I've got a full time job working as a game designer. I've also got kids. I've always wanted to do game jams on the side, but I'm not sure  I can commit more than an hour or two a night. I've always thought of game jams as these things where everyone is crunching 24hrs for a few days, and while that seems really fun and appeals to me, it just doesn't fit with my current work/life balance.

Is there room for someone like me on game jam teams or should I just hold off until my kids are all grown up and my wife is so tired of me that I can get away with using vacation time to hide in my man cave and make games 24/7?

Boy - do I feel this... I'm pretty much in the same boat (save for being a game designer). I'm a data analyst and have little time in the evenings to pluck away at code - not to mention just being completely fried after a long day building reports and data diving. Weekends are gone in a blink with fam and recovery - and round and round and round... I sometimes see those jams and think, "Hey! That sounds fun! I bet I could-... Yeah... No.."

Is there room for someone like me on game jam teams or should I just hold off until my kids are all grown up and my wife is so tired of me that I can get away with using vacation time to hide in my man cave and make games 24/7?

That's what I did when I first joined game jams 8 years ago.

I have a job and kids too. Last jam I (solo dev) was working late into every night (3AM) except one, where I fell asleep early from being extremley tired. I think the jam was 5 days long and at the end I was messed up from the lack of sleep. Jams get me so pumped up I can't stop gamedeving and forget time and sleep. I'm 40 now and it hits hard on my body especially when you need to be a good family member and worker by day. Still jams are alot of fun to me. I always make a game I'm proud of in a tiny time-frame. Also you gain a good load of XP. Deadlines are double-edged swords.

Just join one. What's the worst that can happen? You don't have to submit, when real life gets in the way. Everyone is different, own experience is gives you the best answer.

I think best case scenario, I could find a team that only needs me part time to do narrative/mission/quest design, since that's what I do every day. But that is the fun stuff, so I imagine teams would probably love to do that themselves. In which case I totally get it.

https://itch.io/jam/24-hour-solarpunklunarpunk-visual-novel-jam

I feel the same way already. Trust me.

Can I suggest you join us in the Week Sauce game jam? The problems you are having are the main reason the jam exists. You can find more about it at https://weeksauce.io and the current running itch.io Week Sauce jam is at https://itch.io/jam/weeksauce-26 (for anybody reading this past February 2024, you can always find the latest itch.io Week Sauce jam at https://itch.io/jam/weeksauce ). Cheers!