In terms of outside of that, I think it’d have to boil down to having fun and not letting your expectations get in the way.

Even as close as a few days before the event I was having some brief, private doubts about whether I could really succeed.

Ironically, it was Kyle Gabler’s keynote that got me nervous again. He talked about making an “art game”, putting real meaning into the game, etc. and I started to wonder if I could really pull that off.

And we probably didn’t quite succeed in creating a game that conveyed its meaning clearly. But we tried, and it was a really good effort and a great learning experience. Ultimately, I’m very glad that we took Kyle’s advice to heart and pushed ourselves to get the most out of our 48 hour experiment.

It might even be fun to play some day. For three minutes. =)

To get around that block I just have to say screw it and make something I like. Unique features will work their way in naturally once the basic framework for what I want to make is in place.

Not strictly Game Jam-related, but somewhat relevant :)

I have total faith in you to make a great game.

Especially if constrained by a hunk of crap like the iPhone.

Especially especially if working on something that is pure style and no substance like the iPhone (That is not a comment on your lack of skills, it’s a comment on your strengths of marketing and reaching people).

Don’t you Americans get them free yet? I paid for mine (so I wouldn’t have to pay for a contract – I get free (literally – zero cost) unlimited data in the UK) but most people are just taking them as a free or $120 upgrade here.

I’d actually love to do some iPhone dev but I can’t afford one. So there.

I was too busy making an actual game in the free time I had.

Oops. :(
)

(or, if it helps: just remember, *everything* on iPhone is sh** :))

Would it make you feel more relaxed if you were working in a team instead of solo? What if you took on a non-designer role?

Maybe you’d feel even more pressured as a programmer. My experience is that if you’re at a site with a shortage of programmers and an artist/designer surplus, people will tend to be extremely forgiving of any faults you may have if you can just throw a few lines of Python together :). That was my experience as the lone programmer on a team of 4 in the XO Jam.

If you want to go the producer role, I’d imagine things would get REALLY interesting. Know any flavors of Agile that you were always dying to try, but would never risk on an actual project? Try it out in a Jam, assuming a project schedule of 1 hour Jam ~= 1 month AAA. Scrum, with hour-long sprints? No idea if it’d work, but it’d be interesting to try. You could probably even manage several teams at once, letting you set up quasi-scientific Methodology experiments with control groups. You learn some things, without risk of having your name attached to a poor design.

Just some thoughts as you clear your calendar for GGJ 2010 ;)

Ira Glass understands and concurs.

Getting past the point where you have great taste, but can’t perform up to your expectation is hard. Practice is the only answer.