Since the Jam is over, It would be neat if we could hear a word or two by the hosts. We got a few comments here and there but the experience feels a bit dry and hollow without a bit of feedback, or at least a farewell message by the creators.
I usually send out an email to the participants that should be in your inbox by now. I'm sorry though, I haven't played entries for the past few jams I've held, the time to do so has eluded me, "life I guess." However, this community has no shortage of people who are willing to critique your work. Thanks to them this jam is successfull and I will keep it going for as long as I can. Hopefully, in future jams, I can get to rate more games. Thanks to all the took part both in rating the games and submitting entries. Join our discord, and keep us updated on your plans for your games. There you can find people to roast your work and provide feedback, you can share your success stories, failures, and much more.
I just got the email, yes. I'm curious, how can you find someone's email from here and send an email? I thought itch.io didn't allow that.
Also, in this jam I felt like there was no agency. Everything was done without much interaction. I found the jam alone, I posted the game alone and then the jam ended uneventfully. At least try to say a few words for the winning entry, otherwise this experience feels kind of empty.
From my perspective, I gave my game for free and in return I got just some feedback that doesn't show in the game's page. That's ithc.io's fault perhaps. But for "your" 21st jam, I would expect something more than a generic email. It was very anticlimactic.
Now, I'm not running jams and all I can do is give you some feedback here, but I guess if someone hosts a jam, he should at least make a half-decent playthrough of a few of the top games, with comments and opinions, as some kind of reward. This way the jam and some of the participants can get a bit more exposure for their hard work. And any opinion coming for someone that runs jams for over 2 years, would feel legit, are you must be unbiased and experienced.
In any case, thanks for this opportunity.
Our intention is to give developers feedback on their games. According to your post, I think we achieved that. I acknowledge that I maybe can interact more with the community and provide a bit more for the winners, however, I am doing this for free, and finding the time is a bit of a challenge. For the past few installments of the jam, I haven't been able to do ratings but the community has ensured that entries get rated. I am thankful for that. I did state that there is no prize for winning. The feedback from other devs is actually the most valuable thing you can get from this Jam. I do hope I can build a better experience for the participants in future jams however this is the best I can manage for now. Thanks for taking part. I'm sorry if we disappointed you.
Also, itch.io has a feature for you to email your game jam participants without actually having their email. So don't worry you won't get spammed and we don't do that anyway. I mostly only send emails before and after jam.
You can msg me on Discord if you have any more concerns. I'll be glad to have a chat.