We see a lot of posts asking how one can learn, get better, or find motivation for game dev. The answer to all three is Game Jams! In a month, the annual Kenney Jam is coming up. It’s 3 days long. It’s a Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Nice and short.
There are a ton of 2D and 3D assets to use, and enough of them are free from both Kenney and KayKit, that you can learn how to use them now - and be ready for the jam next month!
Just make the worst game you can that plays. I did that last year, and my game was atrocious! I was way too ambitious with Prisoner 42, and it never got off the ground. I should have done something much, much simpler. Still, that failure of any real gameplay was informative for me. I wrote about it in my Post Mortem Devlog for the game. I completely failed, but I learned from that and am excited for this year!
I’ve acquired the ‘All-in one’ bundle; I’ll have a look around in there to see how I can use its contents, with a participation in this folly in mind. I’m not really ‘quick-minded’ for this kind of challenge (old age is my excuse…), and I may well get caught out by a theme which leaves me uninspired in the time allotted, but… We’ll see. ‘It’s all for fun, y’know’ (a partial quote from a Jefferson Airplane song…).
Peace.
The biggest one I joined was 20 seconds game jam and guess what! I was somehow able to make a good game! It is the thing that is powering my motivation soo far.
We’ll see how this pans out once a theme is announced, but my Project is starting to take shape. It may even be ready for the start date (note the ‘may’..!). Entered or not, it’s already served to get me working on a Project I would not otherwise have started (plus, of course, the acquisition of ‘Kenney’ assets, which turn out to be pleasantly workable…). Thanks for the incitation; now, back to the Project…
