Why are you doing this?
The Games Division at Hackington's Code School wants to encourage the next generation of game developers to participate in collaborative and challenging game jams. That's because we believe game jams are a cornerstone of learning how to become a better developer.
Our lessons are designed to give you the tools you need to make your own games, then you practice your skills in game jams. Like any art, practice is critical to progression. This is how we get you prepared for college-level game development and beyond!
How do I win?
Get enough votes in the judging categories to win a prize! Check out the rules and judging sections for more information. You have to make a complete game that people love to play.
You have 8 weeks from start to finish. That's a lot of time for a game jam, but use it wisely! We recommend you try "bup bup" -- BPBP: Brainstorm, Prototype, Build, Publish.
1 week brainstorming, 2 weeks prototyping, 4 weeks building, 1 week publishing.
Always be playtesting during every step, and be sure to give yourself more time than you would think for final bug fixing after you've completed all the features.
Brainstorm.
Be inspired by the theme. What mechanics can you imagine? Think about how you would play your game. Think about how your game should look and sound. Write out lists of ideas. Don't dive deep into one idea right now! Think about lots of possibilities, then refine those into a few excellent candidates worth prototyping.
Prototype.
You won't know if your game idea is any good until you play it. You have to hurry up and build something playable. At this point, you are not implementing art or sound, but trying to make sure the mechanics that create the gameplay feel correct. You will know early whether your game is any fun to play based on this prototype.
Build.
Build your game. Extend the prototype. Spend the majority of this time polishing your core mechanics, implementing the style through art and audio design, and producing content.
Publish.
Fix bugs until the moment you have to submit! You should not be creating new features or mechanics. Finish out the itch.io profile page. Take screenshots. Write a description of the game. Record a playthrough or teaser/trailer. Get it ready to be played by other people. Do not underestimate how long this process takes!
Other advice:
- Make your game easy to understand for new players. Think about how you want to teach your mechanics right from the start,
- Make your game not too hard to win. Rage quit = low scores.
- Make your game Quality over Quantity. High polish can really make your game stand out in a short jam like this.
- Make your game Unique. People tend to vote for games they enjoy that they've never played before.
Who is Hackingtons?
Hackingtons is one of the bay area's oldest coding schools, and we now have a complete video game development curriculum! Learn Unity using project-based lessons, help from teachers, and with your friends on Discord.
The Games Division at Hackingtons is one of the only dedicated game development programs for high school students. We use agile software development techniques (scrum) to ensure students make progress on their projects, provide mentorship and direct help, as well as encourage student participation in sharing work, providing feedback, and collaborating.
Aside from Unity, we also teach you Python, web development in HTML/CSS, and Javascript! We love Scratch too 😺
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