I've done quite a few small jams, in fact this one is quite long by my standards 馃槀 you can play one of my 30 minute jam games here, and watch me stream it here.
I thought it might be useful to share what I've learned through my many years of development and game jamming, so here you go!
- scope is absolutely key. Think mini games, nothing bigger
- know your engine. You're not going to be able to learn a new development pipeline in 4 hours 馃槀
- go for the first idea that pops into your head )as long as it's small enough). You're not going to make anything close to a masterpiece, this is all about implementation - not about ideas at all. Don't waste half your time trying to work out what to make! There's no such thing as a bad idea for a jam like this 馃榿
- don't overthink things. Your code is going to be a mess, you're going to have to live with that 馃槀
- you won't have the time to waste on planning anything, start development as soon as you know what your idea is. Maybe even before you've got an idea - a menu is going to be needed for pretty much any game you make! I suggest starting there, so you don't forget later, or think "I don't have enough time, it's not worth it" 馃槈 it's always worth it.
- it's stressful and intense (well, the 30 minute ones I've done are anyway 馃槀), don't expect it to be an easy ride. I really enjoy the pressure to be honest
- polish is still important, leave a good hour at least for it at the end. Build times and itch pages aren't part of your 4 hours, so that gives a little bit of extra time! Some quick wins: don't use your engine's default font or button styling. A play/quit menu when it loads up. A pause menu. Some background music and sound effects. All of these will make the game "feel" complete, and you'll get much better reviews!
- if you get stuck on something, move on quickly and come back to it later. Post a message on here or on the discord and if anyone can help they will (assuming this is as good a community as the others that I'm part of 馃槈), but it's important to keep at it!
- don't worry about what other people are doing.
- the 4 hours don't have to be consecutive, so take a break and pause your timer every now and then. Your brain will thank you 馃槀 I'd recommend keeping any breaks to less than 10/15 minutes, though. If you have a big break mid-development, you'll lose time to trying to work out what you need to do next - in a jam this short, you can easily lose 10% of your time to that sort of thing!
- drink lots. Your brain works best when it's hydrated, you don't want to be making silly mistakes
- to save a bit of time at the start of the jam, you might want to open your engine to a blank project. If you're using something like unity or unreal, this could save you a precious few minutes!
- focus on core gameplay before anything else, that's what's important. You don't need to add fancy animations at all in something so short, unless you really have a load of extra time to spare at the end
- plan to have a load of extra time to spare at the end 馃槀 don't make a game you think you're barely going to be able to get done in 4 hours. Make something you think you can do in 1, then polish the crap out of it 馃槈
I think that should just about cover the major points. Have fun! 馃榿