Thank you for writing this! I plan on being a part of a team for the pirate jam coming up and I will definitely have us all practice source control so we are more familiar with it before the jam starts. I'll take a look at the template as well!
I'm looking forward to the 4.3 tile map. I've seen a bunch of videos showcasing it and it looks really amazing, especially for a project like you did!
I didn't realize we upload the project to itch early on either, that was something I've learned, and I think that will be super helpful for future projects. I assumed once it was uploaded it was "done" and I ran into a few problems because of that, haha.
Again, you guys did amazing. I look forward to seeing your future projects!