This game jam was extra special to me, because it was my first real time entering! I got to work on a team with 3 other very talented people and we did it! We made a game!

We called it Hamstronaughts because the main character is a hamster...in space!

https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/50/hamstronaughts

It's not perfect, and even has some oversights, but I can't bring myself to feel disappointed about the outcome. I would like to polish up the game with more levels for a full release at some point, but first I will take a break and consider what I can do to improve my next game jam! These are my key takeaways:

• As an artist, I could do more to help the programmer by learning the game engine. I can easily learn how to import animations and tilesets, and set up some scenes for the level. I made so many assets that couldn't make it into the game because our coder couldn't find time to add it all in. Even if I can't code, I think there is still lots I can do to support the programmer!!

• I should have made an asset list from the very start, instead of only deciding what I needed halfway through the jam, which caused me to miss things! Like how I forgot to animate a button pressing because I never wrote it down.

• I should research art styles and colour palettes before the jam starts, that way I spend less time researching and more time creating!

I loved this game jam, but I look forward to my next one even more!