a few things that you will need time for :

• Finding an idea for your game that follows the theme
• Mocking the idea/Prototyping
• Programming
• Debugging and testing
• Creating art
• Adding sounds and music
• Polishing
• Releasing

From my previous game jams, the last 24 hours has always been reserved for art, sounds, music, polishing debugging and testing. Not pouring enough time in the last activities may result in your game feeling prototype-ish or incomplete.

After the game jam, understand what you did wrong and what you did right

I encourage people to write post-mortems of their SteemitJam games to understand their mistakes and improve from them. What went right? What went wrong? How can you improve? Those are questions I ask myself after a game jam and it usually followed by setting some objectives for the next one. For this SteemitJam, one of my objectives is to have decent sound and implement music, since music has never been part of any of my games.