I can imagine there are loads of people joining for the first time - good luck :grin: here are a few tips from someone who's been making games for 13 years:

• Keep scope down. Work out what you could do in 8-16 hours and use that. Whatever your idea is, decide early what the absolute minimum is for that game to be playable. Then decide what you can take out, and take it out :joy: keep all your great ideas to a “nice to have” list, and implement them if you’ve got time towards the end. I’ve found that separating my “must have” and “nice to have” lists has helped a lot in the past!

• Get something playable ASAP, and even send it out for people to test! I generally aim to have a first playable within a few hours.

• EAT! SLEEP! DRINK! TAKE A BREAK! If you’ve scoped well enough, sleeping for 6-9 hours won’t be an issue at all, and you’ll be much better off for it.

• Drinking enough water and eating proper food (including something green) will help your concentration and will definitely help avoid making stupid mistakes. Take a break, go for a walk, see a real-life person. Coming back to an issue after a break, no matter how short, often helps you see solutions that you were too frustrated to find before. It’s happened to me many, many times :joy:

• Audio adds a lot to the overall experience, it’s odd how much it can add to a game. You’ll see a better score in more categories than just “audio” for including it!

• Same with some basic menus! Do it first, get it out of the way then you don’t have to think about it ever again :grin:

• Make a new project BEFORE the jam starts! It can take ages for things like Unity to open, so might as well get it all set up from the get go. Import any assets you plan on using (in the jam only, of course :wink: )

• Experiment! Have fun! There's always going to be a better game than yours, so don't get hung up on how well you do.

That’s all from me! Feel free to add more :grin: