Simply sharing my current experience in this post as we're more than halfway through. The theme wasn't what I was expecting and my "weirdest" idea is what made it into development (I'm in this solo), which I wonder how many people will get the reference and thoughts behind it.

At first it was slightly stressful to think of an idea and to actually get started, not much though because once an idea started flowing it got more exciting. That said, it's incredibly satisfying seeing the game take shape and nearing completion (minus the final tweaks of course), especially since it will be my first project to make it to completion and not abandoned in the early stages. Personally writing down ideas before working on them and writing a personal dev log on a personal discord server (even though it's currently a dead one) helps me keep on track.

How's everyone else's experience? Is it similarly satisfying or is it more stressful?

A bit of both for me (my first jam also). I have pushed myself more than I usually would and so the development has definitely been faster than for my previous games so it has been satisfying to see the game together quite quickly but I've also found the deadline to be stressful. I'm kind of obsessing and not taking time out to do real life stuff like exercise and eat properly which is definitely not good! 

I've already submitted something so I know I can just leave it there and it will be good enough. I can slow down down and just work on the game at my own pace and yet I can still feel that "pull" of wanting to get my final vision of the game into the jam before the deadline. I think this jam has confirmed my knowledge that I just don't do well with deadlines in general lol! 

That sounds really familiar! I'm a solo dev too, juggling full-time work and twin girls at home—so time is always tight. This is actually the first jam where I’ve teamed up with someone for music/sound, and that’s definitely taken a bit of the pressure off. I’m not much of an artist either, but I made all the art myself, vector-based. It’s been a great learning experience and honestly, my favorite jam so far. I can really see how much I’ve improved since last year.

Totally get that weird mix of stress and excitement at the beginning. Once the idea starts clicking though, it’s so motivating seeing it all come together. Writing things down has helped me stay on track too, even if it's just in my own little corner of Discord.

Glad to hear your project is coming together! Hope the final stretch goes smoothly—can’t wait to see everyone’s games. And I can’t wait for you all to try mine!

It is also my first gamejam, and also as Solodev. The whole experience was pretty stressful so far. Even though I had a small ticket System with a Whiteboard, sometimes it was hard to see the progress. But now I’m pretty confident I have something to not be ashamed of 😊

Its also my first game jam experience and before that all I did was remakes of some arcade games and gamedevtv courses on udemy. Also I missed the first few days of the jam so I feel time is tight to finish the game. Good news is I like the concept of the game so its a bit relieving.

Not my first Gamejam, but my 3rd, however it's the first time I try to do something in 3D and there is a difficulty spike (for me who have daily work, and don't learn Unity everyday but rather "when I got time"). It's just 1 dimention more but it add a lot of options. With 2D I would not have problems and if I would continue any of my projects, I would definitelly start with my previous 2D games. However it's nice to learn some functions for 3D world. My game won't be much (if I can make it) but I can learn new things and that is important. I create not to compete for the best game, but rather to learn.