It's ok to fail. Fail early, fail often, and learn from it.

I wanted to make something for the Alakajam, as usual. I liked the theme and I brainstormed what I think is a cool idea that can be iterated and extended post-jam as well. The only problem was scope, and I guess I spent too much time evaluating what to do and how to cut the scope into something manageable.

In hindsight, it's obvious! I know how I could have done it now, but alas, during the weekend it felt a bit hopeless. I think part of the reason was I could "see" all the options for extensions and new features and got a bit overwhelmed.

Anyway, I finally started working on the game at some point on Saturday. I did a test-run last weekend which revealed my base code needed some repairs in order to do web builds (long time since I'd worked with my JS stack). Unfortunately I didn't manage to fix it in time, and so I spent much valuable time just getting the basics ready.

On Sunday I had some other commitments, and I quickly realised I just wouldn't have the time to get something playable ready. However, I do still like the idea, and will try to create a prototype as my next project.

Failing is not bad. I want to participate in each Alakajam, but this time I will be doing it post-jam :)

What Was My Goal?

My goal was to create a game that involved flying between worlds and overcoming challenges. Throw in some dialogue. Shake and Stir.

What Went Well?

• I managed the flying between worlds, the related level transitions and some basic dialogue in regards to the shopkeepers.

What Went Not So Well?

• I overscoped. The game concept was probably to big for a single person over a game jam weekend. Especially when combined with the schedule of the Jam. I ended up with nothing more then stubs for most of the levels, with not much intresting to do with them.
• Modeing/art, as usually, for me didn't go very far.
• I didn't manage to have time to create a quality main menu or options menu (I have code to support x/y invert on the camera and audio channel level slidders, but I didn't have time to wire it all up)

What Did I Take Away?

• I have already got some good feedback regarding the core idea (flying between worlds and overcoming challenges) even with the roughness of the presentation and the incompleteness of the levels.
• I think I have a functional core loop, just needs some expansion (few more connected and varried mechanics) and some levels to do with it (and the ovious art upgrades).
• After spending a few hours fleshing out the levels that were only stubbed in, v1.1 is a much fuller and varried experiance, which got to about the level I was hoping to get with my levels.

My game is for 2 players only so it's harder to get ratings, but if you have a friend with you please try out my game, Wizards
Right now when most people are playing the games I only have 3 ratings.

I would like to thank everyone who takes the effort to go through the games, from which some are worse and some are better. Some might not even run, but remember, it is not about "winning" the jam. It is about the fun you had and that new experience you have got from it. Maybe you couldn't finish your game, but next time you will!

I hope you tried to do some new things and went out of your comfort zone.

Hey everyone, for this jam I made a local 2P game.
Because of that some people can't play it! :(

If you have a friend(or 4 arms) please consider coming over and checking out manaball!
I genuinely think the game is really fun, we had a blast playtesting it and would love your feedback.

Thanks guys <3

First of a big thanks to the hosters of Alakajam, for doing this. It kicked me out of my analysis-paralysis loop and actually make a game. It feels great to have finally created something in three days that we're -- myself and team mate @suhaschintala -- proud of.

Play it right from your browser!

Sneak Out

A stealth-based game inspired by many tactical stratgey games that used to be pep back in the day including Commands, Desperados, etc. We originally wanted to submit this in the 2-day (ranked) category but we realized that many things needed polish for the elements to come together and feel like an actual game (Help, About, etc.) Though we didn't bite more than we could chew, two days would've been too hasty, so we fell back to the unranked category.

The art is completely hand-made in Krita, except for the Creative Common-lisenced background (parchment paper). Coded in C++ using the excellent raylib library. See the About screen for details on tools we used to build this.

Afterall, we are submitting this in the unranked category, your feedback and comments are all we want and appriciate.

Thank you: event hosters, fellow participants and/or players! I'm off to reviewing games made by others now. Cheers :)

With the unranked jam now over, now is the time to play and rate each other's games (if you haven't started already :P)

How it works…

For the next two weeks, all entrants will be able to give ratings on other games. Take some time to play & rate games, and even better write some feedback about it! Constructive feedback is one of the best ways to learn and improve your game design skills, so please dish it out in buckets. While people who didn't enter the event cannot rate games, they can still post reviews.

By rating & commenting (even on Unranked entries), you will gain Karma that will make your game more visible to others. A high Karma gives you more chances to get ratings yourself and reach the minimum of 10 to be classified. Otherwise, you will not get a final ranking!

On March 10th, at 7pm the final results will be released and the winners crowned :)

Go go go! Play and rate games!

We got it 'finished'. At least it's release now anyway. It's the closest to a finished game either of us have made so that's a result!

We thought painting skirting boards was hard, nothing can prepare you for a game jam ;-)

I think we'll do a post about what went wrong etc, but too frazzled now. Time for a cuppa!

My stream will start 1 hour after the unranked submission time.

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You can see the start time in your local timezone here: http://bit.ly/TigerJSched

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Follow me and bring your games here: tiger_J

Hi guys!
Here is my game called Misspelled if you would like to try it > Game page.
Now I'll start playing all the games!

This is my first Alakajam and I would like to say that the site is really cool and well made! Congrats!

Have a nice day!
havana24