itch.io

Added an update on the situation to original post.

So long as you end up with something playable, it's a success.  If you can end up with positive feedback as well, then it's even better.

It's my 3rd GDTV jam, and it was also my first jam as well.  I plan do it again in future as well.  Always a good community and a good selection of games at the end.

I'm in a similar boat, between work and other bits and pieces I've only just mapped out my game world.

I still have a fair bit to do, but hoping to be in a better place with it by this time tomorrow ...

Sounds like you've been enjoying the experience.

The first game jam is always hard work, but getting a playable game at the end of it is always a great sense of achievement.

No problem ... Thanks again.

Thanks for the confirmation.

I've been doing a bit of reading on this.

None if the files are are password protected, but the tracks have been tagged with mp3tag to try to more professionally produce the music and have appropriate track metadata (inc. Embedded album art).

While this means my soundtrack zip might not be password protected, I suspect that mp3tag has likely altered a file tag that prevents changes to the metadata, making the files look password protected and causing it to get flagged.

If it's nothing to do with the file, it could be because I've been using my login on pc and my phone, sometimes within moments of each other.

I suppose I would be interested to find out if any of my other projects are equally quarantined.

While looking around on this, it also appears as though itch support can be slow to respond, so I guess that's it for trying to do something good.

Following the suggestion that the pack had been flagged, I have not received any info from Itch to suggest there's a problem with the pack and have raised a support ticket (no response yet).

If you're reading this, would you be able to see if you can access the project page for me please?  I can still access the project page as though nothing is wrong, but suspect that's only because I uploaded it.

The other day I uploaded some music I made for my own game for the jam, available at the link below, for free.

It has what I think is a cyberpunk, synth, somewhat retro style to it, there is 10 tracks in the pack, there might be 1 that suits ...

https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io/cyberdog-game-soundtrack-gdtv-jam-26-game-m...

Just an FYI, someone else suggested the pack had been flagged as music used in a scam game on discord or something, I don't know if it is currently working, but if it is back then that's a good thing.  I don't use discord so I can't check, and I'm still able to access the project page and download the file myself, so I don't know if there is a problem with it as I've not had anything from itch to tell me otherwise.

From the sound of it you've spent a lot of effort in the systems.  I'm only just working on my player state controller, still loads to do, today has had a bit more procrastination than I'd of liked, some of it unexpected, but if I can spend about 4 to 5 hours a day on it for the rest of the jam I should be OK, the 2D graphics I've made won't be anything special, there might not be a lot of "polish" in the end but my core objective is try and get a decent amount of story into the game this time.  New for me, but we'll see by the end if it works ...

The theme is not a requirement, more a suggestion.

If you think there things you can do to improve your game, and you want to do it, then do it.

There's no real prize for winning, just as there's no real penalty for losing.

Your game is your creation, you can do as much or as little as you want.

I would always aim to submit, so long as I have a playable build.  I find doing these jams is about the experience of making a game, and getting feedback that can help me focus for the future.

Good luck!

For my jam games I kind of do things a bit backwards to the normally recommended approach, I create, then build, then tidy with any time I have left.

I normally go into a jam knowing 80% of what I want to make, and try to keep the scope limited to reduce the need to spend the entire time on asset creation.

The other 20% will be things learned in doing the jam, minor rescoping, or minor improvememts from incremental playtests.

Nice, I always aim to make my own assets.  Fonts are the only exception.

It's more work, but you get a truly unique creation at the end, and never have to worry about licensing or copyright issues.

Have a nice holiday.

Thanks for trying to have a look.

I've had no notice from Itch about this, and I'm a bit surprised to be honest.

I'm not sure if the page is expected to work normally for me while "under review" for everyone else, but I'm able to view and download normally, unless the situation is already resolved.

On the plus side, I suppose my music is getting around ...

Edit: to clarify, I do not use Discord, my only social media is X and Youtube (for game trailers).

Sounds interesring, looking forward to giving it a go next week.

Just wondering how everyone is getting on as we're nearly half way through?

I've only just finished making just enough assets to start putting things together, off work tomorrow so it will be a busy day.

It may not have everything as good as I would like (or initially planned), but I'm confident I'll be able to make a game and at least make it somewhat interesting.  Tomorrow will be the test on how much I will be able to do.

EDIT 2 - While the Soundtrack has been flagged for a review, a friend of mine has today confirmed that the Soundtrack can still be downloaded through a link on the warning page.

I understand that while it remains flagged that many users would not wish to look at or download the music, and while I can state that the Zip file doesn't contain anything malicious, that I cannot present proof of its safety.  So, while I am offering the music for free, and while it is flagged, all I can say is that you download it at your own risk.

From myself, I will say that I am not aware of any risk associated with the music I've uploaded, so as it was originally at your discretion whether or not to have a look at it, the same choice remains.

If you do have a look and give it a go, I hope you find some use from it, or maybe even like the music.  I would be grateful for feedback, and if you use the music in your own projects, let me know, I would like to see how it's used.  Thank You!

I haven't had any response to the support ticket I raised to try and expedite a review.

EDIT - My soundtrack has been flagged as unsafe.  This is likely a false positive, but it means it cannot be downloaded at the moment.  From the quarantine page below it appears to be because of passworded files, but other than using MP3Tag to set the metadata on the files, no passwords have been used.  It does mean that it is unlikely the music will be available for download during the jam.

I have uploaded the music I have made for my own jam submission for anyone to use if they're interested (or desperate).

It's the first time I have tried to make a soundtrack that is cohesive for use across a game.

The soundtrack includes 10 tracks in MP3 and OGG format in a what I think is a Cyberpunk sort of style.  8 of the tracks are made to have a bit of tension to them, and 2 are made to be a bit brighter and more relaxing.

Just to clarify I am not a music professional, but in the 3 years I have been playing with gamedev, it is an area I have been focussing on improving so that I can make music that is at least adequate for my games, so any feedback you can offer would be appreciated.

The pack can be downloaded from:

https://crazyhoundgamedesign.itch.io/cyberdog-game-soundtrack-gdtv-jam-26-game-m...

If you use it in your submissions, let me know, I'm more than interested to see if it gets used, and how it gets used.

Good Luck in the Jam.

Hi, blog post link isn't working.

Good luck in the jam though ...

Just had a quick look at your post, what about the targets for the bullets giving a form of energy or currency, then habing the player "connect" to a point to be able to upgrade?  Or having targets that create connections to objects of the same type to create platforms or bridges, like on/off switches?

That sounds really cool!

Connections is a good theme idea that can be interpreted in a multitude of ways.

What are your plans (if you want to share)?

In the build up to the jam I started planning out a game and started making my assets with the jope to have more time to build the game during the jam.  My idea is a story based platformer, the idea of connections fits when you consider the relationship between characters,  so I don't even need to squeeze in the theme ...

If you succeed in making a game, you win the prizes of confidence, feedback and community ...

Even if you don't complete the challenge, you get experience, all in all a win win for trying to make being a gamedev a reality.

My first ever jam was gdtv24 and I participated last year as well.

Since last autumn I haven't been able to proceed with gamedev as I wanted due to fighting off a situation that nearly resulted in my being made homeless.

Knowing the jam is coming round again seems as good an opportunity as any to brush off the dust and get the ball rolling again.

Thank you for hosting these jams, they are always fun, and the variety of games that get made are always fun.

Still going.

Been making real progress in a few areas lately, done a few more jams, and I'm also (hopefully) less than a week from getting a game published on Google Play.  My take on a classic arcade game, to figure out the processes to get a game published somewhere it will make money.  Google Play has the lowest cost of entry.

The last few weeks have been more about business and policy than about actually making a game, but still progress.

Learned a few important lessons along the way, and I now also have a blog and a twitter account as well.

Found you on twitter and followed you there as well after seeing the video.

Just saw your pass the game for blackthorn prod, congratulations, didn't know where else to comment, so left one here.

Thanks for the info, and thanks again for hosting the jam.

With the end of voting a few days ago, and the community results, will there be a post here or somewhere else to explain the prizes and overall end of the jam?

I only ask because things have been quiet since the community vote ended.

Thank you again for hosting the jam, and thank you to everyone that participated.

Congratulations on your result.

The idea of mixing the theme with a "who dunnit" made for an interesting game, even if I apparently took the easy answer ...

Thank you for playing.

I tried to make it look the part, and made all my own assets.

no worries.

Thanks for playing.

The game isn't made for mobile, but I am considering how I might develop the controls to make it playable for mobile.  I'm not sure where you saw that it was for mobile.

Glad you enjoyed playing.

I have now played every game in a jam for the first time ever.

After playing all of them, I have a few honourable mentions.  These games are games I thought either did something interesting, or in part felt like they stood out.  This is just my own opinion, but please give them some support if you haven't already.  The list is, in no particular order:

• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3862087 - This one is more of a narrative experience than a game, but the theme is pretty close to home being about indecision about joining a jam.  Whether the style choice was by necessity or intentional, the visuals really fit the idea.
• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3865200 - This one has a cute pixel art bird, plays pretty well, but is infuriating if you make a mistake.
• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3867089 - I really enjoyed the look and feel of this one, it is definitely unpolished, but could be a pretty good game if the developer continues with it.
• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3865883 - While the overall game is pretty simple, the art and overall style of this game is very well implemented.
• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3867149 - This one presented as a very tense horror experience.  The whole set up is well done and leaves you enclosed in a small space to confront the darkness.
• https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3858178 - This one has a great mechanic where you can create your own platforms by sacrificing yourself for the next incarnation.  The mechanic is well implemented and makes for interesting gameplay.

Also, a selfish plug, please have a look at my game as well.

https://itch.io/jam/unpolished-jam-2-75-prize-pool/rate/3862867

Fun game, needs a bit of work to tidy it up, but I like the visual style, and I feel sorry for Linda.

Thanks for the game.

Good Luck

I ball floating, fine, 2 balls, OK, 3 balls, you've already lost, but you don't know it yet.

This is really difficult.  On the surface that game seems relatively simple, but it looks like one of those games that can take an age to master.

Thanks for the game.

First off, congratulations for making a 3D game solo in a jam, I know how much more difficult it can be compared to 2D and this jam is my first 3D jam game as well (also solo).

As others have suggested, you need to look at the movement speed and the asset sizes.  I also think you could refine the layout of the kitchen to make it feel a bit more intuitive.  I have worked in a kitchen before and speed and consistency are everything.  The layout of a kitchen, if done right, aims to reduce the amount of time spent going from point A to point B.  For example, I would place your soup pot and your salad prep closer to the serving point.  For any multi-stage processes, I would organise an outward/in approach where your first stage is furthest from the serving point, working towards the serving point.

Thanks for the game.

(EDIT) For recommendations, please see the first response below.

For the first time in a jam it looks like I will be able to play and rate every game submitted.

I know this has been a fairly small jam, but it has been another fun experience.

There has been a nice selection of people participating, from first time jammers to people that have done a few before.

There's also a lot of interesting ideas in the games here, from twists on the theme, to the mechanics used in the games.

To the first timers, congratulations on submitting your games, it's a big step, and even if you didn't manage to make the game as good as you wanted, you managed to submit something.

To everyone, thank you for the games.

For me the game crashed out during "combat".

I also found that I couldn't turn, not sure if there were other controls for changing view?

I liked the retro style maze environment.

Needs work, but a nice start.

Each repair is like a riddle to solve, get it right and the clock is happy, get it wrong and it has a nervous breakdown.

The concept makes for a nice small puzzle game.

I found that I had to F11 into fullscreen for the browser to be able to play, and the "Try Again" feature didn't seem to work (to try again I had to reload).

Thanks for the game.

This is an odd one.  An interesting concept, but I found that even if my mouse was "looking" at the white text, it didn't always register that I had "looked" at it.

Not really a fan of the art style, but it's a game, and playing with only mouse movement is an interesting approach.  Although I think the mechanic could use a bit more work.

Thanks for the game.

Glad you enjoyed it.