• Update your software. It can take a while, and saves a heap of stress during the jam.
• Re-familiarise yourself with your tools. Avoid learning engines from scratch. If there is any new updates, or if it’s simply been a while since you used it, check that it is all in working order. Check that all of your hardware is working too, I recently discovered that a windows update bunged up my drawing tablet.
• Make a ‘default project’. Especially for bulky engines like Unity, I find that it can take half an hour to set up a blank project, with all of the packages installed, presets set up, and general quality of life things like folder hierarchy. Note that you are not allowed to start making the game, we're just setting up a blank project to work from.
• Controversial opinion; avoid planning your game before the jam. My past two LDs, I’ve been watching the community polls, planned a game in advance, then had the theme be something unexpected. I had these perfect games in mind, that I’d been planning for days around a specific theme. Then when the theme turned out to be something different (~6th theme on the community poll!), it took hours to accept that my game ideas didn’t fit the theme and had to be scrapped. An even worse outcome is the type of game that is clearly designed around a different theme, with the actual theme shoe-horned into it.
• Get sleep ahead of time. Everyone says to sleep normally during the jam, but when you’ve got a project you’re passionate about, it rarely happens. Instead, catch up on sleep before the jam.

Hope these tips help! Good luck to everyone :v: