Jul 11 in Game Jams
How to Decide What Your Game is About
Depending on the game jam, you may not have a lot of time to decide what it's going to be about.
Some jams are as short as 1 day, while other jams last up to 1 or 2 months.
That means you and/or your team have to have a system for brainstorming as many ideas as possible in the least amount of time.
There are three things I consider whenever I brainstorm a game concept for a jam:
- What are the additional criteria for games submitted?
Every game jam is 100% guaranteed to have a theme that every submission must relate to in some way.
Most jams, however, tack on additional requirements. I'll give two examples from game jams I participated in:
Aside from relating the theme, your concept should feasible within the hardware/software limitations placed on your game.
Your concept should (ideally) work best on the interface(s) that's required.
2. What are your teams affordances?
In game design, an affordance is defined as "the perceived properties of a thing, primarily the properties that determine just how the thing can be used".
Ergo, a player will assume that if they see a cane in-game, it's used for walking just by looking at it. This is what's called a perceptible affordance.
But what they didn't know is that the cane they saw is concealing a sword (like every cane totally does). This is what's called a hidden affordance.
You and your teammates probably assembled based on primary roles. (an artist, a programmer, a designer, a sound engineer, etc.)
If somebody claims to be an artist, you're going to assume they make art. But they also compose audio, and you wouldn't know it unless you asked.
With limited time and resources you often have to wear multiple hats in jams.
With every hat you wear, your energy is split. Thus, your game's scope has to scale down.
So if you're the team's designer who can 'kinda' make art, and you don't have an artist, design your game's concept around something with minimal art demands.
If your concept is systems-intense and your lead sound engineer is the only person who can 'kinda' code, ask them if they can handle it.
If they can, great! If they can't, be considerate. Revise the concept.
3. How much time should you (and/or your team) spend brainstorming?
This is the obvious thing to consider, but so many developers new to jams overlook it.
If the game jam lasts 7 days, there is absolutely no excuse for spending 3-4 days deciding on a concept.
It helps to think proportionally about the time you spend on brainstorming. A good rule of thumb I use is 1 day of brainstorming for every 7 days in the jam's duration.
In other words:
- If the jam lasts 7 days, spend 1 day brainstorming your concept.
- If the jam lasts 30 days, spend 4-5 days brainstorming your concept.
- If the jam lasts 3 days or less, spend 2-3 hours brainstorming your concept.
This video by Jonas Tyroller is one I go back to whenever I have to quickly brainstorm game concepts for a game jam submission.
Even if you don't like what the concept ends up being, try not to sweat it so much.
At the end of the day, Game Jams are meant for experimenting. They encourage game developers to get messy with their ideas.
Before you know it, the jam will be over, and whether you like the game or not, it will still be a game that YOU made.
And then it's onto the next game jam!
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How to Decide What Your Game is About
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