Hello again, other game developers and interested gamers!
I continue writing my general development log about my process of game-making. In the first log text, I told you about the tools I generally use. This time I tell a little about what I've been doing lately here on itch.io on the jamming scene. Believe me or not, before I came to itch.io, I have not joined in any official gaming jam. I've jammed a lot as a musician, done a bit jamming as a comic book artist, and even done some brainstorming and gathering ideas sessions with fellow-minded RPG creators, but not a single game jam pre-itch.io.
As some of You might have noticed, I've joined a lot of jams, since I started using itch.io. In most cases, I have managed to make some kind of product in time and submit it in the jam. Sometimes it has been a game, sometimes it has been some kind of generator or another kind of tool, and sometimes it has been a first sketch. And of course, sometimes I have not been able to submit my project on time. Sometimes I've nearly finished in time. And sometimes I have brainstormed, sketched, drafted, and done everything I could, and still got nothing worth publishing. Or even, literally, just nothing.
Even when you really know how to make things happen and when you know what you're doing and you're perfectly capable of performing well on a given time, You might end with (almost) empty hands. Even when You get usable ideas and good enough sketches, you can end up with just no real progress. The nice part of this frustrating process of doing a lot of work and still being left empty-handed is that you probably still end up having something to grasp when the right time comes. At least, if you don't throw your idea scribble notes away. Because some ideas, mechanics, concepts, systems, and such, just need more time to be worked on.
In my personal experience in many fields of art and entertainment, I have noticed that you never know how things go. Sometimes it is easy to write a lot in a short amount of time. Sometimes it takes unnervingly many months to be able to write a few lines that really are something usable. And therefore I've learned to write and draw things constantly and keep the material in notebooks, files, and sketchbooks.
The basic key to getting things done in time or stretching the deadline is just to keep on doing things. Think actively about different ideas. Experiment and do things you don't usually do. And not giving up. Sometimes some projects just need more time. More thinking. More tweaking. Sometimes you need actively to test, try, and error, and then if not succeed, at least, have something to show to others. And nothing really keeps you a way to go back to your earlier drafts. Or to revise the already published product.
On the other hand. Sometimes you only need is to focus on what you have, and concentrate on making it the best version of it that you can make. Sometimes that the only thing you really need, is to cut off the unnecessary parts. Or on very rare occasions, the only necessary thing is just to decide that the product is ready and to let off of it. I mean, sometimes it's hard to get anything done and sometimes there is no need to do anything anymore. You gotta finish the product someday, so why not today, if it's already more than ready and totally better than great enough?
Gotta say before I end this text, that I was not able to make my material for the Aro Jam in time. Did not make it with Graveyard Jam or Tarot Jam, either. But I cooked some half-baked ideas, some pretty fine ideas, sketches, concepts, and other thingies. And I shall try to do something out of that material. Totally feeling that I did not waste my time being on those jams. And maybe I can fit those ideas into some other jam. Probably shall do that. We'll see. At least, I am trying and doing something. And I will keep on doing that in the Future, too...
Wishing You all Great Jams and even Greater games!