Dinosaursssssss

[WIZARD] Jam Feedback

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Hello! Hopefully you had a good time during the Winter Wizard Jam, hosted of course by Spenny, with ZeroFiftyOne and myself assisting. This was the second Wizard Jam, and we tried to make it even better than the first time around, and now we'd like your help in figuring out what we can improve.

 

The main goals of the wizard jam have been to bring together readers in a fun event, and to try and create a positive environment for new game makers to learn from experienced folks and make their first games. That's why we haven't had a competitive element, and why we've tried to emphasize the availability of experienced developers to help folks out. But of course, there's more we can do.

 

Teams are one way we could make a more formal system for getting more folks involved, is that something people would like to see us build on? Or maybe an organized mentor/mentee system to encourage first timers? Or...both?

 

This jam we also added diversifiers; did people like that?

 

If you've got any feedback, suggestions, or ideas about those or any other ways we can make Wiz Jam more magical, let us know in this thread!

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This Jam was very well-organised and welcoming, well done!

 

As for suggestions, I think it would be cool to have a bit of post-jam structure. Everyone's kind of burned out and it's the beginning of a work week, so there isn't an immediate swell of reactions to the released games. Maybe the next weekend could be built up as the playthrough weekend? And maybe some direction could be given - do we comment here? On the itchio page? Both? Do people want constructive criticism or positive feedback only?

 

Perhaps the only negative feedback I could offer is that the winter theme led to less aesthetic diversity...

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Post-jam was something we talked about but never really landed on a structure for...a lot of jams have voting and competition following the jam, but since that's not really in the spirit of things we haven't been sure what we could do instead. One idea was to have people organize streaming a bunch of the games, maybe at a pre-set time so other forum folks can watch along, but I don't think there was any schedule made or anything.

 

But, if someone wants to stream a bunch of the games, post in the jam thread / slack and I'm sure some readers will come hang out!

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Streaming the games is a good idea. Maybe have a few people hanging out in a Skype/Hangout call for some fun conversation on stream. I'd be up for doing that sometime this week. 

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Oh also I didn't respond to Ben's other question about where to put feedback...I'll post this in the main thread too, but I think in general it makes more sense to discuss in dev log threads 'cause the format is way more conducive to discussion.

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I really like the idea for doing a post-jam a few days or the weekend after the jam. If there are streams, that'd help teams fix any major bugs before showing off

 

Also regarding teams, maybe we could formalize the process a bit more with a Google Doc spreadsheet? Forum name, skills, goals, time available to commit, and email as the fields. Would be much easier to scan through than a forum post though we would lose a bit of personality from the writing..

 

And let me know if y'all need any help for the next jam!

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Also regarding teams, maybe we could formalize the process a bit more with a Google Doc spreadsheet? Forum name, skills, goals, time available to commit, and email as the fields. Would be much easier to scan through than a forum post though we would lose a bit of personality from the writing..

My not so subtle edit to the team building thread was sort of a frustration with the team building situation. 

 

​This thread only works if you are willing to reach out and ask someone else to join your team! Before you make your own post, make sure you read the others!

 

That thread is tight, a clean 30 post list of potential team mates. I just think the whole situation is a middle school dance, everyone is hanging against the wall waiting for someone else to ask them to dance, instead of making the move themselves. In talking about running this jam, we really wanted to make the team building process a thing that actually worked for people. I even suggested being a game jam team matchmaker if that's what it took! Probably the things we would need to know, is what stopped those looking for a team from finding one, and what allowed those who did find a team to do it.

 

 

And let me know if y'all need any help for the next jam!

 

I'm going to take that as an opportunity to say, just like Dinosaurssssss handed me the crown of Jam Master, for the next jam, I will also be looking to hand off the crown. We'll figure it out closer to the date.

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I think being able to opt into just being assigned a team would be good. Especially when you are an amateur, there is a trepidation to forcing yourself on someone who's more experienced, and you might assume that's everyone.

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Personally I really wanted to avoid responsibility for driving the core design of a project this time since I have so much of my own stuff to worry about and just to be a free pair of hands for whatever needed doing. Maybe we could offer some sort of automated team building for people who aren't sure how they want to self-organize? Just basically a hat with names tossed in and it automatically groups people into teams of 3 or 4.

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