Hey first of all great job on attending to a game jam! I Hope people's comments won't discourage you from attending to other game jams and from continuing your journey of making games. I want to let you know that no matter how good your game is, you'll still get negative comments and I know how they make you feel. It's okay to feel upset about them! I do too! But instead of being just upset you should use them as a driving force to make better games and you'll see there will be less and less negative comments on your future games.
Saying all that, and regarding you're new to making games and probably to game jams as well I wanted to point out few things and give you some tips for your future game jams!
- I noticed your download file was uploaded 19 days ago. In game jams we make games within the given time frame. Submitting a pre-existing game is against the rules but most importantly against the idea behind the game jam concept.
- But how do you make a game within the time frame?
- Try to come up with mechanics that reflects the theme clearly within the first couple hours after the start.
- Start the development as soon as you come up with 2 or 3 cool mechanics.
- Avoid trying to find or tell deep meaningful stories, people will play it for 5-10mins tops. So try to focus on the gameplay and fun!
- A game that has 5-10 mins of gameplay is more than enough for a game jam.
- Sleep! Instead of staying up all night trying to solve that bug and probably creating more bugs along the way due to lack of sleep, go get some sleep and solve it with a rested and clear mind.
- Use free assets if your team doesn't have an artist or an audio guy! And tell people you used ready assets or audio in your game's page if you did.
- Spare some time for play testing!
- And have fun!
- Every game jam has a theme that's announced at the start. You're required to make a game interpreting the theme in your way. It can sound very limiting but limitations drives the creativity. Also a great tool and opportunity to work on your creativity.
- Game jams are about learning, experimenting and making new connections. So keep trying new things, experiment with different mechanics etc. and use the community section to find yourself a team! I highly suggest you try to find yourself a team for your next jam, you'll learn so much from each other.
- Here are some youtube channels about making games that will teach you a lot!