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Actual jam thread: Anniversary Game Jam 2014

One year ago, on November 1st, we held our very first community game jam, and it was very successful. Every quarter since then, we've continued the tradition with a seasonal game jam, with the summer jam having as many entrants as the previous two combined! Let's keep these jams thriving!

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Game Jams, it's where you are given a theme at the start of the jam, then you are challenged to make an entire game from beginning to end over the course of anywhere from 4 hours to 10 days. The jams we run here are solo projects (although there has been some talk about teaming up), and we run them over a weekend, starting on Friday. They can be lots of fun, and you end up with something playable at the end of it.

Theme

Alex started a thread a while back asking what theme we should run this time, and the community has voted for a Potluck theme:

Before the start, everyone submits 5 "foods" (English words) into a common "buffet".

At the start, the words are shuffled and dealt to participants, so everyone has 5 random words from what others brought.

Pick 3 of those. That's your jam theme.

Click here to submit your 5 words and a little information about yourself. Please be imaginative and clean. If I don't like words you've submitted, I might have to assign them back to you!

I have left the email field as optional, but if you fill it out, you should get an automated email with a link back to the survey so that you can edit your entry at any time. Your email address will also be used to send you your jam words when the jam is about to begin.

If you do not provide me with an email address, please make sure you have logged in to the Game-Development Chat at least once so that I can ping you with your words before the jam begins. It also can't hurt to save the edit URL provided at the end of survey.

Date

The jam will take place over the weekend of October 31st through November 2nd.

I want the core jam hours to start Friday afternoon/evening, and end Sunday night for whichever timezone you reside. Since the world isn't flat, we have to have a wide time frame to allow everyone these core jam hours. Some people will get all day Friday, others will get some of Monday, etc, but everyone will get these core jam hours.

Edit: Alternatively, you can opt in for the Thursday through Saturday schedule. Your jam will start 24 hours early, and will end 24 hours early. Please let me know if you'd like to opt in for the Thursday -> Saturday schedule before the jam.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Not that your name at the end of your profile URL is not actually part of your ID. Not pasting it won't hurt \$\endgroup\$
    – Ali1S232
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 8:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ Thanks John for the effort in managing this jam! Excellent work on the system for submitting words. \$\endgroup\$
    – House Mod
    Commented Sep 26, 2014 at 13:48

4 Answers 4

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We should hold the jam from:

October 31st through November 2nd

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I can't vote on my own answer but this one gets my vote \$\endgroup\$
    – SpartanDonut
    Commented Sep 29, 2014 at 13:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm going set the date sometime on Monday October 6th my local time. Get your votes in before then! \$\endgroup\$
    – John McDonald
    Commented Sep 30, 2014 at 14:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ Some of us are in NaNoWriMo and will lose a couple of days to that. D'oh. \$\endgroup\$
    – ashes999
    Commented Oct 8, 2014 at 21:33
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Just an idea, since not everyone in the world agrees that Saturday/Sunday should be the weekends, it might be better if we start from Thursday, and end it on Sunday. For example our weekend is Thursday/Friday. I'm not sure if there are any Arabs wanting to participate or not, but their weekend is on Friday/Saturday.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I agree with this. \$\endgroup\$
    – user35344
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 9:07
  • \$\begingroup\$ I personally have no issues with this and don't foresee it being a problem. \$\endgroup\$
    – SpartanDonut
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 13:36
  • \$\begingroup\$ @SpartanDonut you live in US! at least for me, it'll mess with my weekly schedule, though I might be able t adopt myself \$\endgroup\$
    – Ali1S232
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 13:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Ali.S I was saying I don't have a problem with your proposal and gave you an upvote. \$\endgroup\$
    – SpartanDonut
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 14:23
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    \$\begingroup\$ I'm hesitant to extend the jam by another 24 hours for everyone because the games will keep getting better, and I don't want participants to feel like they need to spend 4 days on their game in order for it be as awesome as the others. That said: how about we provide an alternative schedule: Thursday -> Saturday? Those who opt in would receive their potluck words 24 hours early, and their jam would conclude 24 hours early. \$\endgroup\$
    – John McDonald
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 15:41
  • \$\begingroup\$ @JohnMcDonald That's fine by me. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ali1S232
    Commented Sep 25, 2014 at 20:20
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We should hold the jam from:

October 24th through October 26th

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I'm going set the date sometime on Monday October 6th my local time. Get your votes in before then! \$\endgroup\$
    – John McDonald
    Commented Sep 30, 2014 at 14:32
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Are we going to see the whole buffet before getting our own personal theme?

Personally I prefer to see the whole list.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I don't think I'm going to release the entire list before the jam starts. I would like keep some anonymity behind the word entries so people don't get singled out. However; if this question gets 5 or more votes: I'll release some portion of the list one week in advance of the jam. \$\endgroup\$
    – John McDonald
    Commented Oct 6, 2014 at 15:34

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