1st Annual PokeMini Jam

The main forum, all general PM related threads go in here.
Post Reply
User avatar
mixiekins
Admin
Posts: 58
Joined: August 10th, 2018, 22:15

1st Annual PokeMini Jam

Post by mixiekins »

The jam is posted and ready for signups!
It'll be hosted for the whole month of December.
You can hop over to the jam page to sign up!

It's time now for us to decide which month we would like to host our first ever Pokemon Mini Game Developer's Jam!
Please use the Poll on this thread to indicate which month(s) would work best for you; once we know which month will serve the most people possible, we'll pick that for the Jam.


About the jam:
  • It is hosted at https://itch.io/jam/pokemon-mini-jam
  • There will be prizes!
  • Prizes will be awarded to the most helpful devs.
  • It will last one month, however...
  • You only need to contribute for one week minimum.
  • Though it's encouraged to participate for the full month.
  • You can help on multiple teams simultaneously.
  • You can should do this in your spare time, this isn't a full-time job, of course!
  • Have fun, flex your dev muscles, learn, experiment, and make something!
How the jam will work once we've decided on a month to host it:
  • Everyone will form teams via itch.io leading up to the first week of the month.
  • Once the jam begins, we'll all work in our teams to develop a single minigame for each team, make sure you keep in touch with your team members.
  • If you'd like to make more, you can then form entirely new teams (or keep the original one) for the next minigame, and repeat as much as you like.
  • Once the month is over, all of the minigames from all of the teams will be combined into one WarioWare-like collection. This will give us a single game cart that represents all of the members of this community!
User avatar
mixiekins
Admin
Posts: 58
Joined: August 10th, 2018, 22:15

Re: 1st Annual PokeMini Jam

Post by mixiekins »

Some helpful information to get everyone started:
For those who are new to the Pokemon Mini console, welcome! Here's some useful resources to get you primed:
  • Documentation is catalogued here.
  • There is an emulator for development, so you don't need to get the console, cart, nor loader. The "PokeMini" Emulator by JustBurn is great, and includes a debugger.
  • A collection of dev tools are catalogued here.
  • You can find some examples of homebrew games made by our community (to use for inspiration) catalogued here.
  • You can always ask questions in our Discord (the forum is also here, but is more useful for documenting progress on projects).
Since we're all scattered around the globe, it helps to make a bookmarked list of timezones for each team member for reference, that way you can easily schedule meetups, and be aware of when its 3am when you're wondering why someone's not replying immediately ;) This tool is incredibly useful for that.

Since setting up the first week's teams is done in advance, it's highly encouraged to attend the first week. It helps to make use of the time leading up to the start of the jam to coordinate with your team members. It helps to schedule when each member will be able to do their own part, and that you have a pipeline that makes sense.

If you or any of your team members are new to working on game dev teams, it's useful to know how to structure your Development Pipeline:
Gameplay mechanics come first, then you can begin programming while making assets (visual/audio) as they're needed.

It's also highly advised to use a task scheduling tool, especially if you've never used one before, as this is a common industry standard. Trello is a fantastic free option.

If assets are left for last, programmers can always use placeholders from other games in the meantime, just be sure that your artists will finish with enough time to allow the programmer to insert said assets when everything's done. This is an important learning experience for anyone who wants to develop games, and isn't inherently obvious, so don't get too caught up on it-- remember, communication is key for working on teams!

If something comes up and you won't be available , be sure to let your team know. It's ok! Things happen, just keep in mind nobody can read minds so let your team know ASAP. :)

Remember:
Prizes are given to the most helpful devs, so the more you support your teammates and participate, the better your prize will be! Don't be worried if your game isn't the most visually stunning, or the most unique gameplay; the point here is to help foster good development practices, and give you both the confidence and experience you need to be great developers!

Admins are excluded from prizes, naturally, by the way. ;) We will be helping out to set an example, though.


In the time leading up to the jam, if you have any resources/references you'd like to have featured here, please comment or let me know on Discord and I'll add them.
User avatar
RazorLeafAttack
PM.net Staff
Posts: 145
Joined: May 9th, 2017, 00:58

Re: 1st Annual PokeMini Jam

Post by RazorLeafAttack »

Spotted this video of games for the Dreamcast visual memory unit (VMU) and thought it could serve as mini game inspiration. They share a lot of similarities in terms of tech. Check it out!
https://youtu.be/ICnUFWOxWok

Please share anything you find that might help inspire others to come up with some fun mini games !
Post Reply