The #FemDevsMeetup team made it happen again! Another online edition of our yearly game jam! This time it took place in November to harness the cozy autumn vibes.
Online Edition in a dedicated Discord server
All participants who registered for the jam got access to our discord where they were able to get to know each other, share resources, knowledge, and form teams in advance. We also shared our guidelines and schedule for the next three days of jamming.
Opening Keynote
On Friday evening we opened the game jam with a wonderful keynote by Marina Díez who talked about how to find your own voice in the game industry and her approach to emotional game design.
Theme Reveal - Magic
After the opening, we revealed the theme of the game jam. We collected recommendations from the participants in our registration form and since a lot of them revolved around October, autumn and Halloween we decided on the theme “Magic”. Additionally, we also introduced some diversifiers which were optional to use and integrate into the games.
Final Presentations on Twitch - NerdStarTV
Celebrating the results of the game jam NerdStarTV was so kind to support us by letting us use their studio and organizing the tech backstage to ensure every team was able to showcase and talk about their game and experience. Watch the full stream here!
The Games by Eight Teams
Eight teams formed during the jam and we asked them to name their groups, providing them with dedicated team spaces on discord. It was lovely to see that the names they picked also fit the theme: “The Pointy Hats”, “The Pentacles”, “Magic Beans”, “Postponed”, “Sparkle”, “Sleepy Six” and “Just Witchin’”. And it was even more impressive to see the results they created in under 48 hours. It would mean a lot if you play the games here and leave a comment on the games’ itchi.io page.
Sponsors and Raffle
The goal of our game jams is always to focus on making it as least stressful as possible ensuring everyone takes enough breaks and gets sleep. We do not like the idea of game jams having to happen while crunching and working through the nights. We also do not want it to be competitive. The aim is to enjoy the process, get to know new people, and learn something new about game development. We asked our sponsors to support us with game keys or event tickets we then raffled among all participants, ensuring everyone got a little gift as thank you and to celebrate the game jam.
Thank you and see you at next year’s game jam!
A big round of applause to all participants, organizers, and sponsors who made this weekend truly magical. We are looking forward to the next game jam and hopefully will see you at some of our events in the meantime.