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One of these things parents typically don't get to do :( I'm pretty sure I'd join a "48 hours in 30 days" style LD, that could actually work for me. Is anyone

by fhd2 13y ago

One of these things parents typically don't get to do :( I'm pretty sure I'd join a "48 hours in 30 days" style LD, that could actually work for me. Is anyone aware of anything like that? edit: Just remembered that there's 1GAM (One Game A Month), which is almost that. Still, I'd prefer a yearly or bi-yearly thing with a lot of traction like LD, and some kind of total time limit. edit2: What'd be interesting about such a jam is that people would have much more time to think. I don't consider myself less productive when it comes to side projects than before I had kids, I get to think things really through and solve most hard issues while I'm out and about with the little ones.

jasonlotito 13y ago
Outside of being a single parent†, you can still do these things. It just takes an understanding partner. † I'm sure there are ways as a single parent, but that's beside the point.
- fhd2 13y ago
  I'd rather be an understanding partner myself and not ask for this. We have two small kids though, I imagine it's manageable with just one.
  - jasonlotito 13y ago
    I have 2 small children as well. Both with autism. My wife and I have no problem leaving the children with one or the other. We don't do it frequently, but we do still enjoy our own hobbies. I love knowing that she can go spend a day out photographing with her friends, doing what she wants. And I love the day I get to spend with my kids, just me and them. Being understanding doesn't mean you have to share in everything, together every moment.
    - bchjam 13y ago
      I also have a child with autism and I think that factors into it. Both in that it can be much easier for an auteur to handle one on one situations, and because it can be really draining dealing with the negative aspects of autism and I think it's healthy to have some respite from it (maybe somewhat true with all kids but much more so with social/developmental disorders)
    - fhd2 13y ago
      I guess it depends on the children and possibly on how well you can handle them. It's certainly pretty hard for our parent/child combination, I couldn't imagine spending even a full day alone with them, and my wife is always exhausted when I have to go on a business trip. I'm optimistic that it'll get better when they stop being toddlers though :)
FrozenCow 13y ago
7DFPS is one, but for a more complete overview I usually check http://compohub.net/ http://compohub.net/, but at the moment it isn't listing any compos in the coming months :(. You can check the issue tracker, where people have posted what should be added: https://bitbucket.org/randati/compohub/issues?status=new&status=open https://bitbucket.org/randati/compohub/issues?status=new&sta...
- fhd2 13y ago
  Based on what I've read, 7DFPS allows you to use the full 7 days for development, I could get about 12 hours of development in in that time span... The same goes for 1GAM, you have 30 full days for it in theory. I don't think people do that in practice though. A jam where you're only supposed to do 48 hours (or better, 30) of work within 30 days would give all games roughly the same scopes and make them comparable for a competition. But I realise that the audience for this kind of game jam consist of me and probably nobody else, so no real point in trying to start something like that. I have a non-jam game to finish anyway.
djent 13y ago
Being the weekend before finals, most college students don't have time to take part either.
- fhd2 13y ago
  I really didn't mean to say this only affects parents. Busy people (which definitely includes working college students) generally seem to have to make too many sacrifices to get 48 hours in a row off.
babuskov 13y ago
There's October challenge each year - to produce a game in one month and earn at least $1. Being a parent of two myself, I found this as a good excuse to finally make an Android game. You can read about it here: http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days Too bad it's only once a year... Maybe we could start a "month" challenge for parents, say 2-3 times a year? Rules could be like this: 1. all participants must have at least one child (living with them) 2. you need to complete a working game within a month 3. theme? Well, I'm not sure about this one. Maybe a theme should be free, because it's easy to throw away 48hrs at something you might not like very much, but it's hard to dedicate a whole month to some theme you don't like 4. money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD. What do you think?
- fhd2 13y ago
  > all participants must have at least one child (living with them) I wouldn't want to restrict it to parents actually, I believe there are many other people that can't get 48 hours in a row off because of work/family obligations, and I don't see why they shouldn't compete with less busy people. 48 (or 30?) hours in 30 days seems quite doable without much sacrifice. The one thing that bothers me is that it shouldn't be _too_ easy to cheat and put more hours in. Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script you need to use for accessing your project and that times it. Of course you could still cheat if you wanted to, you can just as easily cheat in LD48. But it should be easier to not cheat than to cheat, which wouldn't be the case if people keep track of their time themselves. > money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD. Not sure about the $1 thing. I'd rather build a fun game than trying to bring something unpolished to market at all costs. But it sets a higher bar for sure.
  - babuskov 13y ago
    > Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script Maybe require that code is posted to GitHub... but then there's open/close source problem. The whole idea behing LD is to improve and motivate yourself. There are no rewards. If you're cheating, you are not cheating anyone else but yourself.

by fhd2 13y ago

jasonlotito 13y ago

Outside of being a single parent†, you can still do these things. It just takes an understanding partner. † I'm sure there are ways as a single parent, but that's beside the point.

fhd2 13y ago
I'd rather be an understanding partner myself and not ask for this. We have two small kids though, I imagine it's manageable with just one.
- jasonlotito 13y ago
  I have 2 small children as well. Both with autism. My wife and I have no problem leaving the children with one or the other. We don't do it frequently, but we do still enjoy our own hobbies. I love knowing that she can go spend a day out photographing with her friends, doing what she wants. And I love the day I get to spend with my kids, just me and them. Being understanding doesn't mean you have to share in everything, together every moment.
  - bchjam 13y ago
    I also have a child with autism and I think that factors into it. Both in that it can be much easier for an auteur to handle one on one situations, and because it can be really draining dealing with the negative aspects of autism and I think it's healthy to have some respite from it (maybe somewhat true with all kids but much more so with social/developmental disorders)
  - fhd2 13y ago
    I guess it depends on the children and possibly on how well you can handle them. It's certainly pretty hard for our parent/child combination, I couldn't imagine spending even a full day alone with them, and my wife is always exhausted when I have to go on a business trip. I'm optimistic that it'll get better when they stop being toddlers though :)

FrozenCow 13y ago

7DFPS is one, but for a more complete overview I usually check http://compohub.net/ http://compohub.net/, but at the moment it isn't listing any compos in the coming months :(. You can check the issue tracker, where people have posted what should be added: https://bitbucket.org/randati/compohub/issues?status=new&status=open https://bitbucket.org/randati/compohub/issues?status=new&sta...

fhd2 13y ago
Based on what I've read, 7DFPS allows you to use the full 7 days for development, I could get about 12 hours of development in in that time span... The same goes for 1GAM, you have 30 full days for it in theory. I don't think people do that in practice though. A jam where you're only supposed to do 48 hours (or better, 30) of work within 30 days would give all games roughly the same scopes and make them comparable for a competition. But I realise that the audience for this kind of game jam consist of me and probably nobody else, so no real point in trying to start something like that. I have a non-jam game to finish anyway.

djent 13y ago

Being the weekend before finals, most college students don't have time to take part either.

fhd2 13y ago
I really didn't mean to say this only affects parents. Busy people (which definitely includes working college students) generally seem to have to make too many sacrifices to get 48 hours in a row off.

babuskov 13y ago

There's October challenge each year - to produce a game in one month and earn at least $1. Being a parent of two myself, I found this as a good excuse to finally make an Android game. You can read about it here: http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days http://bigosaur.com/blog/23days Too bad it's only once a year... Maybe we could start a "month" challenge for parents, say 2-3 times a year? Rules could be like this: 1. all participants must have at least one child (living with them) 2. you need to complete a working game within a month 3. theme? Well, I'm not sure about this one. Maybe a theme should be free, because it's easy to throw away 48hrs at something you might not like very much, but it's hard to dedicate a whole month to some theme you don't like 4. money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD. What do you think?

fhd2 13y ago
> all participants must have at least one child (living with them) I wouldn't want to restrict it to parents actually, I believe there are many other people that can't get 48 hours in a row off because of work/family obligations, and I don't see why they shouldn't compete with less busy people. 48 (or 30?) hours in 30 days seems quite doable without much sacrifice. The one thing that bothers me is that it shouldn't be _too_ easy to cheat and put more hours in. Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script you need to use for accessing your project and that times it. Of course you could still cheat if you wanted to, you can just as easily cheat in LD48. But it should be easier to not cheat than to cheat, which wouldn't be the case if people keep track of their time themselves. > money? I liked the "get to the market and earn $1" approach from LD. Not sure about the $1 thing. I'd rather build a fun game than trying to bring something unpolished to market at all costs. But it sets a higher bar for sure.
- babuskov 13y ago
  > Maybe the whole thing could be coupled with some script Maybe require that code is posted to GitHub... but then there's open/close source problem. The whole idea behing LD is to improve and motivate yourself. There are no rewards. If you're cheating, you are not cheating anyone else but yourself.