Well well, The Brackeys Game Jam’s - 5th Edition is near the mark, and we’re all flushed with excitement at this point! Before starting, I wish you the best for your Game Jam, have a good time with your friends, it’s one week of free joy boys. ehm ehm.
Now you would tell me: “Noooo Nuriko! You can’t just make a post to help jamers 2 Days before the jam starts” Well post goes brrr. Nah actually I’ve found on the Community Discord Server, that lots of people are new to Game Development and somehow … lost if you know what I’m saying. This post is here for everyone, no matter if you’re experienced or whatsoever. So let’s just clarify everything.
Also if you hadn’t read Yillian’s post, I highly suggest you to read it before humping over this one :)
I. Shake that Gray Matter
Now one cumbersome, yet the hardest part in Game Jams, is finding a brightful idea in harmony with the theme, now here’s a problem that some might pass through … Don’t fr*king throw away your ideas! If you get an idea just try to develop it, stick to it a little more and I can tell you that you’ll surely get your way out.
Soemtimes, you’ll probably find your idea kind of wonky at the begining but as soon as you go through the Game Development process, you’ll see that it takes more and more volume, and you’ll be very very very proud of it by the end.
The only things you need to concentrate on a bit here is the Innovation and Sticking to the Theme but as I said don’t waste too much precious time Brainstroming, a dumb idea can probably lead to some Geniously wonderful Games.
II. What Softwares to use ?
+ Game Engines
Luckily, there are TONS of softwares to choose from on the market! Choosing a game engine, is not that hard. Take the one that makes you feel comfortable. If you can make crazy games using it, then why not, it’s perfect! The Unity Game Engine is suitable for most people starting, since it has a huge community support, which means you can easily find find solutions to your problems either on Discord Servers, Youtube, or Support Websites stackoverflow intensifies. Besides handling 2D as well as 3D Scenes like a charm, Unity gives access to a wide variety of assets to choose from in the assets store. On the other hand you have the Unreal Engine 4 (Which is a complete 3D Game Development Engine), and Godot (very recommended for beginners).
+ IDEs (Integrated Development Environment)
Wile you can “use” Notepad to code (my god) An IDE is a software that’ll help you with programing in a “correct way” making your life sooo much easy. Choosing an IDE depends on your own use, as well as the targeted language. For C# you have the Visual Studio 2019, and the so called Jetbrains Rider. For something lightweight I suggest you to check the Visual Studio Code. In case you’re making a C++ Game in Unreal Engine, Visual Studio 2019, Jetbrains CLion are more appropriate.
+ Frameworks
All that said you can unlimit yourself and use a Framework to build your game. There is the CSFML for C game development, GLEW/GLFW (it’s a bit hard though) if you prefer C++ OpenGL game programing, LWJGL, the so called LightWeight Java Game Library and so on.
+ Assets
As mentioned in the rules section of the Jam’s main page, you can evetualy use some Free to use assets to create your game. Don’t think of it as a bad thing ! As a beginner, you can’t do all the work alone, feel completely free to use those Sound, Sprite, 3D Model assets. If you wan’t to feel that extra proudness resulting of making from scratch assets that fits your Game’s look and feel, then, hands on your software.
+ Wait what the hell
What? Oooooh yeah! I forgot to list softwares you can use to make lit assets, my bad! In the Assets Game there are … P-p …Pa … Paid Softwares, and Open Source softwares. For 3D Modeling I can’t recommend enough Blender this growing monster of modeling is made for you, simple enough, powerful as hell.
For Designs, Pixelart, everything related to 2D Drawings, you have Photoshop (Paid) and Asperite (Paid but you can compile the source code yourself), The Holy Paint.NET….
Graphics are good, let me introduce you to it’s little brother. Sound Design is a somehow complicated topic when you’re beginning in the domain. But don’t overthink it, you have The Holy Music Making Software That No One Knows How To Pronounce (Abreviated: T.H.M.M.S.T.N.O.K.H.T.P. :)) Bosca Ceoil epic_music.wav. A perfect compagnon to make lit music and Sound Effects. You know what else is meant for Sound effects ? SFXR, which is a software used to generate lit Chiptune-Like Sound Effects for your game.
Aaaaand .. CUT! I think I covered everything, right ? Feel free to post your question in the (idk how to name it) comment section below!
Just another point, it’s highly recommended to work in teams, as to share tasks with your mattes. Each with it’s specialities, so if you’re somehow “bad” in Design, Pixel Art or Sound Design then it really helps #TeamWork<3
I hope you enjoyed the lecture, I tried to use the most friendly-friendly language but nevermind am I right XD
And Happy delicious Jamming!!!