Welcome to My First Game Jam: Summer 2023! For those of you just joining us, it's been a tradition to kick things off with a little getting-to-know-you questionnaire! For the first-time game developer, things can be pretty intimidating... which is why we want to show you you're not alone! This is not a required activity— it's just meant as a way to break into the community for returning jammers and newbies alike.

We'd love for you to share your influences, passions, and jam goals with the rest of us. Who knows — you might meet a potential team member, or even a new friend!

(These questions are entirely optional; they're just here to warm things up, so feel free to skip them as needed!)

Onto the questions!

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself? 

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?  

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?  

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?  

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!  6. What are your goals for this game jam?

For returning jammers:

7. Any advice to new participants?   

8. What can the admins do to improve your jam experience?   

9. What are some of the past works you've made for the jam? Show off your favorites!   

10. Got any question suggestions? Let us know for next year!

1. Hello, everyone! My name is Alden. I'm a current Simulation and Game Development student in the USA, and I love making games!

2. I've never been in a game jam, but I've heard how much fun they are, so I decided this would be a good place to start.

3. My favorite game of all time is Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. It was the first game I truly fell in love with, and I play it still to this day(when I have time of course). I have many other games I enjoy, such as Rust, Rainbow Six: Siege, Minecraft, and all Call of Duty games.

4. I have just over a year of experience in game development, all from school. I have done some level design in Unreal Engine, however, most of my experience is with Unity. Additionally, I have published 1 game, which I have shared on my itch.io page.

5. I am very passionate about video game development, all sorts of exercise, my dogs, and my car. My goal for this jam is to push myself to see what I can accomplish in two weeks, have a ton of fun, and see what others can come up with in the time span.

1. I'm Durvin, a former librarian and current house-husband finally pursuing a lifelong interest in game design. 

2. I've never been in a jam before and in fact this is my first time actually trying to make a game; my goal here is to really learn a program and get involved with the community, since I know very few games are made by one single person. 

3. My gaming background is purely retro, especially the Sega Genesis era, although I think my all-time favorite might be "BurgerTime", of all things. My current fixation is on shmups, though, especially weird ones like Parodius, Cho Aniki, Boogie Nights, and Harmful Park; the Twinbee series' player design especially inspired my main project, which is like a shmup but instead of a gun you just get melee weapons, and my plan for the jam is to make a prototype that I can then expand into the something bigger. (I've been documenting my design process on Tumblr at https://www.tumblr.com/starstabberzirc if you're curious.)

4. No real experience yet! I've dipped my toes into GameMaker and GBStudio and am part-way through a Coursera class on Unity, but so far it's not coming easily and I'm hoping I can get some guidance or mentoring through the jam. 

5. Outside of game design, I love linguistics and art history. The latter might come into play with my game, since I'm hoping to use a quirky collage style for the graphics.

6. My goals for the jam are to actually learn how to actually make a functioning game and to get involved with the community.

1. Heyo! My name is Olivier and I'm a composer. I'm graduating from community college with my AA this month,  then I'm transferring to FAU for Commercial Music Composition. I'm hoping to get my Master's as well, but I'll see where life takes me.

2. I just made this account today lol. It's always been my dream to write a soundtrack to a video game, and I feel like something like this could help me fulfill that. 

3. There are so many to choose from! But here are a few: Bioshock, Undertale (as well as Deltarune), Battlefield 1, Rayman Origins, Kingdom Hearts (every single one they've ever made lol), Ib, To The Moon, God of War, and Ragnarok. To name a few. The most inspiring are Undertale (for its music), God of War 1, as well as Ragnarok (for its beautiful story and gameplay), and Kingdom Heart (just because I love this franchise so much).

4. I have no experience in game development whatsoever, only stuff I learned in YouTube videos lol. I understand the craft just not how to execute it myself, but I'm more into the sound design and music process so I don't really concern myself with it.

5. I'm passionate about music, everything about it. It's one of the most beautiful art forms every human can understand. The fact that music can be used as a storytelling tool in video games makes it even more amazing. I have over 6+ years of experience in Ableton Live and have been composing music ever since I got it. So while I'm not too fond of the other aspects of game dev, music theory, production, and composition are where I'm strongest.

6. My main goal is to learn, that's all really.

1. Hi! My name is Chris and I'm a musician and composer.

2. This is my first time participating in the game jam and I want to develop my skills writing music for games.

3. My favorite game that inspired me as a kid to want to make my own was Banjo-Tooie.  Assassin's Creed: Black Flag and Zelda: Breath of the Wild are also favorites of mine.

4. I created one game in Unity in a game design class I took in college.

5. I'm very passionate about writing music. I have a background in coding, but realized I have more of a talent in writing music so am interested in pursuing that area further. I come up with a lot of melodies in my head and have hundreds of voice memos with these ideas saved. I plan to use these as material. I play piano and guitar.

 6. My goals for this game jam are to progress my knowledge and experience creating music for games

I'm looking to join a team so if you're looking for someone to write the music for your game, feel free to reply to my post.

1. Hi everyone! you guys can call me Slime! I'm a beginner game developer and I wanna get better at what I do.

2. I never participated in a game jam before, this is my first one ever. I wanted to join to improve my skills and creativity. 

3. I love games with a nice gameplay loop, for example Dragon Quest Treasures, or Stardew Valley. I also love RPGs Dragon Quest being my inspiration.

4. I took a class in Game Development for a semester at my current university, i have developed 2 games so far. I use Unity to make my games as that's what I have, most experience with.  

5. I'm passionate about coding and watching things I make come to life. For example, I made these enemies for Chicken Run: Rehatched, one of my games, and watching them do what I coded them to do and seeing them in action was an amazing feeling.

6. My goals is to just learn more and push my skills as a game developer. I want more challenges and more reason to keep developing more and more games.

1 Hello, My name is Ben and I’m musician and composer in the UK           

2 No I have never participated in a Game jam, and I joined because I love games, and composing for  them seems a fun new way to be creative musically

3 The list of games I love is pretty endless, but the main ones that came up when I read the question were Diablo 2, FF10, GOW, CSGO, Pokemon

4 I have little to no experience with any engines, although I have been working with WWise and FMOD to get to grips with how they work, but would love an opportunity to implement some of what I’m learning.

5 I’m pretty passionate about Music, Climbing and Videos games. So if anyone wants to do an immersive cinematic climbing game, that pretty much ticks all my boxes

6 To get involved and start my first game jam, and meet people who share common interests, and ofc make a game!

1. Greetings, folks. My name is Asher. I am a legal professional by day and writer/indie dev by night! 

2. This is my first jam ever!

3. I think Shadow of the Colossus is my biggest influence. But also the game that made me realize I could do this is Ratchet and Clank...however I chose to pursue the legal field instead as an adult. I have some experience in the indie author space under a different pseudonym. But also, speaking of books, they are an influence as well.

4. I've gotten decently far in the Unity learning pathways. I'm experimenting with learning Unreal right now. I've done little practice games but not much. 

5. Gaming (duh), reading (my favorite book is Howl's Moving castle and its sequels. But also the Dune series (I haven't read past Chapterhouse....). 

6. To complete a game with a viable game loop. I am probably going to go with Unity but I'm also going to see how much I can speed run learning Unreal until the jam starts cause I would love to try and move forward with that.

1. hello! I am Alexander and I am currently studying game development in the Philippines

2. Nope but I am hoping to participate in more jams in the future!

3.  I like a lot of hack and slash games (DMC 5 series), some free roam such as RDR2 and the Legend of Zelda: BOTW and TOTK

4. I barely have any experience with developing games however I know a bit of dame dev sides and how games are supposed to be made

5. I am passionate about following my life and wherever it takes me.  Also very passionate about fried rice. 

6.  I hope to immerse myself in the world of game development and be able to adapt to this lifestyle. 

1. Hi there! Myself Mohit, I am a Game Designer

2. No, But I am here to sharpen my skills. I am currently exploring game jams and looking to collab with teams and improve my designing and communication skills within the team.

3. Well, I would say Dota 2 is my initial favorite, as its characters build up, has always inspired while game designing. 

4. I have Studied Game Programming and have worked with studios to produce hypercasual games. I am coming back to this industry after a year break. I am currently comfortable with working in unity, but i also have experience in unreal engine.

5. I am here to create unique and fun games. 

6. My blades are dull, after a long break from this industry, wanna sharpen it up and looking forward to meeting new people. 

1. Hello I am Aquababy hailing from SoCal.

2. no

3.I really like games such as hollow knight, terraria, factorio, skulls of the shogun. I want to make games that are inspired by these but with a twist.

4. Using Godot at the moment, Im trying to make various small projects to learn the tool/gamedev.

5. I am passionate about the ideas and underlying information in games and gamedev, I like to learn how something is made.

6. I want to make a game that is playable and fun and maybe meet new people or find a team.

1. Hi I'm Vlad :D

2. No I didn't join the last one, I'm joining this one cause I always wanted to try making games but never succeeded.

3.  Infamous second son was dope af, the story, moral, and all-around gameplay were amazing. Also one of the first games I truly played, can't say it inspired me so much as to make games though.

4. Nothing :D

5. movies, games, books, all sorts of media, also the idea of peace and rest :)

6. To make an ok game 

1. Hi! I'm Woody, a Games & Programming student in Perth trying to get into indie game development

2. This will be my first game jam, I've been meaning to get on one for forever, "My First Game Jam" sounds like the perfect jam to start!

3. Hollow Knight, Little King's Story, Abes Oddysee, and Slime Rancher, I have a huge interest in games clearly developed out of a passion for the project!

4. I've been studying/working in Programming and deevlopment for a couple years now, although with nothing to show for it.   Godot Engine is easily my favorite of the engines I've tried.

5. I'm passionate about passion! My goal in life is to get big enough to become a start up / publishing & networking house for people who are passionate about their fields or ideas! Since university started it's been difficult to find time for hobbies though I'm sure that once upon a time I enjoyed baking cakes

6. To get started on Game Jams and get into this as a regular thing, to potentially network with & join the community, depending on my free time, and to start getting things done to fill out a portfolio and get ontop of that process!

Hey, I'mYakuzet. I have recently graduated from high school. I have had previous attempts at making games, but this will be my first serious project with a group.

This will be my first game jam,  my first game jam is perfect jam to start!

It's hard for me to say what my favorite game is, but generally speaking, The Witcher 3, Max Payne, Dead Cells, and Mindustry are at the top of my favorite games list. The game that has inspired me, particularly for this jam, is Buddy Simulator 1984, which was the reason I decided to participate.

I have never developed a completed and complex game before. Due to my lack of drawing skills, my games have always remained unfinished or I gave up on them. This will be my first attempt with a group. I made my first game using Gamemaker Studio 2, then switched to Unity, and later started using Unreal Engine 4. Now I am using Unreal Engine 5. Since I have previous experience and awards in filmmaking, I strive to create visually appealing scenes. I have constantly been developing text-based games throughout my life using .bat extensions and some visual novel creation programs.

I have been passionate about game development since the age of 11, and finally, I can take a real step towards it. Actually, if someone were to come and ask me what I truly want to do, game development wouldn't be my number one answer. Unfortunately, due to my injury, I had to give up basketball, which was my primary focus, and I turned to software development as my second choice. I have always enjoyed creating things ever since I can remember. I constantly write stories, directed films at one point, and always strive to produce something. Game development feels like the most wonderful thing for me, as it allows me to effortlessly and fully immerse the player into the story. Although the story I wrote for the competition may not be as good, next time I will showcase myself with a story from one of my notebooks. So, my passion right now is dedicating all my writing to game development.

my goal is to meet new people, gather a few individuals with the same goal, and create a game together. Presenting the story I have in hand in the best possible way and offering enjoyable content that can be savored.

1. Hello! My name is Phyllis.
2. I have not done any kind of game jams before, and decided to join this one as an introduction into game development.
3. I tend to only like casual games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley. They really only inspired me to create my own characters and art similar to that kind of vibe. Unfortunately was obsessed with the Borderlands franchise before, and it still is pretty dear to me.
4. I do not have any experience with game development, other than Code.org and Scratch assignments in school. I've only ever made what the assignment asked for, never really my own thing.
5. I'm really passionate about creating stories and writing! I also really like drawing, and have been for as long as I've remembered.
6. I plan to make an actual functioning and entertaining game, along with a simple storyline and characters.

1. Hey everyone! My name is Hiba. I am a 2D animator, illustrator, and motion graphics designer.

2. I've never participated in a game jam before, this is my first time. I've always wanted to step into the gaming industry, and I think this is a great opportunity for that. 

3.  Animal Crossing on GameCube was my first game ever, that's what got me loving games. But Watch Dogs 2 was the one that really inspired me to think about joining the gaming industry. 

4. Unfortunately, I don't have any experience in game development. 

5.  I'm passionate about creating different types of stories that focus on characters,

6. I plan on finding a team who I can help out with my skills, and create an entertaining game. 

1: My name is Tim, I live in Connecticut, US

2: This is in fact my first game jam. I've been messing around with GameMaker on and off for a few years, during which I've made a few 'proof of concepts' and I hope to use game jams to practice finishing games.

3: My 3 favorite games all inspired me to make my own, those being Civ IV, Dark Souls, and Fallout 2.

4: I've been using GameMaker for a few years now. I appreciate the works Heartbeast,  Shaun Spaulding, Gamemaker Rob, and Sergeant Indie on YouTube as they've taught me how to use the software.

5: I am passionate about both music and games with a will to create in both areas. 

6: My aim for this Jam is to get into more Game Jams. I want to use jams to get better at all aspects of making games (especially art) and eventually publish my own game.

1: Hello! My name is Omar

2. I've never participated in a game jam before, this is my first time. I've always wanted to step into the gaming industry, and I think this is a great opportunity for that. 

3: I dont play Game, i've got My Game Idea from Youtube and other Indie Games

4: I've been using Godot,  I've made some games; Top_down shooter, 3D Dungeon Game, Etc.

5: I am passionate about Shaders,

6: to Start my game jams way and practice