I don't think I understood what I was signing up for.
When programmer Anna Kipnis idly wondered whether there had ever been a game jam based on the tweets of parody twitter account @petermolydeux the explosion of interest convinced her and games journalist Patrick Klepek to make it happen. And then, rather excited by the energy of it all, I said I'd organize a parallel jam in New York City.
I had temporarily forgotten that for late March and early April I was already on the hook for, among other things, organizing an evening of lectures, looking for a new apartment, and working on a long-term personal project. Oh, and working a full-time game industry job. I think it's safe to say that if I had taken any time to think about it, I wouldn't have volunteered.
But I'm oh so glad my impulsiveness got the better of me this time.
Let me tell you about making games in New York: it's hard. Making games is hard all over, but New York City combines the high cost of living of San Francisco with the professional isolation of Madison, Wisconsin. There are many great schools in New York City that will teach you game development, but precious few game companies that will hire you. If you do somehow finagle your way into a game company, it's unlikely you'll run across game developers outside of the ones within your studio. In game development strongholds like the Bay Area, within two or three years of starting at a studio, you'll naturally have contacts in half the studios in town just as a natural consequence of your coworkers moving around. In New York, you can work for two years at a company and still not know that there are 2-3 other studios within five blocks of you.
This is why game jams are important. I've organized a few before Molyjam, and if I have anything to say about it, I'll organize plenty more after it. The reason I spend my time planning and calling in favors to get host venues is because game jams are the best game developer community building I've been able to find. It's fun to exchange business cards at industry nights in bars, but game jams are so much more.
1) Meet new collaborators by actually collaborating with them.
This is huge. When it comes to deciding whether you share design sensibilities with someone, there's nothing quite like actually working together. For the cost of a weekend, game jams provide a low-stakes opportunity to work closely with other developers with skills that complement your own. Game jams beget Partnerships.
2) Inexperienced developers can let their effort speak for them.
A short drama:
EAGER YOUNG PERSON: So you make video games?
GAME DEVELOPER: Uh, yeah. I guess I've been making games for a few years.
EAGER YOUNG PERSON: I really want to get into the industry. Do you have any tips?
GAME DEVELOPER: Um...
Fin.
Wannabe game developers are everywhere, but giving opportunities to the untested and inexperienced is a significant risk. Game jams are all about risk! New developers get to jump in and test their mettle, and experienced developers can offer guidance without saddling themselves to somebody who may not work out.
3) Clear out your store of precious ideas.
Making games is hard and takes forever. Pet ideas have a way of hanging around untested, becoming ever more perfect in the mind of the creator. Game jams can provide the opportunity to force these ideas to put up or shut up, freeing us to move on to newer, better ideas.
4) Practice a role you wouldn't otherwise have.
Look, I'm a generalist, so maybe this is just me. In my professional life I'm a game designer, but when I jam I'm a programmer every time. I love the opportunity to keep my prototyping skills sharp, and I strongly believe that designers and producers need to maintain a skill in code or art well enough to get themselves in trouble. The low stakes of a game jam provides the opportunity to step into a less familiar role. And that includes the role of "leader," too.
5) Experience an entire project cycle.
Commercial projects last months or years, and the big decisions about changing direction or scope tend to get made by a tiny subset of the entire development team. On a game jam, you'll get to concept, implement, and debug in a matter of hours. If you're trying to do too much, you'll get to discuss and make calls about what to cut, and you may discover 24 hours in that the game you are making is not the game you thought it was. It should go without saying that all of these experiences pay dividends back in the world of "real" game development.
Whether game development is your job, your hobby or your dream, game jams have something to offer. The media attention and carnival atmosphere of Molyjam were something special, true, but I think the best thing to come out of everything was the great number of first-time game jammers who came out to participate.
