First, we invite you all to play our game Home R.I.P.Airs! In 10 words: It's a game about defending your home from spooky forces. :warning:WARNING: It's pretty hard but don't worry; all of us beat the game at least once so you definitely can, too. :wink: (P.S. We currently have below 20 ratings so we would really appreciate your help!)

What I Did

As the PM, I was responsible for keeping my team on track. This meant outlining our goals, organizing by priority, and making sure we were utilizing our time as efficiently as possible. Outside of PM work, I helped with the art (BG, roof, wood frame, wallpaper, bathroom lights, bathtub, TV coloring), UI/UX (high-fidelity version of all UI assets and screens), and SFX. Simply put, I drove the project & helped out where I could.

5 Lessons I Learned

1. Knowing When To Stop -- There were several points in which my perfectionist tendencies caused me to hyper-fixate on a minor detail. So, I developed a simple rule: whenever I would get stuck, I would ask my artist, "Hey, does this look okay?", and if she said yes, then I would immediately move on. A simple rule but it was a game-changer for me. When something looks terrible to you but looks great to everyone else, listen to everyone else.

2. The Importance of Prioritizing -- When creating a game in 72 hours, it's easy to get swept up in building features that aren't a priority. Especially when you're sleep-deprived, it gets progressively harder to know when to stop. Setting aside dedicated time to touch base on goals & progress was incredibly helpful to our workflow. To add onto that, we used Figma Jam to keep ourselves organized. See the screenshot below!

3. Working with Friends -- In my first game jam experience, I worked with strangers. We didn't end up finishing the game. This time around, I worked with a small group of 4, all of whom I was familiar with as they were my colleagues from another game development project. I believe that working with teammates that I already knew & trusted was crucial.

4. Keeping a Good Attitude -- Towards the end of the game jam, I started to burn out and was, frankly, feeling grumpy. However, I did my best to maintain a positive attitude. If I had given in to my fatigue and allowed my temper to get the best of me, I don't know if we would've been able to finish our game. It's incredibly difficult (I didn't do a perfect job) but, to me, being a teammate meant putting the morale of everyone over my own emotional desires, and that was a decision that paid out.

5. Reflecting Before the Jam -- Even before the start of the game jam, I sat down and wrote out exactly what I wanted to get out of this experience: Finish a game. Why? To inspire confidence in myself that I have the ability to finish something. Anything. I then made sure to align with my developer on this goal before starting the jam. I think that doing this helped us to stay focused and know what we're doing and why. Seems silly but I truly believe that it's little things like these that set the tone for your experience.

Final Word

I can't express how much I loved this experience and how proud I am of my team. I wouldn't have wanted to do this with anyone else. Again, we invite you to play Home R.I.P.Airs. It was a game made with a lot of love and heart. Currently, we have less than 20 ratings so we would invite any and all help. Again, this is the link. https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/51/home-r-i-p-airs If you made it this far, thank you!

:heart: Jeanie