Wow, we have had almost the exact same experience with game making! I used Scratch quite a bit in middle and early high school, and then I was taught a little bit of Python later in school. Just graduated this year, and I'm starting to try out learning GameMaker. Celeste and especially Hollow Knight are also some of my all time favorite games, and I've heard good things about Hyper Light Drifter, but haven't played it myself.
I've never made a game with someone else, but if that's something you're interested in, I might be interested in doing a group game-project for the jam with you. I'm interested in trying out group programming/design projects, and it could work better with others with similar experience. However, I'm from the USA, and I also don't know yet how group projects work because I don't have a ton of experience with GameMaker. Because this would be my first real game I make, I also won't have much experience with virtual group projects. But if a collaboration might sound interesting, let me know!