How a Weekend Jam Can Teach You More Than a Month of Tutorials
Where constraints fuel creativity, and failure is part of the lesson.
Hello my fellow gamedevs and players!
We are living on a world where our potential creativity and success are easily attached to fear.
We are afraid to fail, because yes, we do fail, I’m not going to hide. But you know what? failing is actually learning.
Game Development is an overwhelming ground that doesn’t have a really structured career path, on top of that you have a huge number of skills you need to develop then polish and refine a videogame, it is scary.
But… I know you completed Elden Ring. Here we go!
What is a Game Jam?
A Game Jam is a massive power-up for game development not only empowering your technical skills but communication, marketing, leadership, project management and many other under a miniaturized scale.
How is that possible?
Usually you have between 48/72 hours to develop your videogame, so you really need to sharp your planning and execution skills to achieve such deadline.
This is a list with the most popular Game Jams across the world
GMTK Game Jam (They have an amazing Youtube Channel with Game Design learning)
You can join to one now on itch.io :)
My Experience
Before a Game Jam starts, you don’t know the theme. You can’t prepare mechanics or concepts in advance because the theme will likely push you in a completely different direction.
My first entry for Malaga Jam was Ascension a 2 player competitive game. The theme was The end of the world — Our idea?: life and death fighting for their territory.
Engine: Godot
Goal of our game: Paint tiles walking through them to have more territory than your oponent before time is over.
I loved working with such a talented and motivated team. Everyone was engaged, iterating, testing, and delivering until we had our game (our “small boy”) ready.
Even for a simple idea, we had to cover:
Game Mechanics Loop ✅
2D Pixel Art ✅
Sound FX and Music ✅
UX/UI In place ✅
Itch.io page ✅
Team Work Sync ✅
Short trailer ✅
…and of course, bugs and unknowns you can’t predict ✅
All of that in just 48 hours — while still needing to sleep, eat, and do the usual human being things.
Some jams allow third-party assets, which is a huge help. (Pro tip: Kenney’s free assets are a lifesaver for jams and prototypes.) Even then, I promise you’ll still be racing the deadline.
My Tips for Game Jams
1. Define your Hook/Mechanic first and then, the general idea
Before art, sounds, or even game length — focus on the core mechanic. Keep it small and polish it as much as possible.
Example:
Theme = “Faster than Light”
Mechanic = Cars speed up only where the sun shines on the track.
2. Align Workflows (for teams)
Who does what?
Source of truth for assets/resources (Fileserver, Github, discord…)
Clear naming for assets (Art, sound, UX)
Definition of scenes/levels. For instance
Scene 1 by José. Test out mechanic A (Main idea)
Scene 2 by Alberto. Test out mechanic B (Secondary, but solid)
3. Create your prototype assets
A basic spritesheet for characters, enemies, and tiles is enough to start building levels in your engine.
You can follow my short guide to do so.
4. Don’t forget these essentials!
Sound FX and Music
Marketing Images and resources for itch.io
UX/UI (menus, HUD, etc.)
A clear description and short pitch for your game
Bonus: Some Jams ask you for a Trailer as part of the requirements
5. Iterate, refine and deliver
Once the mechanic is working and the Game Feel is good enough, is time to refine all the aesthetics/resources of your game.
2D/3D Art
Sound FX/Music
UX/UI
Menus
Settings
Sound
Resolution
Controls
Defeat the Failure Demon
You did all your efforts to make it, all your team was engaged but the game was not delivered, nothing happened, the world and universe continued moving.
Take notes, learn from where you failed and improve from there.
That’s the real lesson, no failure, no growth.
Wrapping Up
Game Jams are more than just weekend challenges — they’re compact learning machines. In a few intense days, you practice design, teamwork, planning, and the most valuable skill of all: finishing.
Every jam you join is another step in your climb as a game developer.
Now I want to ask you — have you ever joined a Game Jam, or are you planning to?
I’d love to hear your stories and see what you’ve built.
If this gave you a power-up, pass it on to another player — and subscribe for more tiny doses of gamedev insight.