#and sometimes Determination or something isn't enough to beat the Mental Illness ya know?

[heartsyncproductions]

Future Game Jam Idea I want to make happen

Putting this on my Tumblr instead of just my Twitter because I never pay attention to Twitter so I forgot about this idea BUT

During my Year in Review it made me realize part of the reason why I don't interact with the community as much as I'd like is that it doesn't really feel easy to break in, in a way that feels comfortable with interacting with others. I think the rise of so many communities being so heavily focused around Discord makes it super unfriendly to some people as well (I'm in the Indie Otome Discord now, however it took since 2022 to take that step to join any type of server due to my Schizoeffective Disorder/paranoia making Discord really scary asfjdlkafjl) and it just made me think.

What if there was a game jam whose whole point was to help with the anxiety of making a game/interacting with the community? Rambling thoughts below:

Placeholder name and subtitle: The No Stakes Game Jam (The jam to help you find friends and community)

One of the things I learned through doing three game jams last year, is that it's so much less daunting to comment on a game when it's expected of me vs commenting on a game when it isn't. It's so silly I know, as a game dev I love when people comment idc if I know them or not. But I think since I'm /also/ a developer it makes me overthinking it really bad. But you know. Life hack: you can't overthink commenting when it's expected of you-

Like there could be a requirement of like "You have to comment on at least one other game or else your entry will be removed" or something, and then there could be like a Bingo card with extra challenges if participants wanted to.

I was also thinking of using the discussion board to share resources to manage anxiety/mental health (since game jams can be stressful even for people who don't struggle with the community/socializing part) as well as posting maybe a check in or two throughout the jam depending on how long I run it.

There could also be two version of it:

Non-ranked for those that just want to try engaging more with other game devs and

And a ranked version specifically made for those anxious about critiques/reviews/etc both in giving and receiving and would have posts and resources to help manage anxiety around the topic, as well as general advice on how to learn to critique and how to manage getting feedback as well

The Non ranked version would happen first so that way people could transition from there to the ranked version after (obviously people can just do one or the other).

Anyway, this is just coming from someone with severe paranoia around internet spaces and is trying to think of ways to make it easier for others. If you've read through all this, thank you! And if you like the idea/have thoughts feel free to add on or share! I actually really want to make this happen at some point if I'm able to!