Now I feel like I have to make a petite mort game… Maybe next year. But I’ll keep these notes in mind. I feel like I’ll spend too much time going back and refining stuff that I’ll never be able to get anything done. But who knows? Petite mort has some impressive turnouts every year.
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We could run an old-school speedIF jam later this year, if you like, Max. It has the benefit of being simplistic enough to be extremely easy to host. Announce that you’ll have a 2 hour speedIF that opens at a certain time and date. When that time comes, publish a required theme, and have the submission window close 2 hours and 5 minutes later.
If you want, you could run a survey with a few different day and time options for the 2 hour block, and then you could set it up for whichever works for the most people.
As far as comps go, that’s about as simple and low stakes to host as you can go.
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The real-time aspect is the one part that I might be tempted to change. Rather than a deadline exactly two hours after the theme (or requirements, or restrictions, or whatever) is released, make it a 24-hour or 48-hour window, but hide the theme somewhere where you have to intentionally open it to see it (even just behind a spoiler tag) and make a rule that as soon as it hits your eyeballs, your personal deadline hits 2 hours later. This means that you don’t exclude anyone on the basis of their time zone, and also that anyone with e.g. a disability which means that they can’t sit and type for 2 hours straight can allow themselves whatever reasonable accommodations they think are appropriate.
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That’s cool too. It’s more based on the honor system, but that’s already true with basically most of the IFTF ecosystem anyway, so I don’t see the harm.
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They were setup with a madlib discussion on ifMud picking a bunch of loose concepts, characters, locations, themes, etc. Then you had two hours to incorporate as much of the madlib list as possible.
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Having participated in game jams where the theme gets revealed later, I think deciding on a core idea and sticking with it is the way to go. The idea should be small enough that you can spend some time playtesting and polishing.
As mentioned by other authors, La Petite Mort isn’t too bad if you have a framework. The fact you can plan all you want makes it substantially easier than some jams I’ve done. My first entry was for EctoComp 2023 – Ah Lim’s Chicken Rice, #01-08A – and I didn’t work up a sweat after doing some research on how people make Hainanese chicken rice. The story was linear, with no variation, but I took some care and attention in making the hyperlinks feel like you’re preparing the meal.
For I Got You, the story asked for more impactful choices, so I wrote up a detailed outline and then followed my own instructions. I did tweak my structure as I saw the game form.
These two games ended up being on the easy side. If anything, I find it more exhausting when I know the jam gives me too much time to think, and I’m more inclined to procrastinate (cough, my Bare Bones Jam entry as I’m writing something on the forums). I prefer under-scoping my ideas and then adding more once I have the time.
It could be fun to make a parser IF or/and follow the traditional Speed-IF structure (planning is part of the time). I’m always looking for a challenge to make a coherent, polished game under strict restrictions. It’s just fun to concentrate on making a game in a small fraction of the time you would make a regular game.
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Thanks to @mulehollandaise who suggested the reading of this very old article:
MAKE IF FAST! by J. Robinson Wheeler
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I’ve written quite a bit of SpeedIF over the years, most notably Bi Lines, YOUR PARTY IS DEAD, and my games for the Velox jam series. Here’s how I do it:
- Plan ahead, like everyone is saying. Sketch, outline, brainstorm, compile. Have a vision. Don’t go in blind.
- Get that first draft out. You may be tempted to overedit or go back and polish things–don’t. Get it on paper first.
- Trust your writing instincts. When you go back and edit the draft, trust that First Draft You knew what they were writing, and don’t change entire sections too much.
- No beta readers, we die like men. I’m fine getting thoughts from someone else, but this isn’t the time to get extensive, in-depth critique that will change the entire framework of your story. It’s the time to write an idea and stick with it.
- Don’t try to code/write anything extremely new to you. This is also not the time for ambitious over-experimentation. Use what you know. Code things you already have knowledge of. If you really have a hankering to try something new, put it in what I have named the If We Have Time Pile: if there’s time left after you’ve done anything else, then you can retrieve it from the aptly-named Pile and do that thing.
- Do this all relatively quickly, while you have a flow. Don’t let too much time stretch between steps of the project. Bring it to life in a dedicated period, so you don’t lose focus.
- Don’t overextend yourself. Overestimate what you can do and I promise you: you will suffer. You will hate the process. You will never do SpeedIF again. BUT, be realistic about what you can manage, organize your time wisely, and you’ll have a much nicer time.
Hope this helps! Questions are welcome.
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27 years ago. I was 34yo, recently married, 2mo old baby girl, sleep-deprived, and out of my mind.
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