The goal of this post is to create one place with some information and FAQs about our Summer Game Jam, list some tips and tricks for participating, and explain some practicalities. At the time of publishing this post, there are still 9 more days to go before the deadline, so even if you haven’t started yet, you still have time to join!
This past Wednesday, June 11th, we kicked off our second-ever Summer Jam at Hafnar.haus with a great event led by Steingerður Lóa. Steingerður has been helping lead our game jams for a while now, for which we are very grateful as her insights and perspective are super valuable to us and to our jammers. As a teacher of game design, she has overseen student game projects for years, giving her firsthand knowledge of the do’s and dont’s of working on games within a tight time frame. I will be repeating some of her advice from the kick-off event in this post.
The Summer Jam is a relatively recent addition to the GMI calendar. We’ve been hosting a game jam at the end of the year in December for many years now, but last year we decided to experiment with one in June as well. Unsurprisingly, it turned out to be just as (if not more) productive than our December jams. There’s clearly something about the long summer days that seems to really fuel the art of game making. We ended up with 19 games submitted in total! You can browse them and play the games here.
If the attendance to the kick-off event at Hafnar.haus is any indication, it’s looking like this year’s Summer Jam will be just as successful as last year. Not only did we have 50+ game makers in attendance, there were plenty of new faces as well which is always super encouraging to see.
The jam started on Wednesday, June 11th and will end on Wednesday, June 25th (deadline to submit is at 17:00).
The jam is mostly digital, but is book-ended by two events: a kick-off to start the jam, and a showcase to play all the games and celebrate together. The kick-off event this year was at Hafnar.haus, Wednesday June 11th at 17:30-19:00. The showcase event this year will be at Innovation House Reykjavík, Wednesday June 25th at 18-20. Participation in these events is totally optional - you can jam with us fully digitally, and the jam is open to all GMI community members or anyone based in Iceland who wants to work on a game.
The theme of the jam this year is Waves - feel free to interpret it in any way you’d like.
There are no guidelines on team size: feel free to work alone, or in a group.
All engines are allowed, you can use third-party assets and you may use your own pre-existing assets.
In order for your game to count as a valid submission to the jam, you must submit it to the itch.io jam page before the deadline.
Join the conversation on Discord! Participating with the community makes the jam way more fun. Check out the #gamejam channel, there are a couple of active threads on there. If you haven’t joined our Discord yet, read more on our website.
Cut scope. Focus on a tight, clever idea - the best jam games are simple and polished. This really cannot be overstated. The key to a good jam experience is to figure out early on what the core of your game idea is and focus on delivering on that core. Everything else you add on top is extra. This is especially true for larger teams who often believe that because they’re big, they can do way more - but don’t forget that project managing the game gets more complex as the team grows in size. We’ve seen that the ideal team size has about 4-5 people max (but there are no rules for team size!).
Use the time flexibly. The 14-day window is meant to give you space to work on a game jam game and live your regular life, not to encourage crunch. Please don’t overwork yourself or burn yourself out. This is meant to be fun, and creatively rewarding.
First and foremost: you, or someone on your team has to create an account on itch.io - and that will allow you to submit the game to our jam page. There are a few ways you can go about doing this:
The standard way: create an itch.io page for your game, upload your game to that page, and submit that page to the jam. This means that your game is downloadable or playable on the page that you submit to the jam. Most jam games fall into this category.
If your game is too large for uploading on the page: create an itch.io page for your game, you can upload your game somewhere else (for example on Dropbox, Google Drive, WeTransfer, etc.) and add a link to that location to the itch page. Then submit your page to the jam. Alternatively, you could use Butler.
If you are making a board game: create an itch.io page for your game, upload some photos and information about the board game, and submit that page to the jam.
If you have any issues creating your account or game page, please ping the GMI team on Discord or get in touch with me directly on any platform, we are here to help you!
I originally posted these in GMI’s Facebook group, but wanted to share them here as well.
Do I need to have made a game before to participate in the game jam?
Absolutely not. Anyone can participate. You do not need to have any particular skill-set at all to be eligible to participate in the jam.
I myself have made several games for GMI game jams - I am not remotely close to being a programmer or technical person (my background is in psychology and marketing - if I can figure it out, I know for a fact that you can, too). There are tons of tools out there that are beginner friendly, f.ex. bitsy. You can also make something that is very small, basic, the start of an idea. The key is to make something. Try it. Have fun.
I often say that if someone came to me asking “I really want to start painting, what should I do?”, I would reply “pick up the paintbrush”, and the same applies to making games. You have to start somewhere, it doesn’t need to be a masterpiece, just try it out. There are tons of tutorials online and your game doesn’t need to be super complex or include a lot of interaction to be valid as a submission for the game jam - in fact, anything goes. You can also use existing assets from either yourself or that you can download online, and you can use any tool to help you out.
It also does not matter whether or not you have participated in a game jam before. Every game jam is someone’s first!
2. Do I have to be in a team to participate?
No, you can work by yourself, with one other person, or in a bigger team - whatever works for you personally.
3. How can I find someone to work with?
Attend the kick-off event on the 11th of June, or join our Discord where we have a specific channel for game jams that includes a thread on finding people to work with. Post in the thread that you are looking for a team, and what your skillset is. Don’t be intimidated by joining a team or working with people who have more experience than you - we are all doing this to get creative and have fun! Look at it as a learning opportunity. Stay curious and open, and you will be rewarded.
4. Is it okay if I can’t make it to any of the events?
Absolutely yes. In fact, some of our jammers live outside of Reykjavík or in some cases even outside of Iceland. Our jams are techncially 100% online but we add events for more fun and community. They are totally optional.
5. How can I join the Discord?
Send me a message, and I’ll get you in!
I hope this is helpful. If there is anything else you feel is missing from here - leave a comment or shoot me a message, and I will add it. Happy jamming!
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