Now that it's becoming more acceptable to actually charge for jam games, I am a lot more interested in the prospect of participating in future jams. I had promised my therapist to mostly stop releasing free stuff, so now I can do jams and not break my promise! Yay! Hopefully, there will be more ttrpg and tabletop jams popping up. I might resurrect Tarot Jam, which I hosted a few years ago, with more of a storytelling ttrpg focus. The result of that jam was the first tabletop rpg I actually published, and it wasn't exactly great, but it definitely sparked something in me. 

There’s definitely going to be at least one each month hosted by the RPG Design Friends, and I’ve already heard plans for #hothorrorjam in the summer and I’m really looking forward to them. 

Ironically, I haven’t managed to finish any of the RPGDF jam games yet 😅 I do think a thing we really need to emphasize is to pick the ones that excite you most. The fact that the monthly themed jams only run for the first two weeks of the month and have two weeks to rest is really vital imo. This goes for general game design too! I’ve got way too many plates spinning right now and cutting back on them has been hard but necessary. 

i think jams can be really valuable especially to new game designers to give them a little prompt and a way to showcase their work easily. #sadmechjam and march of the wizards were both so awesome in that regard (i was definitely one of those people whose first itch game was for emotional mecha jam), and i'm sure we're only going to see more of those in the future.

one thing i've been wondering about is how better we can promote physical game jams, on itch and on other social media. the RPGDF jams are going to be fairly well promoted i think but i'm sure there are going to be other, equally awesome jams that'll maybe fly under the radar (i hadn't known about short and easy until this forum post). would love to hear if folks have ideas about this!

i’ve always restrictions prompted my creativity. I’ve really enjoyed participating in game jams even if i’m not always happy with my games in the end for this reason. Having some sort of direction helps me come up with new ideas that i wouldn’t have come up with without them.

One thing I've been thinking of for over a year now would be some kind of game "covers" jam. Like, take an existing game and redesign it in your style? Still haven't figured out the particulars of explaining exactly what that means, or how to avoid problematic stealing/appropriation of work.

is anyone interested in a 'random table poem' jam? as in, random tables that tell some kind of narrative in its entries.

Can a jam be for related supplements, rather than whole separate games? For example, one page settings or adventures or similar things.

I wrote my first game for #sadmechjam, and just finished my second for #WizJam2k19. As someone who has a serious tendency to let projects grow to nigh unmanageable proportions (I'm looking at you, hundreds of pages of comics), I find game-jams - with clear themes, definite deadlines and a solid goal - a good way for me to get things finished.

I've got another game that I've been tinkering with for a while, but for now it's mostly a big stack of notes, brainstorming documents and a general goal... and one of several reasons why I haven't gotten it into a playable shape yet is that there isn't any external pressure to do so. Getting the chance to write and actually finish games has been healthy for me.

Also, themed jams gives you the chance to maybe step outside your comfortable box occasionally. Genre-wise - both as a player and a creator - I feel very at home in the fantasy/magic bullshit subgenre... but the #sadmechjam let me play in the mecha sandbox for a bit, for example. It pushes me creatively in a way that I enjoy.

I have been sitting on this idea for an anthology project for a long time, that I'm starting to wonder if might be better suited for a Game Jam?

The premise in a nutshell is, "Pro Wrestling RPGs." Tabletop RPGs and LARPs built around, or meaningfully involving, My Favorite LARP, Professional Wrestling.

I have several wrestling-themed games I've been meaning to finish that I've wanted to publish in an anthology together alongside works of other creators... but I'm starting to think that a Game Jam might be the better option. There are pros and cons to each approach, but I've never thought of it as a Jam before, and the idea is intriguing.

How about a Cut It Down To Size game jam, where you take an overly large or ambitious project and cut it down to a small and snappy zine format.