HOW TO GAME JAM!

now it's no secret that I like game development a lot but there's definitely one thing that stands out to me as my favorite part that is of course game jams over the years I've participated in Ludum dare a 5 times and we've hosted several practice game jams we're also joined in on the fun in total I've made over 10 game jam games and each one has been a unique and fun experience but in between all the fun I've also made a lot of mistakes so today I'll share a few tips on what to do before during and after a game jam so that you can hopefully avoid some of the pitfalls that I fell into now keep in mind that when it comes to game jams there's no greater advice than to remember to just have fun game jams all about having a good time and at the same time improving your skills so if you just remember that you'll probably be fine oh and also make sure to play test that's it let's jump into it but first this video is sponsored by core course the new free game creation platform that lets you build publish and play games car makes prototyping and iteration fast so it's a great platform for game jams especially if you want to quickly set up a 3d multiplayer experience you can get started making games right away using thousands of free high-quality music sound and art assets with no coding required right now course hosting the kind of funny game jam with Greg Miller supporting the charity Extra Life and starting to and first the International Game Developers Association will be hosting a Koi focused game jam be sure to check them out using the link in the description on top of that they recently launched Kor Academy which is a free online school for learning development skills that also gives you the opportunity to interact with industry pros for live mentorship everything is completely free so I definitely encourage you to visit Kor Gamescom or simply click the link in the description so a game jam is coming up and you're just so excited to get started if you could you would start right now and you can kind of there are lots of stuff that you can do before a game jam first of all you have to decide if you're teaming up or going solo and do yourself a favor and decide well in advance since the communication over forums and discord channels can take some time now teaming up can be really fun and getting to work together with the people on something creative is an amazing experience most game gems offer a place that you can go in order to find people to team up with or can always join our discord which is filled with fellow game dreamers personally I usually go solo but we always invite people over to jam along which just makes the experience so much more fun plus you always have someone nearby to play test your game another thing that I usually do before a game jam starts is make a list of all the things and tools that I'm going to need during the jam I mean that's nothing more frustrating than having to wait for a download because she recently reinstalled your computer and forgot to download unity not like that ever happened to me anyway you guys probably want to remember to download and update everything you need so here's a quick list of everything I use for the game engine I personally use unity since it's the one that I'm most familiar with but feel free to pick any of the other amazing engines out there also remember that you don't always have to create a video game board and card games also viable options in many jams of course other than the engine you are probably also going to need some tools to create graphics and audio I personally use blender for modeling Photoshop for 2d graphics and puskás I and audition for audio of course some of these are paid so here are some free alternatives to those of you interested and if you're working as a team make sure to set up file-sharing and voice chat beforehand especially if you're working online here are some of the tools that I personally use for that and talking about tools don't forget the good old pen and paper this one does need an update it's always ready to go so finally the day has arrived and the jam has started and the theme is amazing but where do you start well the first thing that I do is play test all right maybe not yet but don't forget it what I actually do is start brainstorming right away this is all about getting as many ideas on the table as possible even the most crazy out of scope ones you can always turn those down later but sometimes I get stuck on brainstorming for a long time mostly because I start doubting if my ideas are good enough however over the years I've learned that your first idea is often the best one so if you get stuck maybe just roll with that with that said however definitely spent some time in the brainstorming phase since you can often pull some of your other ideas into your game later on and don't worry too much about originality you're not creating a commercial game so who cares if it's a ripoff sometimes I find it's really fun to challenge myself with recreating some of my favorite games and if you can put a twist on it even better remember game jams are all about learning and one of the best ways to do that is by challenging yourself with creating a game mechanic or genre that you've never done before now once the core idea is in place I often take some time to plan out exactly what I want in the game okay it's a good idea to keep in mind how much time you're actually going to have for the gem is this a two-day jam or a two-week jam and no matter the time frame make sure to limit your scope after I think up some cool gameplay ideas with tons of systems and mechanics I divide them by two or maybe twenty I've ended up with over the ambitious ideas countless of times and I found that it's way more satisfying to actually complete a simple game than barely making a playable demo of some advanced mechanic so start small you can always add stuff later on I found that a good technique for making sure that I don't bite off more than I can chew is the Moscow method with this you can make a list of all the features you want in your game mechanics graphics audio and so on and then divide them into four categories must have the game needs this to function should have this is big parts of the game but not the actual core could have stuff to add if you have the time and one tab cool things but you probably won't have time to add them that's it don't spend all day on planning after all this list will probably be updated along the way if you're short on time you can always move some of the things from could have to one half it's most important to just get started and don't forget to play test and this is the point where I usually put up unity and where everything kind of starts to become a messy blur of programming bug fixing and pretending to know what I'm doing making pixel art I quickly lose sense of time while jamming which means that I often forget about basic stuff like eating or drinking so I started setting timers to make sure that I don't work too much and still function like a gnome human being perhaps with a bit more energy drink also when I seem to be facing a problem that just defies the laws of the universe it's probably because I've been working too long and need to take a break as soon as I take a walk or just do something else a solution normally pops up and even if it doesn't you still return to the problem with renewed energy oh and while taking a break of course make sure to have my friends play test now nearing the end of the jam hours and maybe days have passed you've struggled and it's time to finish up the game everything probably isn't as you hoped it would be but hey you made something in very little time and it's not meant to be perfect plus there are often a bunch of things in the game that are really cool that you would have never planned to make at this point I used the last bit of time to do some important polishing and make sure not to neglect audio and UI at least that's what I tell myself when I go to bed at night and when you're finally done make sure to leave an hour to get everything exported and submitted and be happy and remember game jams aren't about the game itself it's about the process and everything that you just learned in a few days plus you might even have made some new friends along the way just think about it you got to experience every part of the game development process in mini format everything from idea generation to polishing in the end so congratulations you are finally done now it's time to celebrate and rest and maybe play some of the entries from your fellow community members remember this is a guide and not the definitive best way to do a game jam everyone is different and have different workflows with that said I wish you the best of luck and lots of great inspiration for your next Jam and of course hope to see you when we host our next game Jam event also don't forget to check out core it's completely free just visit core Gamescom or click the link in the description on that thanks for watching and I will see you in the next video thanks of the awesome patreon supporters who donated in April and a special thanks to - blank lost to violence no forever face Samara Phi John replica studios SRT Mike Luna set Jason you Tesco Navi ninja belivet an endangered to Sonic donor team Gascoigne Dantas Sam Jacob Sanford no Akua sake mark enthroned yard Gregory Pierce Michael Cobb of the mighty Zeus Alvin Cooper else in the pierce Erasmus and serious you guys Rock

Channel: Brackeys

Views: 183,511

Keywords: brackeys, unity, unity3d, beginner, easy, how, to, howto, learn, game, development, develop, games, programming, coding, basic, basics, Game Jam, Game, jam, best, practices, best practices, tip, tips, challenge, ludum, dare, ldjam, community, software, tool, tools

Id: d_NA_yTXOOQ

Length: 9min 0sec (540 seconds)

Published: Sun May 17 2020