Jam-ception meta narrative. I like it. I went to the opening night for a game jam a few months ago this year. Didnt find anyone I wanted to work with for a story game. Still cool to see it all.
Did you have anyone ask for help at your game jam?
Thanks! Yeah, I've had the same happen to me sometimes. It can be hard to pitch something narrative-driven. I was actually more in shock one jam where people wanted to make my cute and quirky game, it felt very strange to suddenly be creative "lead" on a project. But it took some 10 jams of being open-minded, learning how to pitch, adapting to the project, to get to that point. And it was good experience, because I learnt how to put story in new places (and make a bunch of art). At this jam, we had a Discord with good support and community, but no one asked me for help this time (although I did link some resources) :)
Perhaps I can try my local Game Jam again or join their Slack community. The sorts of games I saw in the few hang out times I was at were hardly any story games. Thought, "I'll make my own writing first."
Adapting your ideas to another team is a hugely important skill. Was that easy or hard after a ways of trying?
I see it as a design challenge, where I look for opportunity. Besides, there are a lot of programmers these days that are curious about story in games - this jam (link to entries) we had very story-heavy games, excellent ones, mostly made by programmers.
I'd also recommend looking into how you can make life easier for the rest of the team by learning the tools you'll need to put your writing in. For example, how to use the UI canvas text tools in Unity, or record and edit VO, and add audio if that's your preference. For example, learning Fungus or Ink plugins for branching narrative trees, or how to use a JSON /XML file to get your lines into the game (those are on my 'to learn' list). Because that takes a lot of learning responsibility off the programmers and makes it much more likely your content actually makes it into the game.
Well written and personal experience. I kept replaying this for a while to find everything. Some things in this resonated with me. It really takes courage to open up like that for people to see, respect!
It also made me think a lot. When should one rest and recover for later, and when should one just power through? Where is the line?
Thank you! I was a little nervous about publishing this, because I am doing fine enough and don't want to worry people. It's so rarely we openly share our negative emotions. But that line, it's so important, and it's not easy to talk about. So it's wonderful to hear it helped you reflect on that <3
This was interesting, Feels like talking to a friend that you want to convince to join a jam and if you manage to ask the right question it might work, but might turn the other way as well.
Ha! Very relatable... and that makes me sad. The pics of the pixel dog and the pulla are delightful though. Now I feel emotionally confused T_^ Well done – Elisa M
thank you, wonderful to hear! <3 must start using that emoji "T_^" because it definitely describes my current mood (snacking on pulla ^_^ but tired after 2h of sleep T_T ...)
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I used to be in that place a few years back, it's a good reminder :)
Jam-ception meta narrative. I like it. I went to the opening night for a game jam a few months ago this year. Didnt find anyone I wanted to work with for a story game. Still cool to see it all.
Did you have anyone ask for help at your game jam?
Thanks! Yeah, I've had the same happen to me sometimes. It can be hard to pitch something narrative-driven. I was actually more in shock one jam where people wanted to make my cute and quirky game, it felt very strange to suddenly be creative "lead" on a project. But it took some 10 jams of being open-minded, learning how to pitch, adapting to the project, to get to that point. And it was good experience, because I learnt how to put story in new places (and make a bunch of art).
At this jam, we had a Discord with good support and community, but no one asked me for help this time (although I did link some resources) :)
Perhaps I can try my local Game Jam again or join their Slack community. The sorts of games I saw in the few hang out times I was at were hardly any story games. Thought, "I'll make my own writing first."
Adapting your ideas to another team is a hugely important skill. Was that easy or hard after a ways of trying?
I see it as a design challenge, where I look for opportunity. Besides, there are a lot of programmers these days that are curious about story in games - this jam (link to entries) we had very story-heavy games, excellent ones, mostly made by programmers.
I'd also recommend looking into how you can make life easier for the rest of the team by learning the tools you'll need to put your writing in. For example, how to use the UI canvas text tools in Unity, or record and edit VO, and add audio if that's your preference. For example, learning Fungus or Ink plugins for branching narrative trees, or how to use a JSON /XML file to get your lines into the game (those are on my 'to learn' list). Because that takes a lot of learning responsibility off the programmers and makes it much more likely your content actually makes it into the game.
All good ideas. Makes for an easier hiring process in the future.
Well written and personal experience. I kept replaying this for a while to find everything. Some things in this resonated with me. It really takes courage to open up like that for people to see, respect!
It also made me think a lot. When should one rest and recover for later, and when should one just power through? Where is the line?
I hope you feel better again soon!
Thank you! I was a little nervous about publishing this, because I am doing fine enough and don't want to worry people. It's so rarely we openly share our negative emotions. But that line, it's so important, and it's not easy to talk about. So it's wonderful to hear it helped you reflect on that <3
This was interesting, Feels like talking to a friend that you want to convince to join a jam and if you manage to ask the right question it might work, but might turn the other way as well.
Thank you! I've had those conversations in the past and definitely drew inspiration from them.
Wow incredibly introspective and well designed! The art direction is on point
Thank you so much! <3 Happy to hear it works!
Ha! Very relatable... and that makes me sad. The pics of the pixel dog and the pulla are delightful though. Now I feel emotionally confused T_^ Well done – Elisa M
thank you, wonderful to hear! <3 must start using that emoji "T_^" because it definitely describes my current mood (snacking on pulla ^_^ but tired after 2h of sleep T_T ...)