What you do with your game is up to you. By "free for developers," do you mean other people in the jam itself?

We've been seeing people ask questions in the forum, so this thread is dedicated specifically to asking your hosts about any jam details, rules, procedures, etc. Game development questions DO NOT belong here. Post them in the #gamedev Discord channel.

Be sure to check the FAQ and Tumblr before asking. Also, our ask box on Tumblr is open to anonymous questions.

Development Logs - What are they & Why make them?

Hi everyone! Your friendly co-host Lysander is here to tell you about this miraculous thing called a "Devlog"!

If you're familiar with game development or have been following games in development for a while, you probably know what a development blog is. For those of you who do not, a development blog is a blog in which a game developer or team talks about the process they've made over the course of the game's creation. Maintaining a devblog keeps your audience in the know and helps facilitate productivity so you'll have something to blog about. It also serves as a record of problems you encounter as well as the solutions you find for those problems.

Development logs are essentially the same thing, except we'll be using the jam forums rather than a blog. However, you are free to use both the forums and your own blog as you develop your game.

Doing so is not necessary at all, but check out all the logs from last jam! In order to get the most out of your jam experience, it is vital that you interact with your fellow jammers and the community surrounding it. They'll provide valuable feedback and support to help you along the way. So please, I encourage you to mingle, post in other logs, and of course post your own!

In addition, you are encouraged to add images and gifs. Here's some programs to help facilitate that:

• Greenshot - a free and open source screenshot tool for productivity
• Lightshot — screenshot tool for Mac & Win
  
• Gyazo
• ScreenToGif
• Licecap

Good luck everyone! The jam is on!

Official Accounts

• Official Tumblr
• Official Twitter
• Website - U/C

Game Development

• Game Jam FAQ
• Old Free Assets List
• Old Resource List

Social

• Discord Chat - Chat with other jammers!
• Tumblr Hashtag
• Twitter Hashtag
• Plug.dj - "Jam" out to tunes with other jammers!

Twine + Renpy Resource Post

Twine 1.4: Windows, Mac | Twine 2: Windows, Mac, Linux | Renpy: Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS

Note: More support and plugins exist for Twine 1.4, but you may need to use Firefox to test your games.

Twine Tutorials

• Auntie Pixelante's Twine 1.4 Basics
• Twine 1.4 Basics by Porpentine
• Allison Parrish's Basic Twine 1.4 Tutorial
• Using CSS in Twine 2
• Using CSS in Twine 1.4
• Twine 2.0 Tutorial - YouTube
• Twine 2 Guide
• Furkle's Twine 2 Harlowe CSS Tutorial
• Twine 2 Basics (Harlowe)
• Twine Wiki
• Building an Inventory in Twine 2 with Built-in Harlowe Macros
• Twine 2 Harlowe Tutorials

Twine Resources

• L's Twine Macros - May Only Work in 1.4
• Some Premade 1.4 Themes
• Replace Macro Set for 1.4
• HTML5 Sound Macros for 1.4
• Free Twine 1.4 Hosting

CSS Tutorials + Learning

• W3Schools - Basic CSS
• 456BereaStreet - Intermediate Tutorials
• CSSTutorial.net - Basic CSS
• CSS Basics
• CSS 3 Selectors Explained
• Learn CSS Selectors Interactively
• Code Guide by @mdo
• Flexplorer
• CSS Selectors: Targeting HTML Like a Pro
• 250+ Resources to Help You Become a CSS Expert

CSS Resources

• HTML5 & CSS3 Support Chart
• CSS Property Reference
• CSS Cheat Sheet
• CSS Shorthand Cheat Sheet
• CSS3Generator.com
• CSS3 Tools
• CSS3 Gradient Generator
• CSS-Generator.com
• Ultimate CSS Gradient Generator
• Pxleyes Cheat Sheet
• CSS3 Compatibility Table
• CSS Reference
• CSS3 Click Chart

Renpy Tutorials

• Renpy Support Forums
• Style Customization
• Customizing Menus
• Conditional Statements
• Remembering User Choices
• Point-Based Endings
• Customizing Main Menus
• Fuckyeahrenpy.tumblr.com
• Language Basics — Ren'Py Documentation
• Creating a Visual Novel with Renpy Part 1
• Image Maps in Renpy
• Imagemap Basics
• Inventory and Money System
• Simple Onscreen Inventory
• How to make an inventory system
• The Ren'py Help Desk
• Point and Clicks in Renpy

Renpy Resources

• Various Renpy Assets
• Eidolon Scripts
• RPG Battle Engine for Ren'Py - Eviscerate
• Fuck Yeah Ren'Py • Jake's RPG Battle Engine
• A frame for RPGs
• Frameworks
• Fuck Yeah Ren'Py • Ren'Py QuickStart (All-in-One Framework)
• RPG Battle Engine - Alpha 7.5
• Dating Sim Engine (DSE) 3.11! Day Planner and Event Manager
• Leon's Inventory Screen

Other

• Paletton.com - Color Palettes
• Hex Color Tool

If you have any resource suggestions, please don't hesitate to add to this thread!

Productivity Apps and Time Management Tools

Task Management

• Any.do (web, ios) - simple to do app with different checklists and reminders
• Trello (web, ios, android) - organizational app with lists of different cards which can attach checklists, notes, and pictures (example of how J uses trello)
• Google Keep (web, ios, android) - simple notes and checklists
• Wunderlist (web, ios, android, win, mac, linux) - versatile to do app with checklists, notes, reminders, and sharing
• Todoist (web, ios, android, win, mac, linux) - to do app that can share tasks and reminders, and track productivity
• Habitica (formerly HabitRPG) (web, ios, android) - game-ified to do app with checklists, dailies, habits, and collaboration

Time Management

• Toggl (web)
• Rescue Time (web)

Reading Material

• Using Sprints
• Productivity Tips
• Theory of Flow

Pomodoro Tools - 25 minutes of focus with 5 minutes of break

• Strict Workflow (chrome) - blocks specified websites for 25 minutes with 5 minute break
• Marinaratimer (web) - pomodoro, custom pomodoro, or timer
• Flat Tomato (ios) - customizable pomodoro app with to dos

RPGMaker resource post

Website store - Steam listings

Pixel art programs

• Character Maker 1999
• Game Character Hub / Steam

Tutorials

• Sample games (XP, VX Ace)

RPGMaker 2003

Templates

• Tileset (tiles are 16x16)
• Charset (tiles are 32x24)

Tools

• RM tool - checks your database for missing/unused files + can trim unused files
• RM text format text to fit across the screen exactly (i use this a lot!!)
• Resource hacker - change the icon for your game's shortcut

Tutorials

• Quick jumpstart image tutorial
• Beginner's guide
• Make your game work w/o rtp
• Caterpillar script
• A bunch of great tutorials

RPGMaker VX Ace

Tutorials

• RPGMakerWeb thread of tutorials for beginners
• RPGMaker blog tutorials
• Official tutorial (separate pdfs)
• Tutorial game teaching games
• Tutorial game teaching switches
• RPGMaker.net tutorial list
• Variables guide

RPGMaker MV

Tutorials

• Blog tutorials

Still under construction! Throw resources suggestions in the replies.

Gamemaker Resources Post

Download

Runs on: Windows

Games playable on: Windows, Mac (Mac required for export)

With paid license, games playable on: Linux, Web (html5), Android, iOS, Windows phone

Documentation

Shaun Spalding

• Your first game! (space shooter) tutorial playlist
• Platformer tutorial playlist

Heartbeast

• RPG Gamemaker tutorial for beginners playlist
• Platformer tutorials

• Video playlists
• Getting started
• Code basics
• Built-in functions

Other tutorials

• Gamemaker forums staff picks
• Gamemaker for beginners (shmup tutorial) (text)
• Wizirdi video tutorials
• Click to move tutorial
• Tutorials by Parker quick 5 minute video tutorials
• Tom Francis beginner tutorial playlist
• SlasherXGames tutorial video list
• Making games 101 - top down shooter video playlist
• Steam guides

• Visual novel - Edge engine ($19.99)
• /r/gamemaker tutorial list
• Yoyo games marketplace
• Sprites on the marketplace

the idea of a game jam is to create a game in a limited amount of time (and two weeks is pretty generous). it's scary and exciting with the deadline but it's encouraging because many other people are working in the same time. especially with a jam so focused on learning new things, experimenting, and taking first steps, we have quite a few jammers who try stuff out a few days before the jam.

we encourage you to work within the time confines of the jam (making the game in two weeks isn't the focus, it's making it in the two weeks with everyone else that's cool), but we won't ban a project because you might have tested a thing or two beforehand. this is especially if you're away from a computer or workspace during the jam timeline.

Unity Resource Post

Download

Official tutorials

• Documentation
• Video tutorials from the beginning
• Beginner gameplay scripting
• 2D Game development walkthrough
• 2D Rogue-like tutorial
• Top down 2D game basics
• Space shooter tutorial
• Survival shooter tutorial

Sebastian Lague

• Introduction to game development with Unity and C# playlist
• Creating a 2D platformer playlist

Other tutorials

• Catlike Coding C# scripting tutorials
• Create a simple 2D pong game
• How to create a tower defense game
• Jimmy Vegas's beginner game tutorial playlist
• Ray Wenderlich's list of Unity tutorials
• rm2kdev's RPG tutorial playlist

Useful resources

• Unity's free assets (projects, samples, and tools)
• Fungus: free editor extension for creating visual novels, interactive fiction, point and click games
• UniRPG: tool to help create 3D hack and slash RPG games
• Texture packer: create sprite sheets for your game