I made my game Yelp for the limitations kajam. Despite 6 weeks of jam time, I was still coding in the final hour. 🥲

I'm glad I submitted something, but there's very little actual gameplay and it's not particularly fun either. I focused mainly on the "Over-sensitive" limitation (use as many inputs as possible) and chose to use the microphone to propel the player and trigger attacks, but I quickly ran into technical issues. I couldn't always reliably detect and utilise microphone input (possibly because of noise cancelling and/or a lack of API understanding), so ultimately I restricted it to just attacking. Even then there is a noticeable lag between screaming at the computer and it actually attacking (possibly this could be reduced if I better understood the various HTML/JS audio APIs). Still, I think it's pretty novel for a jam game and I'm glad I tried.

Originally I'd aimed for a horror game, and the game briefly had a shroud around most of the screen. Not being able to see what's coming is a common horror trope and it did improve the feel. But I also wanted to aim for the "Geometron" (no textures; geometry only) limitation, and a decent-looking shroud meant technically using a texture, even if it was auto-generated. It's also a tall order to create a horror game without sounds for atmosphere.

I learned a lot, though. This is the first graphical (i.e. not mostly HTML/UI) game I've made in a while. Turns out Pixi.js is still a solid rendering engine. I was less keen on matter-js for physics, mostly because the docs aren't very helpful and the API isn't always predictable. I'd happily use Pixi again, but would be tempted to seek another physics solution (library or roll my own).

Congratulations to everybody who participated! There are some very interesting games so go ahead and try them.

What's next?

Remember that we have the 20th Alakajam on 13th of September, and another tournament in October. Check the events page for more details.

Congratulations to everybody who participated! There are some very interesting games so go ahead and try them.

What's next?

Remember that we have the 20th Alakajam on 13th of September, and another tournament in October. Check the events page for more details.

Let the limitations begin!

The task: make a game by 9th of June, using one or more of these limitations. Pick as many or as few as you like - if you're feeling brave, you could even take one from each category. They're intended to be flexible, as we have a wonderfully mixed community creating games in lots of different ways.

Good luck, and let us know your limitations!

Demoscene

• Cramped: Executable is at most N bytes/pieces/whatever. Choose N appropriate for your platform/engine.
• Esoteric: Game works on $obscure_platform.
• Art attack: No assets; procgen only.

Graphics

• Geometron: Lines and shapes only: no images.
• Seeing double: Use exactly two sprites.
• Illustrator: Draw all your art by hand.

Audio

• Orator: Make audio only using your mouth.
• Bleep bloop: Music, generated by gameplay.
• In the field: All audio comes from a single field recording.

Wildcard

• Over-sensitive: Must use as many inputs (keys, buttons, devices, whatever) as possible.
• Vestige: The past must leave a trace.
• Window dressing: Game windows are part of the gameplay.

Note: if you need something more specific for the Demoscene limitations, I suggest looking at the Revision PC events.

Let the limitations begin!

The task: make a game by 9th of June, using one or more of these limitations. Pick as many or as few as you like - if you're feeling brave, you could even take one from each category. They're intended to be flexible, as we have a wonderfully mixed community creating games in lots of different ways.

Good luck, and let us know your limitations!

Demoscene

• Cramped: Executable is at most N bytes/pieces/whatever. Choose N appropriate for your platform/engine.
• Esoteric: Game works on $obscure_platform.
• Art attack: No assets; procgen only.

Graphics

• Geometron: Lines and shapes only: no images.
• Seeing double: Use exactly two sprites.
• Illustrator: Draw all your art by hand.

Audio

• Orator: Make audio only using your mouth.
• Bleep bloop: Music, generated by gameplay.
• In the field: All audio comes from a single field recording.

Wildcard

• Over-sensitive: Must use as many inputs (keys, buttons, devices, whatever) as possible.
• Vestige: The past must leave a trace.
• Window dressing: Game windows are part of the gameplay.

Note: if you need something more specific for the Demoscene limitations, I suggest looking at the Revision PC events.

The 15th Kajam is nearly here!

Get your spellbooks ready folks, because we'll be jamming again in May. The 15th Kajam will run from 3rd May, 20:00 UTC to 9th June. (That's this weekend!)

The theme will be: Limitations.

Back in the day, game creators had to work hard to squeeze the most performance out of their processors and limited hard disks, the best art out of their palettes, and the most fun out of their printers. This is rarely a problem for indies nowadays, but it can still be inspiring to work within limits.

On Friday at 20:00 UTC we'll announce a list of limitations - some like the above, but others, too. When you enter the jam, we want you to choose a set of limitations that inspire you, and then see what you can create over the month.

Rules

• The Kajam rules are very relaxed. The limitations in this jam will be flexible enough to accommodate different styles of gamedev (e.g. using an engine; creating a ZX Spectrum game; inventing a board game). You're also free to change your selected limitations mid-jam - they're here for fun and inspiration, after all.
• We do ask that you refrain from relying on "AI" to make parts of your game, though. We want to see what you can create, not what ChatRPG regurgitates! If you really really must use AI, make it clear you did, and how.

The 15th Kajam is nearly here!

Get your spellbooks ready folks, because we'll be jamming again in May. The 15th Kajam will run from 3rd May, 20:00 UTC to 9th June. (That's this weekend!)

The theme will be: Limitations.

Back in the day, game creators had to work hard to squeeze the most performance out of their processors and limited hard disks, the best art out of their palettes, and the most fun out of their printers. This is rarely a problem for indies nowadays, but it can still be inspiring to work within limits.

On Friday at 20:00 UTC we'll announce a list of limitations - some like the above, but others, too. When you enter the jam, we want you to choose a set of limitations that inspire you, and then see what you can create over the month.

Rules

• The Kajam rules are very relaxed. The limitations in this jam will be flexible enough to accommodate different styles of gamedev (e.g. using an engine; creating a ZX Spectrum game; inventing a board game). You're also free to change your selected limitations mid-jam - they're here for fun and inspiration, after all.
• We do ask that you refrain from relying on "AI" to make parts of your game, though. We want to see what you can create, not what ChatRPG regurgitates! If you really really must use AI, make it clear you did, and how.

The jam is up! Well done everybody. Give yourselves a pat on the back and take a break.

But who won?

Check out the results! Congratulations to the winners, and to everybody who participated. Game jams are hard, and you all did great.

What's up next?

In April, we have Feedback Fun Times 2024! An event where you can show off what you've been working on, and get some of that delicious, constructive feedback (as well as oodles of appreciation). Following that in May we have the 15th Kajam, a month-long event often for honing skills or working on taylored themes.

What's happening elsewhere?

You can follow the Jamician on Twitter or Mastodon to keep up-to-date with the goings on in the community, or join us on Discord.

Quite happy I finished, because I don't normally take part in 48h game jams (if you're curious to know why, see my entry).

Good luck to everyone still struggling with their games! <3

Sadly all adventures eventually end. But congratulations to the winners, and to everyone who participated. We were lucky to have such a diverse array of games, and I want to say thanks to everybody who submitted something.

Missed your chance to play a game? You can find them here.

Alrighty. What's next?

It's time for another Feedback Fortnight! It now starts tomorrow at 20:00 UTC. So take a quick breather then hurry back for some delicious feedback (and also games to play!).