72 Hour 2019 Jam Planning Thread

What weekends work for you? Check all that apply.


  • Total voters
    65

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,106
We're planning the next 72 Hour Jam and we want your input. What weekends work best for you? We want to schedule the jam around what weekend will work for the most people, so please put your availability in the above poll.

We'd also like to get your input on when we should announce the next major contest. There are a few options:
  • Announce the contest before the jam. This allows people to decide if they would like to use the jam to "springboard" development of their entry (using the jam as an excuse to put a lot of time into starting a project), or if they would like to start early.
  • Announce the contest with the start of the jam. This allows people to use the jam to springboard development, but may pressure people into springboarding when they would rather do something else for the Jam.
  • Announce the contest after the start of the jam. This does not allow anyone to springboard, but it does alleviate the pressure some may feel to springboard.
Let us know which of these you think makes the most sense. Bear in mind that our next contest doesn't have a ton of restrictions, so should you choose to use the jam to springboard your contest map, you will still have a lot of freedom in what you choose to make.

EDIT: Note that we will not necessarily use the date that gets the most votes. We just want to get a feel for what works best for people.
 
Last edited:

FunkEdge

L3: Member
Jan 14, 2017
143
59
I believe that you should announce the contest before the jam, but only by a few days or so. This will give time for mappers to create ideas for maps yet also keeps to the rules that the 72 Hour jam has to be a new project.
 

fubarFX

The "raw" in "nodraw"
aa
Jun 1, 2009
1,720
1,978
I think the jam's core strength as an event is people doing w/e the hell in the form of short experiments, and we should not lose sight of that. I can appreciate the event being used as a springboard but I think free experimentation is where the jam shines most.

So here's an other option that I'm pretty sure we've seen in the past (if I'm not mistaken).
  • let people do the Jam, announce the contest shortly after and allow applicable jam maps to take part in the contest.
 

Narpas

Takes way to long to make and update maps
aa
Jun 11, 2015
433
436
The Game Maker's Toolkit Game Jam, which myself and probably others are planning on joining, is on the weekend of August 2-4, so I'd prefer if our Jam wasn't scheduled for then. As for the contest, I think it should be announced before the Jam, but barring that I'd go with what Fubar suggested
 

Khuntza

L4: Comfortable Member
Dec 29, 2009
155
102
I'd rather not see the next major announced before the jam.. isn't the idea that the jam produces 'something' and not just a start to a contest entry? To me, people starting contest entries during a jam isnt int the spirit of it..
 

WhoWee!

L?: Creator of Ideas, Not Projects
Jan 12, 2018
84
35
I'm really only available the first few weeks of July and the first week of August. I would prefer it it were on the first or second weekend of July because I have a few family visits I need to do in August.
 

Aapelikaeki

L3: Member
Feb 24, 2018
148
135
Announce the next major contest either before or after the jam, but don't announce it when the jam starts

(most of the interesting discussion would get buried under the jam hype)
 

SnickerPuffs

(*single chuckle*)
aa
Apr 10, 2014
1,315
1,857
Anytime before August sounds good, because in the later half of that month people start going back to school. The August date suggested, while still before most people's start date, is still too close to comfort in my opinion.
 

Idolon

they/them
aa
Feb 7, 2008
2,105
6,106
I want to clarify that the Jam will not necessarily take place on the date that gets the most votes. We just want to get a feel for what time works best for people. The event will likely not take place as early as possible as we would like to allow time for people to request time off from work, and we also need time for planning (like organizing a charity, should that happen again this year).