Frustrating GGJ 2018! Wow!

Hey guys!

I wanna share my story of the frustrating GGJ @ Microsoft JHB.

It was a rough week. Personally, I was in the process of moving, and a close family member was not fighting his drug addiction problem. Getting a screen from someone was also a mission - but in the end, I had the option of two screens! #blessed

Going to Microsoft was, as always, charming. Steven did a fantastic GGJ opening, and Julian arranged us very yummy food and drinks. Kudos to both of them!

People started making games - but there were weird obstacles. X had to reinvent this mechanic. Y's engine didn't work. Z had a problem with bridging a concept.

And finally, I started working on a music track that was frustrating to write - my MIDI controlled wouldn't connect to Kontakt/Presonus Studio One. In the end, I worked 8-12 hours on a track that wasn't used and had a few odd technical blunders myself. I swear - it was one of the strangest development experiences ever!

Saturday afternoon I was crying. Overwhelmed with the stress of the week, the technical problems at the weekend, and just feeling out of it. A friend picked me up and we went for pizza - which was awesome. #blessed #pizza

Laban had a severe toothache, and by Saturday evening we both headed home, back to Pretoria.

Most participants at GGJ 2018 @ Microsoft JHB struggled. At least one (possibly two - that I know of) had to completely scrap their game. It was a frustrating experience.

BUT the company was good. I met awesome new people. The jokes were loud. The hugs were real. And the development lessons: priceless. I saw at least three good friends, and reconnecting with them made all the difference.

Thank you to everyone who made this frustrating weekend worth the effort. Next year, luck will be with us all - we will all become rich and famous!

Pax out <3
Thanked by 1EvanGreenwood

Comments

  • Haha, I am Y!! For great justice!

    But yes I hear you. It was a super frustrating jam. I ended up having to scrap the idea of making a game entirely and only did some arch-viz stuff.
    That being said, if it wasn't for the technical frustrations, I would have ended up with another mediocre run-of-the-mill game as I wasn't exactly inspired. But due to all the engine issues I got to actually sit down and properly learn about lighting and post-processing in UE4.

    Was great catching up with all you guys, and despite being frustrating, it was a great jam!
    Thanked by 2PS89 EvanGreenwood
  • Indeed. I think we all learned cool stuff. But the best was not learning those lessons alone. #community <3
    Thanked by 1EvanGreenwood
  • edited
    I think I've said this before, but one of the reasons why I think it's important to jam fairly regularly (rather than just once or twice a year) is that a lot of this stress can be alleviated that way.

    I've found that a great deal of frustration comes from putting lots of pressure on one singular event, because of how if things don't turn out the way you wanted, you have to wait a whole year for the next one. You're then more likely to have people being precious about their decisions, or to fight for their ideas, or to want to burn themselves out on trying to have everything be perfect.

    Jamming more often not only makes you more experienced and better prepared for the "bigger" jams, but it also makes you less hard on yourself; if this game doesn't turn out great, no big deal -- lots of my (more regular) 8-hour jam games are pretty bad, but some of them are pretty good, so I don't feel as if whether or not I'm a good game developer hinges on this one, annual event. :) And if I'm jamming with someone and they want to take the game in a different direction, I'm more likely to try it out, because I always have the next jam the next week/fortnight/month to try the things I wanted to try.

    It's literally impossible to make a great game every single time unless you're not pushing yourself, trying something new, and growing. So when I approach jams, I really just want to learn something at the end of it, or have tried something I haven't tried before. That way, even when I leave the jam not having made a project that I think is fun, I've still learnt how to use a new game engine, or a new toolkit, or a game idea that I haven't tried before. If you showed up and learnt something, you're already winning. :D
  • @Elyaradine Couldn't agree more. I'm very much guilty of this. I don't participate in jams regularly and when I do I am always trying to make the perfect game but instead end up burning out or running out of time because of perfectionism. I am also not the best husband and father on a jam weekend because of this pressure. I'm going to take you advice and participate more in "low stakes" jams.
    Thanked by 3Elyaradine PS89 critic
  • edited
    @Elyaradine Well said.
    I concur with @Tightrope - Balancing being a husband and father with regular jamming is tricky, but doing only one big jam turns me into a grumpy guy because this jam 'has to work out'.

    So I'll take that advice and try some smaller jams even if it just to take the edge off next years GGJ.
    Luckily we have a gamedev club at work so we are doing some 8 hour jams throughout the year.
  • 200% what @Elyaradine said. Jamming is really all about not being precious about what you make. And not being precious about what you make is about making so many things that any single thing isn't going to make or break your entire world.

    Jam more. Practice more. Make more stuff. Not only will that give you more practice, it allows you to let go and move on so much better and easier.

    Don't just go to GGJ. Do more jams. Ludum Dare is amazing and right now there's a Horror Jam happening this month on MGSA, and there's a 7D Roguelike Jam happening, and there's a Manifesto Jam someone spoke about.

    If you only do one jam a year, of course it'll be hard :)
    Thanked by 2critic PS89
  • edited
    I think what @Elyaradine wrote is great advice.

    And totally agree with @Tuism that there are a lot of cool jamming opportunities.

    In 2016 and the first half of 2017 we ran pretty regular 8 hour jams in Cape Town. I'd like to start this again (probably in May/April, unless someone organizes it first)

    What I'm wondering, is if it could be possible to run a 8 hour event on a Saturday both in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and then have a Skype show-what-you-made briefly at the end (I only say "briefly" for the fathers/mothers for whom 10 hours on a Saturday is still quite a lot of commitment).
  • In 2016 and the first half of 2017 we ran pretty regular 8 hour jams in Cape Town. I'd like to start this again (probably in May/April, unless someone organizes it first)
    That sounds WONDERFUL! <3

  • edited
    Tightrope said:
    participate more in "low stakes" jams.
    You're completely on the right track! But just one point of... clarification? Pendantry There aren't low or high stakes jams, all jams are low stakes when you do a bunch of them, all jams are high stakes when you do very few of them :)
  • @Tuism, you are right. I meant to imply self-imposed "low stakes" jams.
    Thanked by 1Tuism
  • I think what @Elyaradine wrote is great advice.

    And totally agree with @Tuism that there are a lot of cool jamming opportunities.

    In 2016 and the first half of 2017 we ran pretty regular 8 hour jams in Cape Town. I'd like to start this again (probably in May/April, unless someone organizes it first)

    What I'm wondering, is if it could be possible to run a 8 hour event on a Saturday both in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and then have a Skype show-what-you-made briefly at the end (I only say "briefly" for the fathers/mothers for whom 10 hours on a Saturday is still quite a lot of commitment).
    I know you used to have them at your place, but if you want a venue, Vega would probably be happy to help.
    Thanked by 1EvanGreenwood
  • edited
    @dammit We did have some at our place. But I think there was a bit more value having them at an open place that anyone could attend (which we did for a while at The Bandwidth Barn).
    Thanked by 1PS89
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