Indie game storeFree gamesFun gamesHorror games
Game developmentAssetsComics
SalesBundles
Jobs
Tags

Some thoughts on the challenge

A topic by Terrific 3D created Jul 29, 2023 Views: 417 Replies: 25
Viewing posts 1 to 13
(+2)

I think maybe 6 days was too much 

I think maybe 3 days notice was too little

It's been fun so far and I'm looking forward to seeing what makes it to the top of day 6!
If this is done again, I hope to see you all next time!

Submitted(+1)

its been fun so far nice twist for game jams xD

Submitted(+2)

I hope they do this again

Submitted

yeah me too this has been pretty awesome!

(+6)

I hope that when they make a video about the jam talk a little about all the games that didn't make it to the end, not only the most popular ones that everybody picked.

Absolutely, I am sure many people would agree that we need that

I feel like they could have a challenge where they try to complete dropped games as well, instead of leaving them to die

(+2)

For me personally, I reckon 3 or 4 days would have been better off. That way people have more of an incentive to do a decent amount of work and also less games would be lost to the void. It also means we wouldn't all be quite as tired!!

(+2)

For me the most challenging part in game dev is starting and finishing. I had a blast working with half finished titles and leaving them half finished through days 2-5!

Submitted(+1)

lol! Yeah finishing games is really tough, so is upkeeping complex code bases which is one of the reasons I really love game jams!

Submitted

I personally love this format as I love making games yet usually lack the motivation to work on them for a week straight. But by contributing to multiple games in that week really makes things fresher and funner in my opinion.

Submitted

I think 6 days was perfect, but maybe the last day could be a special day where we should try to fix the remaining bugs ? Just an idea for the next one =D

Submitted(+6)

I have really enjoyed the format and hope they do it again.  For the next time I hope they make a few changes though. 

  • They should ask that the software used to develop is either in the title or early in the tag line so its searchable and clear for the next dev that wants to pick it up.  A lot of people did this on their own but spelling it out would help.
  • They should provide a template for the prior days to put in the description with the instructions to fill it out up to your day.  This would allow for a simple copy and paste from the prior games description and help people not to forget to include the links.
  • They should spell out exactly what is and is not allowed in the description of the game.  This jam isn't going to be like their videos because they don't get to chose a game they are just given one where as we pick a game.  I think this is better as it lets you pick something that you are inspired to work on vs just getting something random.  Since we are picking a game we need some way to choose which means we have some amount of information about the game before starting.  My thoughts on it are as long as there is nothing beyond describing the current state of the game that should be fine.
  • They should ask people to comment on the game's rating page if they plan on picking it up.  This would let other devs know if there are people planning on working on it.  At which point they could decide if they want to work on it as well or find one that less people are working on.  While this may mean that a couple games don't make it to the next day because the person that picked it up couldn't finish it.  It also would help with games where 5 or 6 people pick to work on it for the next day. 

Some nice to haves would be

  • Encourage people to upload a playable demo of the progress and possibly make or link to a video of how to do that for the major platforms. 
  • At the start of the Jam announce a theme it could be very very broad but it would make it clear when the jam actually starts.
  • While I am ok with the 6 day in a row format I could also see the benefits of the submission windows being every other day.  That would give people a bit more time to pick a game and also a bit of a break between working on the games.  

I agree with everything you said :)

Well made arguments. Itch allows for jam hosts to add questions which must be answered when submitting a game in a jam, so that could be used for the links to previous versions.

Does anyone know how voting will work? I only joined day 5, so if voting is done in itch on day 6, I won't be allowed to vote. That would be sad.

I think the winners will be entirely chosen by the host probably, but community voting would be cool if we could get everyone involved...

Good point! I believe there was nothing said about rating period, but if it exists I hope it will be open to everybody. I too am unlikely to participate today.

(+1)

I have an idea, that we could host our own jam, maybe after a week or 2 as a bonus round for all the games that were left in dust. Maybe have 2-3 days to polish off those projects. Does anybody share interest in such an idea?

Submitted

I'd be interested for sure, though I'm not certain on how much free time i'll have

(+1)

It's happening! The jam will be on the next week: https://itch.io/jam/games-we-passed-jam

Spread the word if you want 😀

yea yes yes I had the same idea. I couldn't participate in the second half of the Jam it could be fun to list all the left over projects (let's say day 2 or day 3) and take them as a starting point of a new mini Jam.

I had also the Idea to organise a 6dev / 6day 6project Jam where every project have to be pushed from day1 to day6 by a different dev

Meaning no left over and no project taken more than once a day.

(Could be less than 6 days) a 4/4/4 Jam 

That might be hard to organize though, and you usually can't rely on devs to be available for every day. In this jam there were less entries day by day, so even if you lock only 1 continuation of the project, there's might simply be not enough devs.

It's happening! The jam will be on the next week: https://itch.io/jam/games-we-passed-jam

Spread the word if you want 😀

One more suggestion that could be improved if we'll be doing this again is that participants should pick some license to their codes and assets. Either the jam could require certain license (this would be the simplest), submission page would ask for license or simply there would be recommendation to do so. I myself didn't participate on day 1 and on later days I wasn't sure if I could slap a license to my modifications - seems hard to keep track of - so I continued the trend.

Now we have a ton of projects that are open source, but it is not clear what we can do with these and with what conditions - can I work on a project outside of the jam and publish it? Even more so if somebody would want to commercialize some project.

(1 edit) (+1)

Idea for a different event structure:

- 1 month long, 1 week rounds, 4 rounds

- Week one, devs submit many initial prototypes, allowing for a large pool to choose from and a higher chance of surviving to a later round

- Week 2-3, devs work on modifications to multiple games

- Week 4, devs choose one game to bring to a finalized state

Benefits (hopefully)

-- less devs get left in the dust

-- scheduling conflicts are less of an issue; devs with more time can work on more games, devs with less time can still contribute meaningfully to a few games.

-- less pressure to contribute to the "winning" project (octoalien...)

-- less chance of game engines being choked out (Godot)

-- devs are able to take productive breaks without the risk of games dying off.