I did a lot of game jams in the past 10 years. I'm a game developer in my daily routine and creating games is also a hobby. Here are my 10 tips for you if you are doing a jam the first time:
1. Be prepared
It is important that you are starting prepared in a game jam. Don’t install the latest version of your game engine or IDE 5 mins before the jam is starting. Create and prepare everything you need before the jam starts. Doing those upgrades too late or in the jam can lead to time problems because you are more fixing your problems than creating a game.
2. Know your toolset
You are having 2 Days to create a game. It is really important that you know your tools. Know your programming language, know how the tools you want to use are working, know how to export your game or how you have to use a version control system. If you struggle sit down before and practice.
3. Don’t think too big
People are really often underestimating 2 days. Find a game that is doable in 2 days. A tip can be to find a game idea with only one core mechanic. Not more. If you have time left you can add more stuff at the end.
4. Prototyping
Try when you are starting with your game to have a runnable and playable prototype working as fast a possible. Don’t spend too much time on the first feature of your game with polished graphics, nice sounds, etc. It happens too often that you have to change the idea of your game and throw parts of it away. If you had then spent 5 hours creating the best possible inventory system you can … this would be waste of time.
5. Have a timeline
2 days is not much time. If you think about it then you will see that 2 days are nearly no time. It is not only the character that has to run around. Think about points like Inventory System, Animations, Game Logic, Game States, Restart Level, Score Counter, Menu System, Interactions, Game Over / Win States, etc.
A good tip is to have a playable prototype done by the end of the first day. On the second day, you have time to do all the bug fixing, polishing, etc.
6. Work healthy
Get enough sleep and eat healthy food while you are in a game jam. People tend to not sleep or eat only fast food. In my opinion, this is the biggest failure you can do. Stay healthy and plan enough breaks over the day. Take a short 10mins walk outside. You will be surprised what these 10mins are giving to you. It is a game jam and should be fun.
7. Have a web version
People underestimate the power of a web version. If you have only an installable downloadable version of your game people often are not willed to play your game. They have to download it, extract it from a zip / rar file, and then install it. People are afraid of getting a virus on their pc etc. If possible try always to have a web version ready. You will see that you will get tons of additional ratings when people need only one click to play your game.
8. One Minute Rule
Don’t forget that people are rating after the jam a lot of games. Get sure that a person who is playing your game is able to understand your game in under one minute. If you are lucky the person will play your game for maybe 2 or 3 minutes.
If people are not able to understand your game in the first minute they tend to not play it. The tip here is to explain your game mechanics and the game controls well directly at the beginning.
9. Rate games
Rating games after the game jam is an important point. Play and rate as many games as you can in the first 48h after the jam. The more ratings you are doing the bigger is the chance that people rating also your game.
10. Listen
Listen to the feedback. The Manasoup community is a nice one. You have hobby game developers here and people who are doing this every day at work. Listen to the feedback people are writing as a comment under your game. Maybe plan to create a second version of your game after the jam implementing all the feedback you got. This can help you a lot in jumping your skills forward.