This was my first game jam (and my first game, in fact). I chose to participate to 7DRL for two reasons:
1) a game jam is, in my opinion, the best moment to try an idea and get feedback. I wanted something short; I didn't want to get into a ambitious game that I would give up a month later.
2) I love roguelikes. In fact, I beat NetHack for the first time a few months ago and that's when I started thinking about making my own game. And for a dev newbie like me, they are the easiest genre: no need for graphical art (ASCII is fine), there are libraries and tutorials (thanks python-tcod and http://rogueliketutorials.com/!), random generation means little level design… It's a genre that puts mechanics above all else.
I was encouraged by my friends and I got some feedback during the week (mostly "It's too hard!"). I worked about 55 hours on the game during the jam (I was on vacation at that time). It was a busy week but I'm not exhausted.
It was a very positive experience for me and I will probably make more games in the future!