L
Lt. Farfetch'd
Guest
I’ll also throw in my two cents, because if the suggestions on this topic are ever collated then I think a variety of voices is important.
I attempted to whip up a game for the 10-day jam with a team. It almost worked out, but my finding was that Parkinson’s law was ever-present. My efficiency in most jams (whether online or otherwise) matches the allowed time. For me this explains why greater time did not mean greater quality or ‘more game’, so-to-speak.
These days I’m not too sure of the demographic split among the more regular members of the forums. But for those who work or study during the week, I can see a clear incentive to maintain weekend jams.
As raised by some others, the short format is pretty standard. At least from my experience lurking in these forums over the past ~6 years, game jams can vary a great deal, but the timeframe is a factor that is reasonably constant. Personally I appreciate that predictability, though I don’t think its loss would be any sort of dealbreaker.
Everybody before me has raised good points, and at the end of the day jams are a beautiful thing for me because they are facilitated, judged and run by the community. Bearing these things in mind, I would say @dadio hit the nail on the head. The jam format can be a bit experimental, and there can be some variance. Be it 1, 4, 7 or 10 days - we won’t truly know the outcome until we give it a crack. And if the endgame is to have fun and learn then I’m sure both can be achieved irrespective of length.
I attempted to whip up a game for the 10-day jam with a team. It almost worked out, but my finding was that Parkinson’s law was ever-present. My efficiency in most jams (whether online or otherwise) matches the allowed time. For me this explains why greater time did not mean greater quality or ‘more game’, so-to-speak.
These days I’m not too sure of the demographic split among the more regular members of the forums. But for those who work or study during the week, I can see a clear incentive to maintain weekend jams.
As raised by some others, the short format is pretty standard. At least from my experience lurking in these forums over the past ~6 years, game jams can vary a great deal, but the timeframe is a factor that is reasonably constant. Personally I appreciate that predictability, though I don’t think its loss would be any sort of dealbreaker.
Everybody before me has raised good points, and at the end of the day jams are a beautiful thing for me because they are facilitated, judged and run by the community. Bearing these things in mind, I would say @dadio hit the nail on the head. The jam format can be a bit experimental, and there can be some variance. Be it 1, 4, 7 or 10 days - we won’t truly know the outcome until we give it a crack. And if the endgame is to have fun and learn then I’m sure both can be achieved irrespective of length.