This jam is now over. It ran from 2024-02-02 14:00:00 to 2024-02-17 02:00:00.

Welcome to the Kaizen Game Jam!

" Kaizen means 'improvement' or 'change for the better'  in Japanese ..." -wikipedia.org

Ever wanted to improve a skill that you weren't confident in or learn a entirely new topic that you always wanted to, but didn't have enough time? 

Well... guess what?

 For two whole weeks you can! By joining this game jam, you'll set aside time to learn, document, and create a project to learn that skill you always want to and by the end have something to share and shout, "Look what I made!".

Introduction

Hi! My name is Erika Mennella, I'm an multimedia artist and illustrator living in Arizona. I love learning stuff and games. So I decided to combine the two and host a game jam.

I primarily created this game jam to improve myself and for future me to have some more accountability. I also wanted to have something to showcase and two weeks felt like perfect balance of time to make something. 

If you have the time, and want to participate, feel free to join me. : )

Theme:

Pick one or two skill(s)/topic(s) you always wanted to improve on and apply it in a game/project.

Sometimes overthinking and adding too much to learn in one project can make the project overwhelming. If you feel like you can do more, you can. But try to keep skill(s) in project to a minimum.

Projects for the game jam are not limited to making a game. You can make a YouTube video, perhaps a blog post to improve your writing or graphics you always wanted to implement in your stream? 

Setup

  • Form a team or run solo.
  • In a team? Come up with a team name.
  • Make sure you have the necessary software and devices are in working condition to help you accomplish your project. 

Don't go too crazy and spend a bunch unnecessarily. You can still accomplish lot of things with something that's free and cheaper vs spending bajillion dollars. Use what you have. It's more about gaining skills by making stuff with what you have, not what you can buy. 

Rules

  • Follow the Itch.io TOS.
  • Anyone can participate in Jam. 
  • Keep Teams to maximum of 5 people.
  • If your in a team, try to compromise the project theme as a group, if your group theme and individual theme is similar, but not the same, add it to your project description.
  • If you decide to leave your team, make sure to communicate to your team members
  • No Sabotaging, there is no prize for this jam, and we all here to learn.
  • No AI-Generated Content
  • Please no Pornographic Content or Nudity
  • No Illicit Drug References
  • Make sure any assets you use, if you didn't make it yourself, give credit to where its due.
  • The goal of this game jam is to improve yourself, apply what you learn in a project and to have something at the end of two weeks to show.
  • When in doubt, Keep It Simple.

 Project Submission

Game Design Document/Documentation

  • This is a document that details what your game and/or project is about.
  • This is required part of your submission and best to do. 
  • Make sure to include it into your downloadable files.
  • If your wondering why documentation is important,  one quote from the show, MythBusters, comes to mind:
"Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down" - Adam Savage

Prototype

  • Focus on playability and make sure what you make fits your chosen skill you wanted to learn.
  • Make sure it runs, or your project has the minimum viable product that showcases the new skill you learned.

Questions to ask yourself when jam is completed.

  • Did my game/project meet your expectations when playing?
  • Did my project fit the theme I chose to learn during the past two weeks. What did you do during the two weeks, did you ignore your original theme and did something new? 
  • Did you implement something in your game that was unique or interesting?
  • If you chose a different style, what did you choose, and did it work to accomplish your project?
  • What did you accomplish during this game jam and what did you find about yourself that you didn't realize before?
  • Did you have fun?
  • For future projects, what would you do differently?
  • If you didn't submit your project in time. That is perfectly fine. Keep going and keep creating.

Is there a Prize? No.

This game jam is not sponsored or ranked and entirely for fun. 

Additional Information, Attribution & Credits

 This game jam was heavily inspired by participating in PirateSoftware's Game Jam 14. I used his game jam page as a template to create the categories for this game jam, but with the twist that the project doesn't have to be a game and focus more on learning and/or improve one new skill as the theme.

I made this game  for his game jam couple days before the deadline. It was fun, and I definitely learned a lot.

  If you haven't heard of him, his name is Thor and a game developer for the game, Heartbound. He streams and has his own studio called, Pirate Software and also runs a ferret rescue. Here's a link to his Twitch and YouTube. 

If this is your first time making a game, check out PirateSoftware's game development website and discord. I hope the resources on the sites helps you on your projects as well as it helped me.

Right now, I don't have a discord server for this game jam. I might make one in the future when I become more confident and have more time to run one.