Welcome to the very first GAME JAMuary!

*fanfare and booze*

Hey There!  I'm Villagbear, a Twitch streaming hobbyist and welcome to the Jam!!  The original intent of this Game Jam was to create something together with our small online community on discord. I've never created a game before so...  why not ring in the New Year by making a game! Everyone is invited to join us (yes, you!) as we embark on a full month of learning, connecting and creating!

Note that this will be a Month long,  Unranked Jam!

Schedule of events

• December 31st, 12:00pm PST: Kickoff stream! Tune in here
• December 31st, 12:10pm PST: Theme is announced on stream and in the discord
• January 31st, 12:00am PST: Games are due for submission!

How to Jam and Slam

This jam is centered around Twitch and is all about creating together, so to ensure maximum funsies and lotso learning n' game making, we recommend that you do these!

1. Stream your process in the GameDevelopment community with #gamejamuary in your title and Tweet your progress with #gamejamuary on Twitter!
2. Stay connected by joining our Discord server!
3. Check out what other jammers are doing, and hang out and have an awesome time!

Never streamed before?  Don't fret!  Here's a guide to setup a stream on Twitch! (I recommend OBS)  If you are having trouble, feel free to ask us on discord!  Remember streaming is not necessary, but is encouraged! :D 

This is my first Jam!

How do I Slam?!  I Like Jam!?  Don't worry!  This will the first jam for many of our participants and remember, its a month long, casual jam!   You can jump in at any time and start jamming!  Our resident jammer irdumbs has given me useful links and therefore I shall give you useful links!  To ensure a successful Jam, please follow some important things below:

1. Keep it Simple!

I highly recommend keeping it simple. Take your grand idea and simplify it to its core and really fine tune that idea. With all the extra time you have now since you kept it simple, you will be able to focus on refining your game! The game will love you for that also. <3

2. Stay rested! Drink Water!

Our Jam is a month long, so we have a lot of time to learn and create!   Remember this is not a competitive Game Jam!  But at same time that doesn't mean you shouldn't work hard on your game.  No matter what happens, you will come out of this jam with new skills and experience in making games!  So don't stress to much about it. Make sure you still sleep, eat, stay hydrated and do regular human things!  

I  highly recommend checking out Butterscotch Shenanigan's "Shenanijam: How To Do" guide by clicking HERE. Theres a lot of really good info and tips and tricks to be successful at the Jam! Slam! Jam Slam!

Useful Links and Tools

First time making Games?  Sortingh.at has a wonderful interactive beginner's guide to game making, making games, makinggamegames.
(disclaimer: this site was not written to be used for gamejams, so you should keep in mind the time constraints and limit your scope, so probably no RPG's or MMOs!)

Game Engines
Unity / Defold / Godot / Construct 3 / GameMaker / PICO-8 / Ren'Py / Love2D

Game Assets and stuff
Free resources (audio/art) / Graphics Gale /  Pixel art tutorials / Inkscape

Lastly, being new to all this. Watch this keynotes video from Extra Credits for the Global Game Jam 2017. It'll infinitely explain things better, granted this event is a 2 day thing, while GAME JAMuary is a month long. I hope after we are done with this Jam, we will be more comfortable with the process and possibly participate in more Jams!