Cant wait, less than an hour before the jam. Good luck and have fun all!

Would join the ALL NIGHT CRUNCH TIME to finish up, but got hit with a headache, Good luck everyone we are half way there !

My classes ended just in time for me to jump into this, I will be putting what I have learned to the test (even if its just a text adventure game). Good luck all, and good night for now

So I am here killing time, waiting for the Jam to start in 2 days and I felt like sharing some random thoughts on themes because I spend alot of time thinking about random things and why not. This is mainly a opinion piece so please do not mind it too much. This probably wont be a useful write up, but I thought it would be fun. This is all coming from someone who has done 5 game jams, finished 2 and a half (my first jam game is finished, but barely functional, so I consider it a half) so take what I say with a grain of salt.

I find thinking about/rating themes to be kind of an interesting topic since most people have different ideas on what a good theme is, themes come in many different Types and these Types have different pros and cons. I do not think its controversial to say that there is alot of reasons to participate in a game jam, and depending on the reason different Types of themes will be more appealing. this post is mostly me just listing off Theme Types I thought of as well as pros and cons for them, if you have anymore or disagree with any of my 'Types' I would love to hear about it.

note: Themes can fall into multiple types, the examples are again just my opinion

Vague, 'Decay' or 'Echo'

Vague themes are ones that are up to interpretation, they usually give the dev no clear start. Usually these are one word or confusing statements. Vague themes Tend to be more relaxing if you can make an interpretation early on.

Pros: - Highly interpretive means there is alot more different results. - Allows for more creativity in the interpretation.

Cons: - They CAN be hard to work with - Some interpretations might not be read as following the theme (if the game gets highly interpretative with the theme)

These kinds of themes are good for people who want an open play space of interpretation, and for people who like to have more freedom in their creations. They are not so good for people who want hard locked restrictions, usually people who want to do a game jam as a test of ability or way of practice.

Task, 'You are the princess waiting to be rescued' or 'Protect the king'

Tasks are as the name suggests, specific goals that the player will have to consider when playing the game. I feel these are more rare than the others, but we do have a few this year. They usually do not give the dev a clear start, but they do give the dev a clear end point and in most cases a story. Alot of the results may feel similar, but that just makes the really unique creations stand out more.

Pros: - Unique Ideas / games stand out more - A clear end goal can help come up with the rest of the game. - Devs do not have to design the entire game from nothing

Cons: - Can be highly restrictive, Devs might feel locked into a few genres, settings, mechanics - Similar results, with every game sharing similar elements if two games land on similar mechanics they wont have much else to distinguish them.

These kinds of themes are good for people who want to get really deep into thinking outside of the box, make a guess at what the majority will go for (for protect the king alot of people may assume medieval / fantasy, but you COULD have a king in space). Task themes are less good for people who want more control of their creations setting, story, etc.

Setting, 'Garden' or 'Mythology'

I have once heard Setting defined as "During a time, at a Place, with a certain level of Conflict, for a duration" in the book 'Story by Robert McKee'. So Setting Themes tend to do alot of heavy lifting while still being up for interpretation.

Pros: - Helps define what type of art will probably be made, so even before a mechanic has been decided artists can start working. - Pretty flexible, you can make almost any genre you know how in almost any setting. - Easy to fall back too something comfortable. It can help someone new to Jams do something they have some experience in and not just give up because the theme forces them to do something they do not know how to do.

Cons: - Easy to fall back to something comfortable. it is a Con and Pro, you may not learn as much from the jam that you would have learned if you were forced to try something new. No one is immune to the temptation of making something easier, depending on the person you may want to have to struggle a bit in the jam without that temptation, so that you can learn more. - More than any other type, Similar results. When every game is the same setting, alot of games may feel similar, especially if they land on the same mechanics.

Settings are good for more laid back Devs, people who just want to make something they know or want no mechanics to be restricted. This Type is bad for people who like to see varied results, and who want to be challenged creatively by the jam.

Mechanic, 'Control two things at once' or 'Your game has 3 rules, but only one is active at a time'

A Mechanic theme is a Type that simply decides one of your games mechanics, they can define a huge part of your game while still be up for interpretation. They can be vague or specific, how vague or specific one thing is, is subjective. It may be better to break this into 'Vague Mechanic' and 'Specific Mechanic'

Pros: - Devs can still have a decent amount of control on mechanics, setting, story, etc. - Is not so vague that it can be circumvented with really stretched interpretations. What I mean by stretched is that if you get really metaphorical you can basically ignore a theme, for 'Echo' you could just make a normal game then say "each go through is an echo of the past" a silly example, and is mostly a personal gripe

Cons: - The Mechanic may be hard to implement, or require specific knowledge to apply.

Forcing a Mechanic is good for people who have a pretty good grasp on how to implement it, and for people who would rather have the theme only directly effect one aspect of the game. It can be pretty frustrating for people who are new or inexperience in coding, who may struggle implementing the mechanic. Its also bad for people who like freedom in thinking of mechanics as every mechanic takes up your time (the most valuable resource during a jam)

Creation Rule, 'Turn a violent genre non-violent' or 'Tower offense'

This Type specifically is for Themes that have direct calls to Genres or a direct call to other games. basically any Theme that effects the creation process more than the game itself, I am finding this Type to be hard to put into words. but think of it as a question that must be answered.

Pros: - Can ask interesting Questions, such as "what would a non violent SRPG be?" - Can be highly interpretive and lead to varied results

Cons: - If the theme is done poorly it can be highly restrictive 'Tower offense' kind of implies reversing tower defense to me and not much else. - Does not help the Dev in the planning stage as much, setting, mechanics, story is free to create.

Creation Rule is good for people who like interesting questions or thought experiments, and pretty good for the 'Game jams as practice / a challenge' peeps, because of the open nature of it the development becomes more restrictive once you answer the question at hand. Its pretty bad for people who do not enjoy questions that can have straight forward answers (Turn a violent genre not violent, could be seen as "Make a shooter" to some). I maybe should have called 'Creation Rule' 'Question' instead, while 'Tower offence' is not really a question it kind of implies one "What would the reverse of Tower Defense be?".

Visual Rule, 'All sprites must fit inside a 50 x 50 pixel space' or '2 Color Palette'

(note: I feel like these appear less in LD, but I have seen them in other jams) The name says it all, a rule that dictates how the visuals are made, when I see jams like this I am interested in the interpretations but personally am 50/50 on them. if the theme fits some form of visuals I know how to make I feel more inclined to try, on the other hand if the theme implies a medium I am not familiar with I usually just wont participate in it at all, I would do 2 colors but not 50 x 50 pixel space since I do not do pixel art.

Pros: - Great to experiment with art styles you may be unfamiliar with - Great for practicing art skills under restrictions - Everything else in the game is free to create from scratch setting, mechanics, story

Cons: - Might not be stimulating to programmers or designers who want restrictions - Can Isolate players who work outside certain art mediums

Visual Rules are fantastic for people who want to flex their art muscles and try a new art style, or for people looking for minimum restrictions and do not mind experimenting with the visuals. Its bad for people who want to have restrictions but are not artists or do not care about the visuals as much.

Conclusion

It mostly comes down to what you personally want out of the game jam, some want to just make a game quickly and be able to share it easily, others want to challenge their Dev and/or creative skills, some people like to compete, some people just want to explore new ideas that they might otherwise never try, or maybe its a mix of many reasons. I definitely did not mention all possible reasons to want to Jam (not even close). Different desires lead to having different views on the Themes.

I feel like there is definitely more Types of themes, or even sub types. But I will leave this as is. The main reason I wanted to write this was that there is definitely a feeling of "Look at all these bad themes" when really there is alot of reasons to think a theme is good or bad, each Type of theme has trade offs. There is not a "Perfect Theme" out there for everyone. SO please, when the theme is announced do not go running to twitter to complain that the theme was terrible, as I would bet there is someone out there who is really happy that the theme they like won. With how the votes MAY turn out (the winner close or in the negatives), I can understand the assumption that a "Bad Theme" won, but it is more likely that the theme does not line up with your personal goals with game jams.

This was just a fun little thing I felt writing, and again it is just my opinion.

Im gonna do something on penguins, you have to keep the Herd alive (thinking a mix of Oregon trail and Banner saga) Im going to go take a shower to think over some concepts, have a wonderful jam every one.

I may change up the sprites if I have time at the end

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/penguin-march

So this is my submission for this year and it turned out better than I expected, I've reworked a few things in the editor for fun so far just to see if making things better would be a grueling experience. Turns out reworking some of the small things was pretty easy. (Mainly my event editor was a nightmare to work with before)

I've never released anything and would like to take that step, I'm thinking of taking a month or 3 (My amateurish estimates say it SHOULD only be a month and a bit, but always add a bit) to polish and expand this project but would like feedback and maybe tips if I approach that. I'm not sure if it would work better for PC or Android.

Any suggestions or tips would be much appreciated. Even if the tip is "dont spend the time making a full version, heres why". I'm still on the fence about it, all I know is I want to make that release a game step eventually.

I would appreciate all feedback.

So I have started making a little postmortem every time I finish a game jam. Its always pretty casual, so not very edited. The idea is basically to have an online Game jam journal, so while I am more so writing to future me I thought I would throw it out there for anyone interested in how someones Jam experience went.

https://ilprinny.itch.io/penguin-march/devlog/143863/ludum-dare-46-postmortem

Again it is very casually written and is mostly just my opinion. I have been enjoying starting to write Game jam postmortems in kind of a 'Note to future me' way. I would recommend it.

The Postmortem is for my entry: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/46/penguin-march

And by good I mean, what I like. People wont share always share the same definition of what is and is not good. But I digress.

When people love themes I hate or when people hate a theme I love, I generally find a conflict in the middle of that. That conflict is whether or not Games should be similar, this is on a spectrum of similar and different. I love it when a jam feels like a cooking show, the main ingredient (the theme) is announced all of the chefs make different yet recognizable dished, All of the dishes ARE Beef dishes or all dishes ARE broccoli dishes, however all the dishes have distinct twists. I find main ingredients boring when the chefs hide the ingredient. When you have a vague theme people hide the main ingredient behind layers and layers of high-interpretation.

Thats just my opinion and the subject of what is and is not a good theme is HIGHLY subjective. With all that here are my votes so far.

I am thinking of expanding my entry into a fuller version and was wondering what Mechanics, Enemies/bosses, Settings, Areas, etc would be interesting to see, I am creating a list of things to pull from later so any suggestions would be interesting to hear.

The Game: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/48/the-falling-knight-v-s-the-endless-pit-of-dark-despair

If I follow both the LD rules and another jams rules, can I submit to both?