Depends on the game you want to make. Even then it's hard to say what's best. 2D or 3D?
PICO-8 for example is quite fun and cozy but has many restrictions (which can be good though).
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.
Hey these look nice! But the vertical cars have a top down perspective and the hoizontal cars have an isometric perspective, which doesnt fit together. One is 2D, the other 3D. I bet it's a lot of work to make 3D "up" and "down" sprites for every car, but I'm sure you'd learn and improve yor skills a good bit by doing so.
Also I think a diagonal sprite would be needed too, so that when the car turns the animation is less jerky.
My game is the bestest of all timez. Why haven't you played it, you look silly now.
Here are 2 (huge) (touch-screen) buttons. They are supposed to say that they are the select/click/enter button. The hand is supposed to be like the one in your browser when you click a link, only that it's an astonaut hand because it's a space game. Is the hand recognizeable? Which one is more recognizable? Or should I just do 3 Enter keys?
I'm not a fan of AI-art either, but "a spit to the face to actual artists" is a bit harsh. I think both can co-exist. And even if AI gets better than us at art -which it never 100% will IMHO- then that's just how it is. Are cars a spit in the face to coachman with their horse carriage?
@TrulyMalicious Some of the pieces have blue lighting and some don't. Also the ones with blue lighting have the light coming from different angles. But this is really good quality and it's free! <3
I was kind of lost at first when the 1-bit theme was announced because it's more of an art-style than a theme (for me). So I thought 1-bit is something very minimal. I played around to see with how small of a resolution I could make sth interesting. 4x4pixels is too small. Then I did some 5x5pixel experiments and reticles (that aim thingy for shooting games) started appearing, so I went with it. If any1 needs reticles for a chunky pixelart shooter, this is for them! And I also went back and tried to make some 4x4 pixel reticles too.
4x4px reticles:
5x5 pixel reticules for 25 different guns:
Nooo! I was hoping for a more "substancial" theme with a direction. Simply 1-bit has too much room for me. And -even though it's not allowed- anyone can submit their old 1-bit asset pack.
Well I could make a 1-bit computer themed asset pack, but other than a 1-bit chip and 1-bit CRT screen, I dunno.
Your art reminds me of flickgame games (because of your screen resolution and colour amount).
Maybe have a look at flickgame.org. It's probably the most simple game engine out there. Also free, exports to HTML5, and runs in your browser. I had some fun with it a while ago:
I think the lights and shadow in general are spot on, except for the shadow under the neck, I don't think you need that when there is so much light comming from the back. Also the shadows on the arms and fingers with the different colour also aren't needed because everything is in the shadow already.
If anything the light should he coming from below because the light from outside is mainly hitting the floor inside, then reflecting up, and lighting the lady from below a little bit.
And the "Terminator" eye is too bright, but I'm not sure if that was a stylised choice.
Which ones do you like/dislike?
(I'm planning on expanding my Digital Aquarium toy)