even if it doesn't fit the theme, if you can manage to learn new things as a beginner is a win anyways and is still the point of game jams as well, to learn new things or try something new. (Apart from the theme)
Yeah! I fully agree! I've always worked in teams since I finished my intake for my previous study, and it was time I worked solo again, I'm planning on learning some low-poly modeling, unity vfx, and C# / Unity in this jam! I've got plenty of time and I already got a little game going :) trying to make it fun ASAP so that I can start testing things. so far I have car mechanics // driving, drifting and some sliding (because of ICE!) as well as an online leaderboard system for completion times, and basic tire trails (VFX), working on checkpoints next and then doing some level design :)