Hello all,
second time Alakajamin'. I will not be ready and I'll start a little bit late on friday but it will be my first solo experience.
I'll be using the classic tools
Unity (Because it's the only one I know a bit)
Paint.net (because I'm in love with paint)
Visual Studio community (because Unity comes with it)

I'm usually the artist (2d artist/DA) so it will be a big challenge for me but I think it's what jams is all about.
See you on the flippity!

This will be my 8th 48 hour game jam. I've entered every Ludum Dare since 35 and the first Alakajam.

What I'm using:

• Python with Pygame as the graphics library(so no game engine)
• MS Paint/Px Editor(my own pixel art animation tool)
• Bosca Ceoil
• SFXR

My last Alakajam entry(Alchemic Archer):

While I think I did pretty well on the art for this game, but there were a ton of design issues that needed fixing.

My last Ludum Dare entry(The Crushed Sky):

This game did very well in graphics and mood, but once again the game was mostly just good looking. Although, that was what I was aiming for…

I'm hoping to make a game that is fun this time instead of a game with a good aesthetic like my previois two game jam games. I'm gonna aim for the top 10% in at least one category. ^-^

I was supposed to be practicing my skills in making music, but recently I've just been having fun with pixel art. >.>
This is something I'm working on right now:

Anyway, good luck and have fun!

EDIT: some people have suggested we start the event a little earlier, to squeeze in one more weekend—so now the event is now going to start on March 29th. Sorry for the confusion!

Kajam competitions are month-long events in which people make a video game from scratch, focusing each time on a specific aspect of game making, as chosen by its host. They are perfect to learn, experiment and improve your gamedev skills! More details here.

The topic of the 4th Kajam will be announced by its host, in complete non-jokey seriousness, on April 1st March 29th.

Follow us on Twitter to stay updated!

The 2nd Alakajam is going to happen February 23rd to 25th! This gives you the opportunity to make your game, from scratch, in just a weekend.
It doesn't matter if you are a seasoned pro or a total beginner, if you like video games and are motivated to create your very own game, keep reading.

Schedule

• Feb 9th to Feb 23rd: Theme selection. You can submit theme suggestions for the jam and vote for all other suggestions. (Note: this closes two days early to give us time to produce the announcement video)
• Feb 23rd 7pm UTC: The jam is live. And it starts with the theme unveiling at 7pm UTC.
  You can join either for the competition or the unranked jam.
• Feb 23rd to Feb 25th: You want to join the full competition? These are your (or your team's) 48 hours to create an awesome game.
• Feb 23rd to Feb 26th: If you are not in for the competetive aspect or want to go for a relaxed weekend, you can create a game during the 72 hours of the unranked jam.
• Feb 25th to Mar 11th: Playing other's games and voting. For two weeks all entrants are invited to play, rate and comment on other peoples games.
• Mar 11th: The results from game voting are released and the winners are crowned!

Rules

All rules can be found under the help tab:

Alakajam rules

How to enter

Entering the 2nd Alakajam is easy! Just decide whether you want to do the competition (48 hours) or join the unranked jam (72 hours). All you need to do is to create an account. Then you can enter the event, suggest themes and/or vote for themes and submit your game after the jam.

It would be nice if you share a small "I am in" blog post presenting yourself or your team. What language, engine and tools will you use to create an awesome game? What are your expectations for the jam? Let us and the community know!
And if you are using Twitter or Reddit, spread the word about the 2nd Alakajam.

Congrats to the entrants of this small Storytelling-themed event!

The jam results are out, making me realize in the process that I shoud have advertised the voting phase more: due to a lack of ratings, only 2 of the games ended in the final rankings ( @bradur 's only had 1 vote).

Anyway, if you want to join a bigger, more competitive event, now is the right time to book the 23-25 week-end, on which the 2nd Alakajam will take place at last! More details to be announced tomorrow…

The 3rd Kajam focused on storytelling just reached its end, yielding 4 new games for all to discover!

For the next week, everyone will be able to rate the games, so that everyone can get enough ratings for interesting results. Go explore them, and please leave feedback on the games you play!

Note: since this is a relaxed competition, we're leaving the game submissions open for any late entrant (I'm looking at you @toasty!)

My first venture into 3D. It's gonna be hard to get something playable out, but I'm motivated!
Blender is still so difficult to use and I need a tutorial for everything but I'm going to make every model myself anyway.

Here's a gif of what I've got after a couple of nights.

https://gfycat.com/ShyKaleidoscopicFlyingfish

I'm going to follow the theme and make the story the main focus.
See you on the other side!

Hello you, I’m HuvaaKoodia; we might have exchanged words in the past! Didn’t have time for Kajam last time (and probably not this time either unfortunately) due to putting together my plan for this year. In short, I’m going independent (Exciting times!) making multiple 2 month solo project from scratch. Mostly for fun, maybe for profit?

Here's the devlog at TigSource for the first project.

Just so that this doesn’t become all about self promotion, I’d be interested in hearing your opinions on interactive digital media. I’ve tried to explain it here the best I can, yet the only way to see if it sticks is to throw it at people. Written from a developer angle, keep that in mind.

Cheers.

Because games don't always have to be about shooting things, the first 2018 Kajam is about telling Stories! Explore how to tell a nice and engaging story to your players, maybe by focusing on developing interesting choices, or on the attachment to the characters, or simply use this excuse to finally try and tell a story for your first time!

While every single type of video game can be greatly affected by its storytelling, here are cheap ways you could exercise your talents:

• Interactive fictions, with an engine like Twine or even from scratch (web or console) ;
• Role-playing games based on RPG Maker or its free clone RPG Boss ;
• Walking simulators, either in 2D or 3D.

Schedule

• Jan. 1st - Jan. 28th: The jam. Make a small game while focusing on its story elements. Either over an evening or spanning the whole 3/4 weeks, either solo or as a team, there's little to no rules, just a chance to practice. If you're curious though, feel free to check the event rules.
• Jan. 28th - Feb. 4th: The rating phase. For one week, all entrants will rate the storytelling of the other games. Like on the first event: no Overall ratings, it's all about how much you liked the stories.
• Feb. 4th: Results are released!

Don't forget to share tips & progress reports with the community throughout the month. Have fun!

Resources

• Story - What is it good for? by Thomas Grip
• Telling tales: The art of narrative in games by Craig Chapple
• Developing Meaningful Player Character Arcs in Branching Narrative by Alexander M. Freed
• Storytelling Tips: How To Plan Big Plot Twists in 4 Steps by Guy Hasson
• Play me a story: How video game storytelling has evolved by Seamus Byrne
• A brief history of the “walking simulator,” gaming’s most detested genre by Nicole Clark
• Exploring Telltale Games’ master plan to evolve modern storytelling by Adam Rosenberg
• The Future of Video Game storytelling by Neil Druckmann

If you have a link to add, please share it in the comments.

So the 2nd Kajam is over, and I'm very happy with the result (and we won, sort of)!

This was a very busy month for me, but fortunately I was working with some very talented individuals. They deserve most of the credit as I only managed to push a small amount of code and a couple of level designs.

I think the game is pretty fun, despite the simple gameplay. The music & SFX are great (albeit lodged in my head forever), and everything fits together nicely. There are also some brilliant touches which I would never have thought of myself, like the cat, which give the game character.

Given more time, I think we could have benefited from adding some hazardous items (e.g. spikes) for more varied gameplay, and perhaps some animations for the player in particular. But then, the lack of animation works quite well with the retro theme, and the game doesn't really feel like it's lacking. More probably we just chose a very realistic set of features for a game jam, and executed them quite well.

I learned a few things from working with wan, too: how useful a design document can be; how to pick a simple idea and do a good job (I quite often fail to complete something because it's too complicated); and how to drive something through to completion.

Overall I'm chuffed with the result and proud to have been involved :D