Come On and Slam, and Welcome to the Jam!
Illustration by Jenny Graf, made with Barles Charkley’s Shut Up & Paint! The 41st Ludum Dare is this weekend, and, like me, many of you are probably getting excited about the opportunity to make something new this weekend. Game jams are game development distilled into its purest form and are a wonderful thing. Some of you may be feeling like you’re not ready, or like you’re destined to fail. If you’re not sure if it’s for you, I’d encourage you to just give it a try! It will only cost a couple of days' time. There are no budgets, no stakeholders, and no one is expecting to be topping any charts. Game jams are about expression, and there are no rules about what your game needs to be in order to “succeed.” Your game is whatever you make it to be. What is a game jam? A game jam is a game-making event where participants have a limited amount of time to make a game. That’s it! Game jams have been around for