Have you never joined a game jam? Maybe you've never made a game at all! This is your chance to practice - there are bigger jams coming up that you might want to join, this is the perfect opportunity to have a go, figure it all out, and get prepared. 

Why Join?

I'll play the games. All of them. With a video, and lots of feedback & advice on what things you might want to focus on! 

Why should I care about that?

First of all, ouch. But fair! The best way to improve at making games is to make and release games. That is common advice, and seems fairly obvious, but there is a missing part. You need to get feedback for that to be useful! And the feedback generally should be clear and actionable - giving good feedback is something that requires practice and patience. 

So why me? Hello! I'm Dom, on Discord I'm theChief, and I've been making games for 20 years. I've released a game solo on Xbox, and I'm currently on the Business Development team at CrazyGames. My job is helping developers make the best games they can! I have hosted a couple of dozen game jams (including helping with a few bigger ones that you might know), and I've entered over 100 myself. Hopefully that's a good enough appeal to authority to get you on board...

Rules

This jam is unranked, there are no results, it is just a place to learn and have fun. I can't believe I have to say this but please don't just submit old projects. This is a jam for learning, it isn't free feedback. You should avoid AI, and you  following "full game" tutorials. You can Google things, and find tutorials for specifics, but full game tutorials and blind copy/pasting will mean it takes longer for you to learn.

You can start now if you like! I'm around in the server I linked above, feel free to ask for help :)

Theme

Not this time! Most jams on here will have a theme, but the goal here is to get you to release a game. That's hard enough as it is, and if you don't know where to start...

Don't Know Where To Start?

I've got you covered! Here's a simple top down shooter, it should be straightforward to implement, and has a lot of room to expand and improve the game feel. You do not have to do this to take part in the jam!

1. wasd to move
   
2. rotate to face the mouse
3. the camera follows the player
4. hold the mouse button down to fire bullets
   1. bullet direction and speed is set when they are created
5. enemies spawn randomly and move towards the player
6. enemies die when they collide with a bullet
7. when enemies die you get some score
8. when they collide with you 3 times, it's game over
9. on game over, show some UI with the final score and a retry button

Extra Credit

• use physics to move the player! Add forces and tweak weights, this generally improves "game feel" and also makes it easier to add things like knockback.
• different enemy archetypes! Maybe one wanders randomly, or dashes towards you, or fires bullets of its own.
• smooth the camera motion somehow. Smoothdamp, lerp, spring motion, second order systems (if you're doing this one why the hell are you here lol). however you choose to do it is fine by me!
• particles! The more the better. Particles are a quick and easy way to make your game feel great.
• eased motion on UI elements. Maybe your score UI bounces in with ease out back, or the game over screen slides in - simply using some nice curves for motion in your game and it will immediately "feel" better.
• screen shake and hitstop - both of these things should be used in moderation, but they really help sell impacts. A tiny amount of camera movement in the direction of your shot when a bullet is fired, or a bit of hitstop and shake when you get hit really adds up.
• flash on hit - making enemies (and the player) flash a different colour when they get hit makes cause and effect really clear.
• varied sound effects - you can alter the pitch slightly on every bullet fired, or choose from a pool of 3-5 sounds. This stops the sound from getting super repetitive.

Need Help?

Don't suffer in silence! If you get stuck on a bug or don't know how to implement something, head over to a Discord Server and ask there. I've linked to Juniper Dev's server because it is generally a great place for new devs, and I'm active there - please do ping me @_thechief 😁

Recommended Tools (All Free!)

You can use whatever you like, but if you don't have a tool of choice yet, here are some great places to start:

• No-Code / Visual: GDevelop or Construct 3 (Great for web games and absolute beginners)
• All-rounder: Godot Engine (Lightweight, free, and open-source)
• Industry Standard: Unity
• Art & Sound: Piskel (2D Pixel Art), Kenney.nl (Free, "CC0" public domain assets), and bfxr/sfxr (Retro sound effect generators)

How to Submit

Make sure your game is playable! Here are a few tips for a smooth submission:

• Export for Web (HTML5/WebGL) if possible: It makes it infinitely easier for me (and everyone else) to play your game instantly in the browser without downloading files.
• Test your build: Before submitting, download your own build or open it in a private browser window to make sure it actually runs!
• Keep it public: Ensure your project page visibility is set to "Public", not "Draft".