[Intro Music]
Welcome, everyone, to the Global Game Jam from the Extra Credits team
You made it!
This is going to be a glorious weekend
48 hours of very little sleep,
The piquant odour of the people around you
and staring into a screen
Good times(!)
Seriously, this is going to be an amazing weekend
Rarely do you get to just create, unfettered
Here, whether you're a veteran of the industry or whether this is your first game ever,
this is your weekend to bring something to life
But before you dive in,
know that it's not just about this weekend
All of this is just a jumping off point
The people you'll meet here,
the ideas you'll discover
and the things that you'll learn will carry with you
long after you limp exhaustedly out of those doors
And so will the feeling that you did it!
Even if your game doesn't fully come together,
you get to leave here knowing that you pulled as hard as you could
At a time when you could have been doing other things
At a time when you could be laying back and ending up well rested for the week ahead
But no!
You did this,
To work on something you love
And then there's the games
A small portion of you will take what you create here and
go on to build them out into full products to take the world by storm
Another group of you will use these as prototypes
which you will later refine and hone to the point where
you can find a publisher or an investor to take it all the way.
But perhaps, most of all,
Many of you will take these games and show them to the people you love,
to explain in a way that words never can, who you are,
to communicate the world that you're so passionate about
or just to share something that you worked so hard on
with the people that matter to you.
So here are a few thoughts that will hopefully help you as you go
Number One:
Keep it simple.
It's really easy to dream way beyond the scope of what you can do in a simple weekend.
That's okay.
Take that big dream and distil it down to its core
Take one simple bit and make it great
The more you can focus and keep things simple,
the more time you'll have to focus on making that thing great
and, in the end, it's the refinement that shows through.
So, if you've got some grand story that you want to tell,
choose one small scene
A scene that shows why that story matters
Do you want to do a sprawling RPG?
Maybe distil that down to just making a great combat system
that tries out those ideas that you always believed
could improve RPG battles.
Are you doing a platformer?
Give the world one great level
instead of ten mediocre ones
Number Two:
Communicate!
Communication may be the single thing that most separates the succesful teams
from the ones that struggle,
especially if you didn't come here today with a pre-made team
So talk!
That's one of the great things about the Global Game Jam:
You are right next to the people you're working with
If you're struggling with something, just ask
and remember that it's okay to reach out beyond your team.
Is there a programming problem that you just can't figure out?
Well, there's probably some super experienced programmers sitting in this room.
Don't hesitate to ask for help
I mean, don't abuse anyone's time.
Everybody's got a game to make here
but most people will be happy to help
and it's part of the point of the Global Game Jam:
to meet new people and to learn new things.
Also, don't feel like you have to put the world on your shoulders
If something's not coming together,
if you're being bottlenecked by somebody else on your team
not moving as fast you need them to,
talk to them!
Don't just decide that you're going to do it yourself
because that just leads to doubled work, confusion and resentment
Sometimes, these conversations are hard,
sometimes the person may not know how to do what you need them to
That's okay.
Compromise, help them find the information they need.
Most of all,
Make this a safe and friendly environment
for anyone to ask for help.
It's the best thing we can do here,
in our workplaces and in the world
Number Three:
Keep the brainstorming session short.
It's a huge temptation to try and think of the perfect idea
before you start working
Don't worry about that!
In fact, trying to do so
will probably hurt you a lot more than it'll help
Every game changes as you build it
You'll learn what you can't do and
what could be even better than the initial idea as you create.
The more time you have for that process,
the better your game's going to be
Because many great games have been made from bad ideas
Mario's core concept is a jumping plumber on drugs
Sonic is a blue hedgehog in rad sneakers
that runs real, real fast
Bioshock:
Ayn Rand, the underwater first person shooter
Listen, it's not about the idea,
it's all about the execution
Number Four:
Compromise!
Games are a massive collaborative effort
No one in here is the director or the author
Nobody is the idea guy
Making games is about compromise
Now, there may be some places where you can't compromise, of course,
but those places are pretty rare
Always try to make sure that it's absolutely nesscary
before declaring something iron-clad
It doesn't matter if it's a Game Jam game or a big AAA project
One person digging in and insisting that
everything be the way they envisioned,
destroys projects
So just be aware.
Because, sometimes, it's hard to see because
you're so passionate about what you're doing
Take the step back,
especially when your team is coming up with an idea,
and say to yourself,
'Is this something I absolutely can't work with?'
If it's at all possible, then meet your team halfway
Number Five:
Know what to save for next time
As you build,
you're going to come up with all these cool ideas
that could make your game better
But time here is a limited, precious resource
so don't get too distracted by those ideas
because that rabbit hole goes infinitely deep
You will make a much better game by staying focused
and really priortising the new ideas that come up mid-development
because if you chase too many of those,
you'll end with a thousands half-finished ideas
rather than one great one
Every designer I know has a file tucked away
simply called
"For the Sequel"
That's where they throw all those great ideas that,
even if they would have improved the game,
they just couldn't fit in with the resources they had
Don't be afraid to do this
There will always be another year to jam
And finally, Number Six:
Get some sleep!
Trust me,
even if you only squeeze in four hours per night,
you will get a lot more done this weekend if you do
So good luck, godspeed and
know that's there's no failure here
only the first steps towards greatness!
[Outro Music]