The first Chicago Game Jam is over; what a relief, what a good time. While this was the first game jam that I ever organized, it was also the first I attended. Writing down my thoughts in some fashion seems to be the sensible thing to do, and sharing them with you can’t hurt. What follows are my reflections on what went right, what I’d do differently, and how I helped organize the Chicago Game Jam.
Before I start, I’d just like to say thank you to everyone who made the jam possible: Neal Sales-Griffin, Heather Decker-Davis, Sheri Rubin, the guys from Toy Studio (Christian, Brett, Ryan), our judges and advisors (Jared Steffes and Josh Hernandez of Tap.Me, Joe Linhoff from DePaul, Kurt Tillmans of Iron Galaxy, Christian Arca of Toy Studio, Adam Eidukas of Lunar Giant, Adam Urbano and Brett Rubin of NetherRealm), Jose Zagal of DePaul GGJ for his advice, Ryan Wiemeyer of The Hats and Indie City Games, our keynote speaker Eugene Jarvis (Raw Thrills and DePaul Game Developer in Residence), and above all else the attendees.
Is that everyone? Okay.
For the uninformed, a game jam might seem like an insane, masochistic ritual where nascent game developers and designers get together to consume as much caffeine and pizza as possible. This is partially true. It’s also true, however, that game jams are excellent ways for said individuals to learn more about the craft of game development, learn how to work with groups of like-minded individuals, and learn how to set and meet deadlines — much like the real world of game development.
We had five teams compete in the Chicago Game Jam year, which tallied up to about 20 people total. This is not a bad number for a first game jam, and I’m really proud of how everything ran.
Pre-Event Organization & Structure
For an event like this, one of the first things you need is exposure. A good start on the road to exposure is having a website with details for your event, then publicizing that website in as many places possible. For the Chicago Game Jam, a website where the primary function was to inform and draw sign-ups was built. Other assets like a logo, images, and preliminary jam details were added. Later on, we also added a schedule and rules to the site.
Next on the list was to bring people to the website. To do that, the Chicago Game Jam was publicized on all of the IGDA Chicago social feeds (Twitter, Facebook, and Meetup). Further, the event was sent to Gamespress and Bluesnews for PR distribution. Finally, we sent emails out to all of the local studios that we had email addresses to asking for their help with judges, advisors, prizes, and teams.
Since this was our first game jam, and we knew that other jams had been done in our area before, we sought out the help of folks who’d run the DePaul Global Game Jam; this proved incredibly helpful. Lacking a local resource, the next step would’ve been to seek out advice from folks at places like TIGSource and Reddit.
The last thing we did was come up with a game jam theme and create materials to hand out to the attendees during the jam. I felt it was necessary to have something that contestants could keep in front of themselves at all times, reminding them of what the theme was and what the theme meant.
Summary of things done before the event:
- A website (hub) to host all of the event details
- Send out press through a good social distribution network
- Seek the advice of local resources and others who had run game jams
- Come up with a theme and create materials to distribute to attendees
What Went Right
First off, the space at Toy Studio was fantastic. We had two rooms with whiteboards, desks, chairs, power strips galore, a projector, bean bags, couches, fridges, bathrooms, a full kitchen… the works. Honestly, all of these things are necessary for a successful game jam. So, lesson one, a fully-accessorized space is essential.
Along with that, having energy drinks, soda, and (at least one) meal planned out for everyone to eat together went over really well. We planned one dinner (Lou Malnati’s pizza provided by Toy Studio) for Saturday night, and got a lot of positive feedback for doing it. Everyone liked the idea that they could grab grub whenever they wanted to for the rest of the jam, but for that one moment Saturday night, they got to take a break and talk with other jam competitors over food.
Another thing that I think went over really well was having industry professionals come in to sit in on advising sessions for each team (if they wanted the advice). Many of the teams that form at game jams are still learning how to scope down their projects and work together to form consensus. Having an outsider — especially one who’s an industry professional — come in and speak with a team and nudge (or in some cases, push) them in the right direction, proved incredibly helpful.
Finally, we made sure a lot of the jam information was viewable at all times for the attendees. That meant keeping the schedule in a large, viewable space, running a countdown when there was an hour left in the jam, and making other information like Twitter usernames and organizer phone numbers available for all.
Summary of things that went right:
- Have a fully accessorized space
- Provide energy drinks and at least one community meal
- Bring industry professionals in to host advising sessions for teams
- Keep all game jam information available for all to see
What could have been done better
We had about 50 people total (through our website + Meetup) sign up for the event, but only about 20 come out to compete. I would’ve liked to see a higher retention rate on the sign-ups. I would’ve also liked to see more of a sense of urgency to keep the scope and turnaround time of the jam projects smaller and shorter. So what could’ve helped with that?
Having contestants put some skin in the game. Many game jams have contestants pay to get in; ours did not. I think in the future, asking contestants to pay anything — whether that be $5 or $20 — would go a long way in making sure that they show up to the event after signing up. Furthermore, it would impart more of a sense of urgency in completing projects and winning the contest.
Prizes. I would’ve liked to have prizes to give out to contestants. Mostly just as a thanks for participating and working hard.
Other things:
Bringing press in to cover the event. If a game jam happens, but nobody comes to cover it in the news, did it happen at all? Of course! But coverage would still be nice. We had a few people come out to write about the event and check it out, but more is always better. Next jam, I’ll be contacting press a month out to notify them of what we’re doing.
Stressing scope. Keeping a game’s scope narrow is a critical component for any successful game jam team; we should have stressed scope more every chance we got.
Pre-built code. I should’ve thought about this more. We allowed pre-built code, granted that anyone else could use it. What I should’ve made sure of was that anyone who planned on using pre-built code also submitted it a few weeks in advance. This wasn’t a problem for our jam, but could’ve been one.
Summary of things that could’ve been done better:
- Invest contestants more in the competition (through initial sign-up payments)
- Provide prizes to winners
- Bring in press to cover the event
- Stress keeping a game’s scope small
- Make pre-built code available to contestants well before the competition
Conclusion
Overall, the first Chicago Game Jam was a great success. I think we got all of the major details right, and many of the minor ones, too. With some minor tweaks for the next one, and with one jam already under our belts, I think we’re on our way to creating an incredibly successful event. See you all next time!
