I will no longer download your jam games

Hello, friends! I've been participating in game jams (and especially Ludum Dare) pretty religiously since 2011. In all that time, I've never had a problem with entries being malware... Until recently.

2 months ago, someone was able to successfully execute a session token stealing attack against me. It was a PAIN to unravel all of the damage, but I did recover. I know that the attack came from a game jam entry, although unfortunately not which game from which jam. But it really opened my eyes to the risk I was opening myself to every time I download a game jam game... and among other better security hygiene practices, I will no longer be downloading entries to game jams (as the title of this post implies).

So what's the alternative?

Well, in the past decade, there has thankfully been a lot of progress in the web games space. These days, most engines support an out-of-the-box "export to web" functionality. It is also very easy to host your game on sites like itch.io, gamejolt, and even github (please use source control even for jams!). If you're using an engine to make your game, check out the documentation around exporting for web, and make that the priority! As an added bonus, more people will play your game simply because it takes less time to press play than to download. You also reach more users than exporting for a subset of Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Anyway, I could lament how the actions of a few bad actors are ruining the fun for the rest of us, but I'd prefer to focus on the positive: the game jam community has become large and well-known! We wouldn't be a target if there wasn't enough of us to make it worthwhile. So go on, export your game for web, and have a wonderful jam this weekend. :heart: