1. Hey all! My name's Kenna, I live out in California, USA, work part time at a makerspace/library, and run two weekly D&D games! (maybe that'll change to bi-weekly at some point...) I'm doing something a little unusual this jam and making a tabletop game, instead of programming a video game.
2. I didn't participate in the last jam, but I did participate in a MFGJ a few years back (winter 2017 I think?) and it was super helpful! I made a simple RPG Maker demo, got to learn the program pretty well, it was a really good experience! Honestly, I'm just hoping this time I learn half as much using this new game style.
3. Specifically thinking of tabletop games, some of my favorites are (besides D&D) Blades in the Dark and the Cypher System. I rarely get to play them, since you always need people willing to learn new games to play with you, so I'm planning on going more the solo RPG route. While I have a ton of solo RPGs saved up to play when I have time... I haven't actually gotten around to many of them. The one I've played the most is this unfinished game called Swords of the Skull-Takers by Joe J Prince. It uses a tarot deck as the main game mechanic, and I love getting to use new tools to play games.
4. Generally, I've used Twine, RPG Maker, and I've written campaigns and one-shots for D&D. I've submitted a few Twine games for the Interactive Fiction Competition, and the RPG Maker demo game I made for the last MFGJ I participated was fully playable, if short (and heavily reliant on pre-made assets).
5. Uhhh I'm passionate about stories! And storytelling! And how humans are able to use the different tools around us to tell stories - like games! And how games are such a unique style of storytelling because they put the audience directly in the role of the characters of the story, making them directly responsible for the characters' actions even while the stories are pre-programmed (usually) to move in a certain direction. I could talk about that for hours!
6. I mostly want to have a fully playable solo tabletop RPG game. I'm trying to be realistic, though, and recognize that I might only have a v.05 or something, instead of a finished product I'm willing to share. With that in mind, my realistic goal is to learn all the steps I need to follow in order to go from a basic concept to a playable game (even if that playable game takes more than 2 weeks to develop).