This will be my 8th LD and the hype is real!

After an embarrassing LD40, where I had to drop out because my scope was too big, streaming was slowing me down and an ill advised decision to switch from 2D to 3D took too much time away from gameplay, I'm eager to try again.

I'll be making my game using my custom C++ game library, Visual Studio, Notepad++, Photoshop, Illustrator, Blender, Aseprite, Surface Painter, FL Studio, Audacity and who knows what else. I won't use all of these, of course. It all depends on what kind of game I make.

Anyway, I won't be streaming this time around, although I do plan on posting progress updates alongside the thousands of others that will be posted here. Does anyone care? Will anyone notice? Hmm.

Anyway, some tips for you first timers:

• Get sleep! My first LD I spend 40 out of the 48 hours working. I was miserable for a week after that. Don't do that to yourself. Rest your body and your mind.

• Eat well! Don't fill up on junk food and soft drinks. Healthy snacks will give you better energy than junk food.

• Think small! Once you settle on an idea, lower your scope. Then lower it again. The weekend will fly by and having a small scope increases your chance of completing your game.

• Don't complain too much about the theme! It's tradition to complain about how much the theme sucks, but make it brief. Turn the theme on its head. Think outside of the box. Your first ideas will probably be the same hundreds of others have.

• Aim for 5-10 minute play time and err on the side of being too easy vs too hard. If you want your game rated, make it brief and fun.

• Rate games after the jam is over. Give others valuable feedback on their game and most will return the favor. You need at least 20 people to rate your game in order to get a score.

• Don't stress out! This is a game jam and it's meant to be fun. If you're stressing too much, you're doing it wrong!

That's it. I hope everyone has a great weekend and good luck!