Welcome to My First Game Jam: Winter 2021! For those of you just joining us, it's been a tradition to kick things off with a little getting-to-know-you questionnaire! For the first-time game developer, things can be pretty intimidating... which is why we want to show you you're not alone! This is not a required activity— it's just meant as a way to break into the community for returning jammers and newbies alike.

We'd love for you to share your influences, passions, and jam goals with the rest of us. Who knows — you might meet a potential team member, or even a new friend!

(These questions are entirely optional; they're just here to warm things up, so feel free to skip them as needed!)

Onto the questions!

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
6. What are your goals for this game jam?

For returning jammers:

7. Any advice to new participants? 8. What can the admins do to improve your jam experience? 9. What are some of the past works you've made for the jam? Show off your favorites! 10. Bonus: Got any question suggestions? Let us know for next year!

Q1. Hi there! What’s your name? Want to introduce yourself? I am Olyvier (call me Klara though plz, I’m MTF) and I have some programming and artistic experience as hobbies. I never finished a game before really but I did try a previous jams with very limited amout of success. Luckily I am awaiting the theme so to get myself inspired for my second ever Mosi release. Q2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what’s your reason for joining? Gonna try creating something simple as MVP and finish it. Q3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own? Well, I have much games to inspired by, but I would like to dabble into programming games, linguistics games and grand strategy mods eventually. ^.^ Q4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine? Some experience with Unity, ‘’‘beginner’’’ level practice-wise for programming, and lots of experimental learnings across a pletora of engines, prog langs and design philosophies. Q5. Tell us about something you’re passionate about! Preserving and iterating upon living vintage tech is kinda of my niche here, so ya I enjoy reblogging alot of them on my Tumblr blog. Q6. What are your goals for this game jam? Make a tiny story game (maybe about self-caring a friend of mine). Make a neat reusable 1-bit tileset Make myself some world to welcome that narrative

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
'sup, the name's revenge

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
Yes. I want to actually finish a game this time, unlike my previous entries which were only 40% finished.

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
RPGs

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
 A little bit. Godot Engine.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
I just want to commit to something.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?
To finish the game, even if it is really short.

For returning jammers:

7. Any advice to new participants?
Treat it as if the jam only lasts half as long as it should.

8. What can the admins do to improve your jam experience?
I dunno, maybe add milestones or something.

9. What are some of the past works you've made for the jam? Show off your favorites!
Unfinished game#1 and unfinished-Game 2

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

I'm ibrahim

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?'

I did participate. And I didn't finish my game. I just want to finish a game  this time. 

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

I use Godot engine. I started many projects. But I didn't finish them.  in 2020 I completed 2 games. one of the is cat adventure . I made this game for the low effort game jam .  I try to prank my brother with this game. But I ruined everything because I am a bad actor

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

I am passionate about linguistics. And languages in general. there is language called Xhosa . This language has click sounds.  For example the sound you make when you kiss is a click. Here is video about Xhosa

Indonesian language has 2 versions of the pronoun we. The first one is kita which means we and you. And kami which means we but not you. so if you said kita menang that means we and you won. But if you said kami menang. That means we won. But not you. I could go on and on talking about cool stuff in languages. But I think that this is enough

Hello everyone! My name is Steven.

This is the first time in this jam, not my first jam ever though. I have yet to finish any game that I have been truly happy about, so that's why I'm here! Edit: just looked through my profile. This is not the first time I was in this jam, and it won't be the last!

Some of my favorite games at the moment are BTD6, Minecraft, Monster Hunter World/Iceborn, and Autonauts. While all inspiring to me in their own ways, I would like to try and develop different types of games.

I have tried to make games many times before, using plain old JavaScript, Godot, a Lua engine I can't remember, and Bitsy. The most ambitious project that I nearly finished was a tower defense game using only JavaScript. It was by far the worst game I have ever played, but I enjoyed making it. Maybe I'll redo it one day...

I love reading/experiencing a good story. Be it a book, game, or film, I love a good story. Also potatoes.

My big goal for this jam is to finally finish a game. A good one.

Hello everyone, I am ElionSylwin and I have some experience with C# and unity. I have participated in the last jam and I hope to use my time better this time. I prepared some kind of a battle plan so I hope it will work out this time, when it didn't last time :D

My favourite games are old school games, like Heroes of might and magic 2, Age of empires 1 and 2 and such. It is thanks to them that I decided to become programmator and I get interested in game dev.

I made few small projects that I never finished and were not published, but like I mentioned I joined last jam so I have somewhat questionable expirience with game dev :D I did 2D game with unity.

Something I am passionate about? Anything that has something to do with anime. Visual novels, manga and anime itself. Sadly I am not artist nor writer to make my own VN but there is something in my mind for later possibly.

My goals for this game jam is to make 3D kind of RPG with at least one playable level.

Hi, My name's Haruya. This is my first jam and probably my first time to seriously develop a game. I want to do something this year. I think with the limit of time, I can force myself to focus on the game I develop.

My favorites kind of games are the RPGs, Adventures and Survival. I've played many popular indie games title like Minecraft or Stardew Valley, and can't believe myself that it's started/made by one person. These title is what made me want to develop a game.

I've made many project, some of them were very ambitious, but none of them is finished. I'm quite confident with Game Maker Language.

I love digital art and coding.

My goal is to actually create my first game. 

Hallo! I'm Iconism! I'm a 13 year old indie dev. I am joining this jam because it is a jam not requiring skill, which I lack immensely. I enjoy immersive games such as What Remains of Edith Finch, which is heavy inspiration for the game I'm creating. I do not have any experience with game development other than a very simple arcade game I created in 2018 using Scratch. I am passionate about giving attention to smaller indie games, and giving them the love they deserve. Some goals I have for this jam are to get at least 5 downloads of my game or 1 positive review on the game (at any period in time.)

Hello.  My name is SirFireShire and I am not quite new to making games, but the last time (and only time) I made a game was for a summer class about a decade ago.  This will be my first jam in general, and I wanted to do this jam to hopefully expand my knowledge on the programming side and create a decent game.  I don't really have a favorite game nor a favorite genre.  I'm not good at fighters or any sort of strategy games, but I enjoy watching others play them.  Dark Souls and games like it are mostly the games I like to play, but shooters like battlefield also interest me.  What made me want to make a game, though, was seeing many indie games made with fairly high quality like Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion, Subnautica, and various other indie games.  I have a small passion for art, whether it be cartoony or painted with realism.  Just don't expect me to be able to do either.  My goal for this jam is to complete a part of a game, like an animation or physics or anything substantial for a game.

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

I'm just going by DragnBludthrsty for now.

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?

No; I didn't hear nor know about the last game jam.  I've heard about jams but have been unwilling to join.  This one looked like a good entry point.

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?

I lean toward strategy or RPG, but I've started playing rogue-likes consistently.    

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

Professional experience, no.  I'm just a long time amateur who has been studying and appreciating games for years.  I've done a couple online classes for Unity, but I've only done class projects or tiny personal projects to try to learn the system.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

I'm not really passionate about anything right now.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

I'm just hoping to finish something.  Anything at all will be fine with me.  I want the experience of taking a project from start to finish, since I've had a couple small projects either peter out or never get started.

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          I am Will I have Three years of coding, One jam.   

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?                                                                      I have on jam on my belt.
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?                                                                                                                                              Destiny 2 was a big inspiration, I also like Among Us.
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?                                                                                                                                                                          I made a Lot of games in construct2 

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               My new computer.
6. What are your goals for this game jam?

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself? 

Hey, we're Bean and Onion, partners in crime.
Bean is an artist (mostly digital) and has experience as a product manager. She'll be in charge of doing concept art and some of the art assets, taking care of our trello board and documentation (here and on social media).
Onion is also artistic (mostly pixel art) and has done completed some 2,5 tutorials for making games in Unity. He'll be in charge of the coding as well as required animated pixel art and further pixel assets.

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining? 

Nope, the one and only jam we've participated in before was the My First Game Jam Summer 2018. It kicked us into gear to make something together and finish it in the given time frame. Onion is currently working on a bigger project, that's been slowing down a bit, so this is to get some fresh air, a change of scenery and work on something together again.

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own? 

Onion is a gaming all-rounder, he's into simulations, tycoon games, tactical shooters. survival games atmospheric RPGs, and and and...
Currently playing: Medieval Dynasty, Escape from Tarkov

Bean is more into visually pleasing and story driven games, but will also deviate.
Currently playing: RingFit Adventure 

There wasn't a specific game that inspired either of us to make our own.

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine? 

Our shared experience is the game we made together in 2018 (see below on question 9).
Since then Onion has gotten a little more experienced using Unity with the help of tutorials, while Bean has forgotten everything she's previously learned. (:

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about! 

Games, board games, tarantulas

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

Finishing a small puzzle platformer with at least one level and some obstacles/enemies and interaction with objects.

For returning jammers:

7. Any advice to new participants?

Be aware of the limited time frame, even if two weeks is longer than many other jams. Define the minimum scope of your project to make it a complete experience, then steps that will improve on it that you can add only if there's still time. 

Also try and keep your to-dos and check and report in regularly: This both helps you stay accountable and makes it easier to connect and network with other jam participants :)

8. What can the admins do to improve your jam experience? 

Only thing I can think of right might be to split the getting started topic into general advice and links to ressources.

9. What are some of the past works you've made for the jam? Show off your favorites! 

Our one an only complete game to the theme "Water": Plastic Sea

10. Bonus: Got any question suggestions? Let us know for next year!

Not yet ;)

Hey there! You can call me Pamplemus ^^

While I have no experience in game making, I do have some in low-level programming, and am now learning C++. Or at least I'm trying to ^^'....  In that spirit, my challenge will be to write a game in C++ from scratch, using only SDL2 and OpenGL! Yes, I am the kind who likes to do everything from scratch. I have already completed a basic "engine" so I will mostly have to deal with game-specific code. 

Giving myself motivation, getting advice and meeting nice people are my reasons to join this jam ^^ I will consider the experience a success if I just have something playable in the end ;-)

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?

Hi, my name is Jay (they/them). I'm 26 and a PhD student in Humanities.

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?

I did not. I've always been a gamer,  and since I have some extra time during break (and some basic previous programming experience), I thought that I would give it a shot. 

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?

Pokémon, Zelda, Fire Emblem, Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Lovestruck, and many more! They've definitely inspired me, especially story wise. I'm a creative fiction and non-fiction writer, and I think that interactive fiction and story focused games are a fun new-ish field that I want more experience in. I especially love visual novels to and definitely plan on making one someday.

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?

I took a programming class in high school that used Alice, and I created a short, crappy racing game with it, lol.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!

Translation! I translate from French to English and I'd also be interested in learning about the localization of games.

6. What are your goals for this game jam?

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
My name's carter! 22 y/o and they/them pronouns. I'm a recent college grad focusing in art direction for filmmaking.
2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
This is my first jam ever! 
3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
I'm not very good at most games LOL so all my favorites tend to be VNs, puzzle, rpgmaker, jrpg, walking sim, etc. My favorites are The Cat Lady (which i wholeheartedly recommend to anyone who likes horror), Higurashi, Zero Escape, and RPG Pixel Horror stuff! They absolutely are all my biggest inspirations when it comes to the kinds of games I'd like to make.
4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
Not really any at all! I've been writing in prep for a longform rpgmaker game but haven't dived too deep into the program yet. I did experiment a bit w/ ren'py, I like it for VNs but it didn't have what I was going for lol. 
5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
Storytelling is probably my biggest!! Probably why I tend toward very story heavy games lol.
6. What are your goals for this game jam?
I've spent so long writing my longform game without opening rpgmaker bc I've been so worried about messing up! So, I'm using a different story of mine to get past all of those worries! I'd like to just get really familiar with rpgmaker this jam. 

1. Hello! My name is Nue. 

2. No, i'm joining to see what I can do with C# and learn more.

3. Games like Earthbound, Undertale, Dead Cells, Dark Souls, Hollow Knight, Celeste, Salt and Sanctuary, Persona 5 and Touhou really inspired me to start game development.

4. Nope! No experience at all with any kind of coding, I'm using Unity.

5. I'm passionate about learning more. I want to become my own indie dev.

6. My goals are 

              1. Learn how to make an RPG.

              2. Hopefully learn more about coding and games.

              3. Learn what i'm capable of and what I already know.

              4. In the future, I want to inspire someone to start making games, the same way games inspired me.

Hi, I'm Christian and I'm actually studying on a university-like course for development and data analysis. I just like the perspective of creating things and making them "alive" through scripting.

I never partecipated a game jam, since all this is very recent for me, and i want to partecipate because this will give me the needed pressure to learn even more, I think that's how we poor mortals are made. 

To be honest the perspective of creating something compared to playing it is more interesting by far, by the way I was used to waste alot of time in LoL(which i still do but rarely with some friend), i really enjoy RPG like Undertale (really loved that), Dark souls, Sekiro and other indie games (im playing children of morta and hyperlight drifter atm).

I'm using unity and really enjoying him

My goal for this game jam is to simply learn as much as possible, but i'll do my best of course

1. Hi there! What's your name? Want to introduce yourself?
Helllllo, my name is Ameerah.  I am currently working on a dev-team of one for this jam. I am an artist who prefers traditional media over digital.  I am filling this form out as an act of procrastination but also as a source of inspiration to finish. 

2. Did you participate in the last jam we held? If so, what do you plan on doing better this time? If not, what's your reason for joining?
No! This is my first game jam. I joined several days ago to see if I could make my first small prototype that wasn't tutorial led.

3. What games are your favorites? Did any of them inspire you, or made you want to make your own?
Favorites off the top of my head -> Kentucky Route Zero, Fez, Mutazione, Going Under, Binding of Issac, Knytt Stories. Games that inspired me to make my own -> Stardew Valley, Undertale, Dropsy, A Short Hike.

4. Do you have experience with game development? What did you do/with what engine?
For about almost two months I have been studying C# and learning Unity.

5. Tell us about something you're passionate about!
I am passionate about art! I believe all art is rooted in experience, which is what roused my curiosity about game development. 

6. What are your goals for this game jam?
At this point with only three days left (I started three days ago), my goals are: upload a prototype with five levels that only contains assets created by myself but we'll see! It would also be cool to meet some other like minded developers! Being on a solo team is a gruesome wild ride lol o_o