For the last couple of years I've wanted to try out game development. I find it fascinating. A mixture of coding and art that creates an experience for people to enjoy.
I'm no artist, but I do enjoy creating things with a visual component. My focus has always been backend development, but I also enjoy frontend work. Being able to see and share what I build so easily feels good. Game development is similar, it's easy to share that experience with anyone, regardless of whether they are technical or not. I find that I can't really share any backend tools with anyone that isn't already deeply technical. It generally just isn't that interesting to most people. What can I show off? Logs? API endpoints? 🤷
So game development is another way to use my love of coding to build something I can share with anyone. I've done a couple of courses on it and I enjoyed the process, but I've struggled to actually complete something.
This is where a game jam comes in. In a game jam the goal is to complete something, anything, in a restricted amount of time with (or sometimes without) a set theme.
A couple of weeks ago I decided to take on this challenge and participate in a game jam for the first time! I picked the Beginner's Jam Halloween 2024 - a 6 day challenge with the theme of "grave digging".
My goal was to make something that I could consider complete and learn more about the entire process, from start to finish.
So how did it go?
I completed a game! You can find it here.
I consider it a huge success. It isn't quite what I imagined when I started - it isn't perfect, it's more of an interactive experience than a game, it's very short, etc. But none of that matters. I finished it. I took an idea and turned it into something new, and I learnt a lot along the way.
I faced new challenges that I had to figure out how to solve, I created pixel art for the first time. I added sounds to a game for the first time. I combined everything to try to create an interesting environment - to make the player feel something. Those were all things I had never tried to do because I had always stopped before reaching that phase of the development phase. I was stuck in the prototyping phase.
Another benefit was seeing what other people did with the same set of constraints. It's quite inspiring.
I actually found that 6 days was a bit too long for me. I struggled to focus on the project for that long and towards the end I just wanted it to be over. Next time I'll go for a shorter jam - maybe 48 hours. The trick is making sure the idea I decide on is small enough to complete within that time frame.
Overall I found it an incredible experience and I intend to participate in more going forward. I recommend you give it a try if you are interested in game development!