Post by victorstk in Games Should Be Made DURING THE JAM PERIOD

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@YoYo Games
You guys could at least make a new category and give at least a prize for winners of games made during the jam period, even if it's just $100 USD and a lower-tier license... even a mobile license would be a great help for anyone here.

we worked hard on our games made specifically for this jam and I feel very disappointed that games outside of the jam period were allowed
I mean it was in the rules alright but it was also something we don't think about when we hear the word "Game Jam"

this was my first game jam ever and seeing a game like this win drives me completely unmotivated to participate in future jams.

RefresherTowel3 years ago(+2)

Hey, I just wanna say, KEEP DOING JAMS! They have so many benefits unrelated to winning (or even competing). While this particular jam might have a little bitterness associated with it, please don't take it to heart. Making games is hard and usually takes a long time and most devs start many more projects than they finish. This leads to a pretty big deficit in the skills associated with finishing a game in comparison to the skills associated with starting a game. Things like scoping, polishing, options menus, audio stuff, crafting a gameplay loop from start to finish, crunching (as in finding creative ways to finish the project when you're on a deadline), etc, etc. There's a lot of things that generally don't get touched on by most people for most of their games. Jams force you to hone those skills. The more jams you do, the more likely any bigger games you start work on will actually get finished (and finished well). They're worth it for that skill building alone, outside of any prizes or recognition.

(I'm not sure how many games you've made previously, so take all this with a grain of salt)

Pixel-Team3 years ago(+1)

the Gamemaker Community does an unofficial game jam every 4 months. It's a much smaller, but very well organized jam called the GMC Jam, (and yes, it took a long time to get its formula working so well.) There is a clearly defined set of rules regarding how many persons per team allowed, rules regarding start and end dates, and plenty of time to play and rate all the games. (I don't see how anyone can play and rate 194 entries in 3 days.) The community is very supportive and you get informative criticism and encouragement. I recommend you hang around the Gamemaker Forums and check it out. We just finished the GMC41, so the next one won't be for a while, but you won't regret it.

victorstk3 years ago(+1)

I'm actually doing a bigger project of my own so participating in jams everytime would only push me away from my main game
I just entered this jam because the money and the license would be a HUGE help for my project

RefresherTowel3 years ago(+1)

Indeed, I'm working on a main project as well. I generally pick and choose which jams to enter pretty thoughtfully, usually when the jam itself is going to encourage me to develop a certain skillset that I need for other projects. In this case, it was shaders, which I've only really dabbled in before. I need a lighting system for my main project, I've been avoiding it because "shaders", so I entered this jam because "neon" just screams shaders and I have a definite time limit as to how long I'll spend away from the main project. I've come away with a better understanding of the tech to put to use in my main project, so I consider it time well spent. But that's just my perspective on jams =)

itch.io

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