A short introduction
In 2015, I was invited to do a talk at the Nordic Game Jam for the less seasoned jammers, focussing on the do's and don't's that could help people have a better jam experience. Now, with a new jam season under way, I decided to turn it into this article, based on my own experience, sparring with colleagues and a bit of Game Jam research. Among other things, I found a survey done after a Ludum Dare a few years back where some of the responses really surprised me. The survey concluded that:
27% were not happy with their games
Almost 70% reported that they had to cut features or simplify design
Almost 40% ran out of time before they could finish
33% said that their game had no sound effects and/or music
29% said that they did not finish their game
Judging from this, it seems to me like a lot of people are having unsatisfying jam experiences. I mean, if you go to a game jam hoping to create a great game and end up dissatisfied with what you did - perhaps even failing to finalize your project - that would be a bad experience. However, I have a pretty good idea why this happens so/too often, and I have some suggestions on how to avoid this and have happier jammers who make more (and perhaps even better) games. So here goes – A Recipe for Great Game Jam. I've added suggestions for "Jam Spice" and other "Additional info" to boxes like this one below to seperate these from the main text - but I hope you take time to check out these info boxes as well :)
Measure the right amount of time
Jam time: Before you start jamming
A surprisingly common jam mistake is failing to realize how little time you actually have. When people ask “What is a game jam?”, the usual answer is along the line of: “A game jam is an event where you join a team to make a game in 48 hours.” Even the Nordic Game Jam (the world’s biggest on-site jam) has this description in their FAQ. There is just one thing... It's (often) wrong. Let's take a look at the NGJ as our example.
Friday, there are a lot of talks – which is awesome – ending with the keynote at around 7 pm. This is followed by Jam-kickoff at around 8 pm. Usually, this is where the jam theme is revealed and it takes about an hour. Then the team-building process starts which takes another hour or so. At the other end of the jam, submission deadline is at 2 pm Sunday afternoon, which means you should be finished a little before that time.
This leaves you and your team with around 40 hours, not 48. That means – compared to the usual jam description – you are already down 20% of your estimated development time before you even get started. If you then factor in time for 6 hours to sleep, eat and clear your mind each day (which I would strongly advise you to do), then that is another 12 hours gone. This leaves you with 28 – not 48 hours to create your game. That is almost half of the scope of the description, which is something you really need to take into account if you want to avoid being part of the 29% did-not-finish statistic. Rather, plan for 24 hours of development time and then add a nice bonus feature to your epically polished (albeit small) jam game, than having to cut features Saturday, because you suddenly realize that you have 28 hours, not 48.
Take 1 cup of motivation and add 1 team
Jam Time: Friday around 9 PM
Creating or joining a team is most likely going to be one of the first things you do during a jam and it's one of the most important. To have a good experience, you really need to be part of the right team.
I know it's sort of a cliché, but before going to a Game Jam, you should really try to figure out why you're going. You might say, “I just want to make games”, but in that case I'd challenge you to think a bit harder, because most likely there are more nuances to your motivation.
Is your primary goal to have fun? To win? To learn? To grow your network? Are you hellbent on a specific genre? Do you want to experiment? What skills do you want to pitch in with? and so on... (and if you, like I, see yourself mainly as a game designer, don’t be afraid to offer to pitch in on art, sound, testing, getting coffee (!) etc - sometimes going out of your comfort zone is a key part of the whole jam experience).
Now, once you know why you are jamming, what your ambitions are and what you have to offer, you really need to be honest about that with your team. Best case scenario is that you all agree and head off to jam. Worst case: You figure out that you want different things and you go your separate ways to form other teams. It is way better to figure this out at jam start, than halfway through.
When I did the “Recipe for Great Game Jam” talk at NGJ15, I had the crowd answer my own anonymous web-survey, which included a multiple choice of why were part of the jam. These are the results: (which to me seem to explain why the vibe at jams are uniquely positive and people are almost always ready to help each other out, including other teams).
(only) 2% were there to win
2% didn’t know
11% were there to make a great game
15% to challenge themselves
15% “to have fun, i guess…”
15% to meet people and grow their network
40% to learn and improve their skills
As a final team-building note, jamming is really hard in big teams, because with bigger teams comes demand for better communication for the team to scale efficiently. I would suggest going for a team size of 2-4 people as a rule of thumb.
Carve out 1 idea (preferably fresh and unused)
Jam Time: Friday around 10 PM
Having found the right team, you – as a team – need to figure out what game you want to make. If this challenge is not tackled in a controlled manner, you often end up with either a severe case of Blank Canvas Syndrome or too many ideas pointing in all directions. The usual consequence of this is you spend way too much time doing jam ideas which leaves you with too little time to actually turn the final idea into a game.
In the initial concept phases (in jams, as well as paid projects), constraints are not a hindrance, but actually really helpful tools, when seeking to define the canvas you're working within. Remember the wise words of Donald Norman, who said: “Design is the successive application of constraints until only a unique product is left”.
At a jam, rather than trying to materialize an idea out of thin air, I suggest you start carving away your idea by narrowing down possibilities again and again using constraints. In a jam environment, your first constraint is usually the jam theme, which is not meant to be a hindrance, but rather a catalyst and tool to help you zero in on what will be your unique jam idea. Other useful constraints would be the team’s skill set – for instance, I've had some of my best jams in a group with no artist, forcing our team to seek other or at least simpler ways to express our ideas visually. Tech constraints, such as target device, number of players, art style, scope (because your team agrees that you actually want sleep during the jam) and so on. These and many other constraints that are easily defined based on the team's skills, hardware, ambitions and size, can really help you narrow down the room for ideas and help you save valuable time by not chasing ideas that are not viable.
Peel your idea, puré and let it set
Jam Time: Friday around midnight
Ideally, after a couple of hours your team has settled on an awesome game idea and perhaps you have even taken time to add some spice to your jam. Now, it's time to take that idea and peel away anything that is unnecessary for the idea to live. It should be kind of self evident that scope and planning is key to as successful jam, but – due to the time pressure – people have a tendency to skip this. But that is a really bad idea. Just a little planning goes a long way at a jam and I can tell you, it is way easier and more time-efficient to kill ideas as opposed to features you have already spent time designing (or even worse, implementing) before you realize that they are not fun, out of scope or whatever may be the reason for cutting them.
To me a good rule of thumb is to answer the following questions:
What is the core of the game?
