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Babette Norton

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Hi folks, and happy Friday!

This week, we’re talking game jams — and specifically our jam — and the wonders that come along with it!

Game Jams, for those unfamiliar, are small events that promote groups of game developers or hobbyists to create a game within a certain amount of time. Traditionally, game jams were held in-person much like LAN fests, and went over the course of a day or two. Nowadays, game jams are in-person AND online, and can span from 1 day to an entire year. Ours, for example, is taking up the month of August!

Game jams often destroy the idea that perfectionism is best due to their limited timing, and allow people to produce playable creations that they can showcase. For this reason, game jams are an amazing way to beef up your resume before applying to game industry jobs. Personally, I took part in around 8 game jams prior to applying to the industry job I first received, and it helped immensely as I not only had a lot of portfolio work, but I understood the development pipeline quite well. itch.io is one of the most popular ways to find game jams, but you can find them all over the place now, from Discord to LinkedIn.

Some game jams are unranked, purely allowing folks to create games for the fun of it. Personally, I have mostly participated in ranked game jams, which are exactly what they sound like: jams that have a ranked tier list in the end, either being scored by judges or participants. Sometimes, jams will even have prizes and/or entry fees.

We have a mini section on game jams in our 06: VOLUNTEERING resource page, and I highly recommend that for an intro into jams and things to look out for!

Now for our jam!

The SUMMER ENTRY JAM is ENTRY LVL’s game jam for the summer, specifically August 1st to August 31st. There is no team limit, but the jam itself is a ranked-style jam with three industry-pro judges who will decide our 1st-3rd place winners.

We’ve spent a good bit creating this jam for you all so that those hoping to enter the industry can begin putting something on that resume if you don’t have prior experience, and develop and understanding for the various steps and roles in game creation. Our discord is also a great way to meet community members, ask questions, and ultimately hear information & results!

Now that you’ve heard about all the wonderful benefits of our jam, we hope you will join us for some fun-in-the sun action, and even win some prizes along the way! Be sure to check out our game jam page to register now, and come make some cool stuff in your break!