Announcing the 1st UMD Summer game jam! The game jam is for game developers of all levels of experience, whether you are completely new to game development, or experienced. This jam will also take a form that is somewhat different to most. This jam takes place over the entirety of summer. We will have meetings at the end of June and July to show off our progress, and we will present our final products at the first game dev club meeting of the fall semester! Here is how we will be dividing up the different periods:
- June: Spend this month brainstorming, planning, and laying the framework of your game. By the end of June, you should try to have a viable product ready!
- July: Spend this month adding content to your game and getting all of its systems to work. By the end of July, your game should be nearing completion, although it may have bugs, incomplete textures/animations, UI, etc.
- August: Spend this month refining your game. Fix bugs, finish incomplete features, and polish everything. By the first fall club meeting, you should have a complete product or prototype ready to show off!
For this game jam, you can feel free to start a new project, or continue working on an old one. We will also be releasing a theme for the game jam on the 31st of May, for anyone who finds themes helpful when brainstorming a game idea. However, it is not necessary for you to incorporate the theme into your game.
Note there is no specific amount of time you must dedicate to creating your game, nor are any of these hard deadlines for each step of your game creation process. All games are allowed for the jam, whether they be big, small, or incomplete by the time the jam ends! All that is important is that you make some progress on one of your projects! Having the game jam last the whole summer means that there is no specific portion of time you must create your game in.
We also encourage you to team up with others to create a great game for the jam! If you are looking for teammates, or want to be a part of a team, send a message in the #team-up channel on the Game Dev Club discord. You can then DM anyone looking for a team to ask about teaming up!
