35 Quick Game Jam Tips!

here are 35 quick game jump tips that will make you succeed in your next game jam in case you don't know what a game gem is it's basically a bunch of people making games together in a limited amount of time and usually all of the games also have the same topic I've been making games for more than 10 years now and here are the game gem games I created in the past some of them I made alone some of them I made in a team and I participated both in life events as well as an online gems like Ludum dare for example I'm not a game gem expert but I hope that some of my insights will still be very helpful for you most game gems follow the same structure the topic is announced people make their games people upload their games people rate each other's games and give feedback and after that Gems / MGM czar a great opportunity to grow as a game developer or maybe even to get started with game development online gems are happening all of the time so it's very easy to sign up for one whenever you want what's not quite as easy as finishing a high-quality game in that short amount of time so here are my tips for you tip

number one is just participate even if you have no game development skills whatsoever you can still participate don't be afraid commit to participating write it into your calendar and take that time off otherwise you might not do it I know you make sure you have at the very least a couple of hours of time it is a misconception that you need to use the entire time that is available over the gem lasts two weeks you don't need to spend two weeks on making your game no but at least plan for a couple of hours when you go to a live event bring your laptop there's no reason not to bring your laptop because a lot of people say to themselves ah I just want to see how all of this works and just I don't want to participate I just want to look what the others do basically I believe me when you're there there will be nice people that will instantly let you enter their team even if you have no development skills whatsoever so just bring your laptop join a team because usually that is more fun and gives you better results but obviously if you don't want to you don't have to do it you can also make a game alone in most games gems don't fall in love with a

game idea before the gem starts you at the earliest want to wait until you have a topic stick to the topic and to the restrictions of the game jam because otherwise other developers will not pack your game all that much keep your ideas simple when people play game gem games usually they want to try a bunch of them and they don't want to spend hours and hours on understanding your game they just want to play be willing to take a risk with your game idea if you're not sure whom will this idea work out then just go for it just try it that's what game gems are for don't take a risk with this scope of your game definitely keep the scope of your game small enough so you can finish your game on time an unfinished game doesn't look all that great a game that took a risk and try something risky in terms of game idea looks a lot better take a risk with your game idea don't take a risk with your scope come up with multiple ideas on paper and then choose the best one don't just go for the first idea that comes to your mind if it's a little hard for you to come up with a fitting game idea then just start with something

familiar with a platformer a shooter an RPG rope-like whatever and then modify the idea to make it fits the topic of the gem I think that is a lot easier than starting from an entirely white sheet of paper if you still struggle with it then watch this video how to come up with awesome game ideas spend enough time on choosing a game idea because that is usually worth it don't waste too much time on coming up with the perfect game idea because the execution of your game idea is a lot more important than your initial idea anyway at some point you've just gotta get started and I would say spending five to ten percent of your time budget on coming up with the game idea sounds about right manage your time make a rough plan when you want to be finished with what when we want the gameplay to be finished when do you want the sounds to be finished that just makes sure you don't forget about anything and you'll be able to finish your game on time don't forget to plan some time for bug fixing polishing exporting and uploading your game because that takes a lot of time as well so at the end leave a big chunk of time

for all of that aim to finish your game early you can still keep expanding and keep improving your game when it's done the problem is only when it is not done on time because then you're screwed focus on implementing the most important features first plate as early and playtest often that is a very common mistake that you just keep coding in keep implementing stuff without actually playing your game but you need to play your game in order to know what it needs and how to continue developing it even further keep evolving your game idea during development during development you'll see what works out and what doesn't and you'll have to adjust course a little bit so look out for good opportunities to do that resist the urge to make your game more complicated if your game needs fixing then try to fix it in a way that doesn't make it more complicated cut unnecessary feature from your game whenever possible if something is not required for your game then don't implement it put quality over quantity especially in game gems that's

especially important if you like because people want to play and they would rather play through a very short and good experience than through a really long game that doesn't have anything interesting to offer in case you're working on a team communicate make sure everybody is still on the same page make sure everybody is working on something useful and make sure everybody has the same vision for the game don't over communicate don't get lost in endless arguments and discussions you can easily spend 80 percent of your time on discussing and arguing about certain stuff and that means you will get absolutely nothing done don't overcome unic 8 I feel like that's a common mistake as well create an in-game tutorial or make sure your game is self explanatory because if people can get your game easily if they understand how it works without having to read pages of text they will be very grateful and they'll like it a lot better pick an awesome color scheme because that is one of the easiest way to either mess up the look of your game completely or to make a pretty awesome looking game at sound

effects and music that's not something you want to skip out on skip out on something else if you want to skip out on something but don't skip out on music and sound effects it doesn't take a lot of time to implement them especially if you use free sounds from the internet sound effects just bring an insane amount of bang for your buck and make your game feel a lot more alive and although sleep don't overdo the crunch please staying awake for 48 hours might feel productive well I'm pretty I feel pretty safe to say that it's not make it as easy as possible to download and play your game and the best case scenario upload on html5 files of people can play it right in the browser design an appealing download page with a couple of screenshots and maybe even with a short video I think it's well worth to invest half an hour into that because if you do that more people will play your game and you will get more feedback on your download page also make it very clear what your interpretation of the game gems topic was design an appealing thumbnail for your game because in the rating face the thumbnail of your game

is one of the deciding factors whether people will play your game if they don't click on your game they can't download your game so don't rush the thumbnail of your game too much you want to invest enough time into that and the other important thing is obviously the title of your game choose a good title for your game the main thing I'm trying to tell you here is that if you didn't put a lot of laughs into your download page people will assume that you didn't put a lot of love into your game either if you want to get feedback for your game then also play the games of other participants and give them feedback that's only fair it's a give-and-take take criticism and feedback serious don't feel personally attacked by it because that's how you grow as a game developer whatever the result of the gem might be whether you win or lose whatever your writing is just stay positive and stay motivated if your game looks very good and promising and is well received then consider turning it into a bigger Longer passion project of yours game gems have started a lot of fantastic games in the past so no reason why you

can't do it as well keep making games and of course have fun in case you suddenly feel like participating in a game gem I have one coming up Wow a game jam 1st of February 2009 a link to that is in the description I would be honored if you decided to join otherwise I wish you good luck with your game gem endeavors hit the subscribe button and see you next time you