It's been a while. Here's what I've been up to. I led a development team of 6 for Manisha Wannibe's "Do You WANNA Jam?!" We ranked 46th out of 153 submissions. Here's a general overview + how I managed it. // My team consisted of the following: - 1 Designer - 1 Programmer - 2 Musicians (1 SFX + 1 Soundtracks) - 2 Artists (1 Environments + 1 Characters) Together we developed "Eyes on the Inside" // The jam theme was "INSIDE OUT!" On the first 2 days I facilitated brainstorm sessions. We generated 50+ ideas relating to the theme until we found one: Breaking out of prison. Our game's concept: "Play as both an Asylum patient and a security guard helping the patient escape" // I didn't encourage crunch. We were to meet each day for at least 3 hours only. Overall, we worked as a team for ~21 hours throughout the Jam's duration. // Takeaway #1: Scope Our game had 5 levels to do the following: - Teach the player how to control the patient/cameras - Establish a connection to the theme through gameplay - Challenge the player // Takeaway #2: What the game did well - The game teaches the player through level design and UI - The player controls 1 character on the 'inside' of the Asylum, and 1 on the 'outside' - The characters are symbiotic to one another. i.e. the player must use both // Takeaway #3: What the game didn't do well - 70% of our players stated they wanted to see more use of the camera. All it did was move and felt like an inconvenience. - The game wasn't challenging to players. // Takeaway #4: Opportunities for next game - For teams with gaps in timezones, it's important to plan the schedule ahead of time. That way I can pinpoint more opportunities for us to work together. // You can play "Eyes on the Inside" FREE on web browser Stay Consystent!

Here are 6 game jams coming up in August. Here in Consystent Creatives the goal is simple: make new games consistently to keep our skills sharp. [ACTION] If you're interested in joining one of these jams, but don't have a team do the following: - DM me OR comment below with 1) your specialty 2) the game jam you want to enter 3) who you're looking for // 1. LOWREZJAM 2024 Starts: August 1st @7am EST Duration: 14 days The main focus of this jam is to create a game with a MAX resolution of 64x64 pixels. You can use any tools such as Unity or Godot, so long as you stay within the resolution limit. Something also unique to this jam is that there are not one, but TEN themes. Teams must choose one. // 2. Tool Jam - Game a Month Starts: August 1st @12am EST Duration: 30 days This jam is part of a series of game jams by Screen Smith Studios named after the #gameamonth hashtag meant to inspire developers to (you guessed it) create one game every month. The theme of this jam is 'Tool'. Think stage builders, city builders, character creators, dress-up games, etc. // 3. Mini Jame Gam #33 Starts: August 2nd @7am EST Duration: 4 days A recurring beginner-friendly game jam. Good for anyone who wants to collaborate friend who is new to making games. While the theme is TBD, there is another component to this jam: a special object (also TBD). Not only do teams have to follow the theme, but their games MUST contain the special object and it must play an important role in the gameplay. // 4. Do you WANNA Jam?! Starts: August 3rd @10am EST Duration: 9 days A game jam hosted by YouTuber Wannibe Manisha. Theme is TBD, and there are no other additional requirements. // 5. DJAM #8 Starts: August 9th @8pm EST

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: 1. 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: A) In the Con Latinidad Game Jam last year submissions needed to run on Android and Windows B) In the Gamedev.js Jam 2024 submissions needed to at least run in a web browser 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.

There's a game jam going on from July 8th-22nd. Although I'm a few days late I'm challenging myself to make a new game by the end date solo. The link to the jam is here if anybody else is interested in joining The theme is 'Taming the Chaos', and you have to make a game with random-generating mechanics.