I'm not very good at programming and art. Should I still come?

 

YES! All you really require is the passion to make a game. There will be guidance provided for those new to everything just be sure to come in and ask questions! Use the skills you have be it IT, Writing or even psychology, they are all usful in Game Design.

 

I've never made a game before, where do I start?

 

Depending on where your skills lie, this will vary. Teaming up with people who are more experienced is important for those new to game design. As a general rule of thumb, the structure of the Jam should go as follows for you: Brainstorming, Prototyping, Asset Creation & programming, debugging, balance and polish and finally play testing.

 

Is there a particular Engine or Framework I should work in?

 

The programmer/level designer on your team should usually try to pick the engine or framework they are most familiar with. Using something you are less familiar with can slow you down greatly. Only do this if you are positive you can churn something out in the time allotted. There are several platforms that are particularily good for quick game design/development such as Unity, Construct, Stencyl and Game Maker:Studio.

 

We don't have an artist on our team, what do we do?

 

The graphics aren't everything with a jam game, don't worry about it. Use simple shapes and colours or even some basic pixel art if you want. The purpose is to make it fun or immersive to play not necessarily to make it pretty.

 

I'm a musician, can I be involved?

 

Of course! Music and sound are a very important part of the aesthetic on video games. Some games can even be centered around the audio (such as guitar hero).

 

I'm stuck and can't get my game to work!

 

Don't panic! Ask somebody else to look at it, ask online or even ask someone from another team. Somebody will be able to figure it out or at least debug it for you. Still stuck? Work around it or roll back to when it did work and follow a different path.

 

What skills are useful for game development?

 

Here are a list of skills I think are most useful. This is not a comprehensive list and purely subjective.

 

Design

• Game Design

• Web Design

• Product Design

• Arcitecture

 

Programming

• A head for math or logic problems

• Any programming language whatsoever even Excel (you can make games in excel)

 

Art

• Drawing/Painting abilities

• Art Installations or General art awareness

• Photoshop/Illustrator

• Modeling software like Maya or Blender

• Pixel art or basic MS Paint use

 

Music & Sound

• Composition (any)

• Can create and /or record music in music software

• Sound design

• Mixing and Mastering abilities are always handy

 

Narrative

• Writing abilities of any kind (Journalism, Fiction, Acedemic, etc..)

 

Other

• Psychology

• Social Sciences

• Interactive Media

• Video Tech skills

• Project Managment

• Voice Acting

• Can play games and give feedback on the design or bugs (QA)

• Has decent game ideas and can share them with a team

• Not an asshole