I super new to game development. I can draw vector art, know basic c#, and able to use the basics of Unity. I've completed several small projects on my own. This is my first time attempting to participate in a game jam, I would appreciate it a lot if you guys walk me through the process. I'm willing to learn and will try my best to complete any task on developing the game.
STEP 1: SCHEDULING
Start by arranging a schedule for yourself. You have 7 days. Split each of those days in to 24 hours. Black out time needed for sleep, eating, work/school(including homework), family obligations, community activities, clubs, sports/workouts, or whatever else you have on your personal plate. Count the total number of hours remaining. Cut that time in half. (Say you ended up with 60 hours, pretend you only have 30.)
Take those remaining hours (the 30 from my above example) and split those hours into 10 phases: Initial Design, Coding Prototype, Coding Gameplay, Art/Animations, Sound, World/Level Design, HUD/Menus, Testing/bug fixing, Polish/Game feel, and Building/uploading. Your goal is to design a game that you think you will be able to complete in that timeframe. Don't worry about finishing "too soon", you can ALWAYS add stuff later, but cutting is harder once you get started.
STEP 2: DESIGN
Design something you KNOW you can probably do. Feel free to make liberal use of free youtube tutorials for this. Remember that EVERY feature, mechanic, or item in a game adds time NOT just for coding it, you are probably also adding more time to art, animations, sounds effects, testing, polish, and possibly HUD and/or world/level design.
Try to come up with at least 5-15 ideas and pick the one that both inspires you and looks easy to do. As a first timer, try to steer clear of "asset heavy" games like RPGs or RTS & Strategy games as well as story games (unless you choose to do something like a text-based game in Twine).
STEP 3: PROTOTYPE
Spend your precious time getting your core mechanic developed. Don't worry about art or sound at this point, just use colored boxes/squares for everything. You can replace the art later.
STEP 4: ART & SOUND
If a jam allows it, don't be shy about using/revamping existing art packets that you have the right to use (think "CC0" or "CC-By" assets). You can find things at OpenGameArt.org, Kenny.nl, and freesound.org. If you are doing 3D art, you can also find CC0 textures at texturehaven.com and cc0textures.com. If you use something that is CC-by, remember to make a credits page and list the creator. Remember that tweaking pre-existing art/sound can sometimes take as much (or more) time than making your own. So if you have the skills to turn out art or sound quickly - have at. If not, this may be your only option. But there are free tools to help you, search for: LMMS, Audacity, Inkscape, Blender, etc.
That should be enough to help you get started. Good Luck!
