Yes

It’s okay

It can be a solo journey.

Then yes :D

Either!

A quick tips & tricks guide on how to find team members for your projects, and how to find a team!

This is only advice, you’re not required to do all of this if you don’t want to. However, we highly recommend following some of these tips so you’ll have an easier time.

You can make a thread here, reply to a currently existing one, or look for team members elsewhere. This advice should be useful in any case.

At the end of this thread, I also wrote general tips for participating in a jam! Will probably keep updating it as I remember more.

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I’M AN INDIVIDUAL/TEAM LOOKING FOR COLLABORATORS

We recommend having at least an estimate of how much work you expect from your team members. For example, perhaps someone would be fine composing 5 music tracks, but 20 is not viable. Leave it clear that it’s an early estimate.

When connecting with interested people, be open on what your expectations regarding deadlines and communication methods are.

• Introduce what your project is about. Just an idea is fine, but we recommend that you try to sell your concept. “A queer found family visual novel set in 1980s America” “A spooky resource management survival road trip game, with PS2-era graphics.” The more detail you have, and the more of a concrete concept you can show, the more likely it is that you’ll find interested team members. Really try to pitch your idea here! What do you think players will like the most about it? That’s probably what’ll attract interested team members too!

• List the available roles. E.g: Looking for 1 music composer, 1 3D modeler, 2 playtesters. We recommend keeping the thread updated on which roles are available and which aren’t anymore as team members join you.

• Name who else you have on the team and what roles they have, if applicable

• Detail what you have in mind for each role. How many music tracks? How many 3D models? Do you want a coder who could code a 5 hour long game, or is your idea a shorter, bite-sized project?

• Detail what kind of style/vibe you’re looking for. Do you not want anime style art? Would lofi music fit your project best, but classical wouldn’t? This will help interested folks figure out if this project is a good match for them.

• Creating a shared document (on sites such as google docs) with more details on the roles and what exactly is expected of them is a good idea. You don’t have to make an entire game design document, but the more information you can give, the better.

…In our experience, you can also very quickly find out who is capable of reading and following instructions, both of which are good skills to have when working with someone else, if you have a document outside of the original thread/post.

• Leave a contact method, or ask interested folks to leave a reply on the thread.
• Regarding thread replies, we recommend that you ask for others to leave examples of their work, so that’ll you more easily figure out if they’re a good match for your project without needing tons of back-and-forth.
• Finally, it is possible that team members will ghost you. Make it clear what your expectations are regarding this. For example, I consider that a team member is no longer interested if they don’t respond to my attempts at communicating with them from 5 to 7 days.

• This is less of a recruitment advice and more of a general teamwork advice, but - be kind to your team members. Their mental and physical health are more important than any asset they can make, and they have lives outside the game jam. People get sick, pets die, sudden additional work shifts happen. We can’t predict that.

I’M AN INDIVIDUAL LOOKING FOR A TEAM

• Introduce yourself - what your offered skillset is and how long you’ve been doing it
• Explain what kind of project you’re interested in. You might be very into the idea of working on an FPS, but a visual novel wouldn’t be your cup of tea.
• Link to examples of your work. Musicians, link your music. Artists, link your art. Writers, link your writing. Etc.
• Link to projects you’ve worked on before, if that’s the case. Don’t worry, newcomers are welcome!
• Detail your availability during the jam’s runtime. Will you be able to work on your part during the entirety of the jam, or do you have exam season coming up? Trips, special events where you won’t be reachable? Other jams?
• Leave a way to reach you (this can be Discord, email, Bluesky, etc.), or if you’d rather interested teams respond to your thread.

• Again, this less of a recruitment advice and more of a general teamwork advice, but if you’re dropping out of a project or something came up and your work will be delayed, let your team members/team lead know. It can be stressful and upsetting when a team member disappears or ghosts a project suddenly with no explanation. Of course, sudden events/illnesses can’t be predicted, but if you’re able to, communicate with your team.

General Advice

• Good communication skills are a must for teamwork. When joining a team or recruiting members, try to gauge if they can communicate well.

• BEWARE OF SCOPE CREEP! You probably won’t be able to create the open world RPG of your dreams during this jam, or compose the epic 50-track OST you’ve always wanted to make. It’s okay. This is a game jam!

• Try to stick to your plans. If you and your team set out to make a quick puzzle game, turning it into a turn-based RPG halfway through development is very, very, very unlikely to work out. It can be disappointing for team members who were sold on the initial concept, and a nightmare to organize for team leads.

• Setting up a Discord server for a team, or another place where you can all talk about the project, share progress, goof off, and just enjoy the process of making a game together is highly recommended. This helps keeps team morale up, helps foster a sense of community, and also allows for advice and pointers from others on how the development is going. Maybe the font you picked is actually unreadable. Perhaps the lead artist’s artwork is turning out less colorful than their art tablet promised when looked at in other devices. Or maybe you want to laugh together about a funny bug the coder fixed!

• If it’s getting stressful, if it’s not fun anymore, if you’re feeling burn out - take a break, and consider lowering your game’s scope. Instead of a full game, release a demo. Instead of 5 bosses, lower it to 2. You can always come back to the project later and update it with what you had in mind.

• Have fun!!!!!! Or else…………………

Finally, here’s a list of skills outside of the expected ones (e.g artists can draw well, coders can code) that are very important to look for when joining/building a game jam team….

1. Communication skills; providing clear instructions and asking relevant questions. Responding in a timely manner. Transparency when it comes to possible delays and related troubles as they come.
2. Attention to detail - keeping characters in-model, following the lore when writing new content, paying attention to instructions of how X and Y asset should look.
3. Ability to hear and apply feedback…
4. …And to GIVE feedback in a constructive, helpful manner.
5. Time management skills - Prioritizing tasks effectively, estimating the time needed for work, and meeting deadlines.
6. Flexibility. Being open to possible changes or adjusting work to accommodate unexpected challenges.

Would it allow you to publish the game here on itchio?

• Hit “Join jam” on the jam page. That’s it! You’re signed up

• Make a game

• When you’re ready to submit, follow these instructions: https://myfirstgamejam.tumblr.com/post/641207538943164416/how-to-submit-your-game-you-may-think-that-you-can

So, for this jam we’re looking for the experiences of a road trip (questionable road food, stuck in a small vehicle together, travelling from place to place, meeting new people/food/cultures)

So you do need to have a vehicle involved for most of the story. Some walking should be okay.

Interesting question… so, for this jam we’re looking for the experiences of a road trip (questionable road food, stuck in a small vehicle together, travelling from place to place, meeting new people/food/cultures)

So I don’t see why you couldn’t have an ufo in space, as long as the story has the characteristics of a road trip! Could totally have the characters go on trip around an alien planet or something like that. I’m fascinated by this concept now omg

does roblox studio allow you to post the game here on itchio?

Yes, that’s okay.

have you gotten ending 1?

As stated in the rules, no, they have to be new games.

no, for this jam we’re looking for specifically the experiences of a road trip (cars/vans, roads, gas stations, questionable road food, stuck in a small vehicle together, flat tires, etc)

a train trip would offer completely different dynamics and experiences, which while very interesting does not fit what we’re looking for sadly

final fantasy xv does a section where you they go on a brief train trip, so entries could have that too, but the main focus should be the road trip

Yes, sequels are ok

…I thought I had that in the rules, oops…

Yes, analog/tabletop games are allowed!! (adding that to the page now!)

I’m unfamiliar with Roblox studio… would it allow you to publish the game here on itchio?

As stated in the rules, for the Road Trip Jam you’re free to get started as soon you want.

As stated in the rules, no genAI is allowed at all.

Building a team for my Road Trip Jam VN! This might be last team game jam project, so let’s end it in a high note :D

THE GAME:

Down Memory Lane, a queer visual novel about a butch lesbian and a runaway girl going on a cross-country road trip. A story about memories, moving on from the past, and finding your people in unlikely places.

The two leads meet various kinds of people who touch their lives in many ways as they cross the country and relive bittersweet memories, grow, and understand their individuality and place in the world.

LOOKING FOR:

1 sprite artist (+1 backup)

1 GUI artist (screens, logo)

1 coder for GUI and layeredimages

1 BG artist

2-3 CG artists

1 Ren’py scripter

1 item artist

3 playtesters

THE TEAM SO FAR:

Team Lead, Writer, Jack of Most Trades: Meiri (https://meiri.itch.io/) (Team lead for Hydrangea, Divorce Chatroom, Bohemian Cupid. Solo dev for Someone to Hold Me, One Last Story, me mostre sonhos doces, and more.)

Lead Artist: Nevi (Hydrangea, Bohemian Cupid, Divorce Chatroom)

–> The game’s script is fully written and edited. If you’d like to take a peek at chapter 1 of the story before joining, DM me and I’ll share it with you!

Read the doc for more info on the roles: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1M65UXMqFxNHbbqs79x3RxXv-nlCBNfLs4qzl4D5wZK0/

Please only contact me after reading the doc! Not looking for composers or voice actors at the moment.

Thank you so much for playing!! ;o; owgh and thank you for the compliments on the writing, means a lot to me!!

Thank you so much for playing and for the feedback!! The bitter route is painful </3 but we always have the vanilla route to heal our hearts a little….

Whoa, thank you for following the development of DivChat! Happy to hear it schieved your expectations :D

Thank you for playing! ❤️ I’m glad to hear this silly concept touched you in some way

Thank you for playing the Marley Experience 🙏

We are okay, no devs or Marleys were harmed in this production (I mean, Marley came out mostly unscathed…)

Thank you for playing!! owl really cooked with that UI indeed >:3

Aaaaa thank you so much for the thoughtful feedback, Pri!!

And yeah, as much as we joke about how divorceable Marley is, at the end of the day he and the MC weren’t compatible at all and had completely different needs </3 I’m very happy that you liked the writing, I think it’s some of my best work ;w;b

I will share this comment with the team, thank you for playing!! :D

LOL I didn’t know changing the ‘game’ term would also change it for emails, that’s so funny 😅 what can I say, it IS a divorce simulator

The whole team did an awesome job, I hope you enjoy it and let us know what you thought of the Marley Experience 🙏

Huh. Thanks for pointing that out, fixed it!

Hi! Good question. For this jam we’re focusing on original work, so we’re not allowing fangames this time.

Thank you so much for playing. ❤️ Yeah, the usage of color is very intentional, I’m really happy to hear that the meaning was conveyed as intended.

Thank you so much, I’m really glad to hear that! This game was developed solo by me, so it means a lot =)

Thank you so much! 💝

Play to find out… (don’t worry haha it’s kept vague on purpose)

Se quiser, posso te ajudar a traduzir! Eu traduzi todas as minhas VNs até agora sozinha kkksocorro

🤫

REGRAS EM PT-BR:

• Seu jogo deve se passar durante uma viagem de carro na maior parte do tempo. Essa é a regra principal. Você pode fazer flashbacks ou ter momentos antes/depois da viagem em si, mas a maior parte do jogo deve se passar durante a viagem.

• Jogos de qualquer tamanho e complexidade, criados em qualquer engine, são bem-vindos.

• Seu jogo deve ser novo. Jogos lançados anteriormente não serão aceitos.

• Qualquer gênero é bem-vindo. Quer fazer um jogo de ação zumbi assustador se passando em uma viagem de carro pós-apocalíptica? Ou um simulador de carro aconchegante pelo Canadá moderno? Use sua criatividade!

• Você pode começar a desenvolver o jogo antes que o jam comece; isso inclui (mas não se limita a) criação de assets, escrita, formação de equipe, coding e configuração do jogo propriamente dito. Utilizar ideias antigas ou reviver um esboço ou rascunho antigo e abandonado também é permitido.

• Trabalhar em equipes ou como desenvolvedor solo é aceitável, mas lembre-se de que o jam deve ser de baixo estresse. Tente acompanhar o escopo do seu jogo.

– Demos, vertical slices, etc. são ok. Se você não conseguir terminar o jogo a tempo e quiser atualizá-lo depois que o jam acabar, tudo bem também.

• Os assets utilizados em sua inscrição devem ser a) criações originais ou b) assets que você coletou e tem permissão para usar (de pacotes, creative commons, etc.). Nenhum conteúdo gerado por IA é permitido.

• Não aceitaremos jogos que promovam intolerância ou discriminação de QUALQUER tipo (homofobia, transfobia, racismo, sexismo, etc.) - incluindo imagens como símbolos de ódio.

• Jogos com Lolicon/shotacon e/ou incesto não podem ser enviados.

• Inscrições NSFW são permitidas, desde que sejam devidamente marcadas com avisos de conteúdo apropriados e envolvam personagens com 18 anos ou mais.

• Demos e lançamentos inacabados/de várias partes são permitidos, assim como spin-offs. Se você gostaria de fazer um jogo spin-off sobre seus personagens de outros projetos se divertindo em uma viagem, você está convidado a enviá-lo!

If you have any questions regarding this jam, please feel free to ask here! Will try to respond ASAP.

Thank you for playing! I’m really glad you enjoyed it ;w;