1. My name is Kyle, I work in Healthcare IT where I do a lot of database administration, database queries, and front end EMR app development.
2. I have not participated in a game jam before or a code jam for that matter. I have two reasons for joining. One: I want to dive into the world of game development as a side hustle and hobby. I love playing games and developing programs and applications, looking at how code interacts with other parts of code and what not. I also love making a little scratch to feed my kids and perhaps save for their college. Two: I am currently looking for team building exercises for my fellow programmers at work to do and thought a code jam would be fun. I want to try one for myself first and see what it would be like and come up with some ideas to bring back to work.
3. I've played a lot of video games since I was a kid back in 1993 so I couldn't tell you my absolute favorite. I can give you a list of what I am playing now: Diablo 4, Oxygen Not Included, Risk of Rain 2, Civilization VI, Infectonator 3, Cuphead, Vampire Survivors, Kingdom Two Crowns.
4. I have a bit of experience in developing a game although I have never published one. I have written a lot of my first games in Scratch and I still regularly use Scratch to write mock ups and proof of concepts for games or when testing logic workflows. It's a lot easier to see the workflow of a giant "if/else" statement when it's all made of Lego like bricks. I have coded a couple of games in python, and I once tried to code a visual word guessing game in C++ and that was quite difficult but very rewarding in experience.
5. I love automating workflows, tasks, and making stuff. When my first daughter was born it sparked a passion for creating things for her to enjoy. It's one thing to buy your child a toy, it's another thing to craft it yourself and hand it over to them saying you made it for them. My children also inspire me to make video games as well for them to enjoy. I have made a few educational games in Scratch for them to play with.
6. Learn a bit about the indie game industry and dip my toes into game jamming to get an idea for a team building exercise at work.