Sheepolution
Sheepolution is an indie game developer and co-host of three game jams including Secret Santa Jam which received over 400 submissions. They have published 34 games on Itch, and their latest game, Harvest Heist, was made for Ludum Dare #52. They have also developed six Discord bots including Secret Santa bot which was used to assign secret santas to the jam participants.
Tell me a little bit about yourself.
I'm Sheepolution. I make games and Discord bots, and all other kinds of things.
What inspired you to get into game development?
Ever since I played games I wanted to make them myself. Things got easier when I found Game Maker.
How did you come up with the idea of Secret Santa Jam?
I'm not really sure. I've done Secret Santas in the past with friends. Perhaps the thought process
was me thinking it would be cool to make a game for someone in a Secret Santa, followed by coming up
with the idea that everyone makes a game. In other words: A game jam.
What challenges did you face while hosting the jams and how did you overcome them?
The biggest challenge was the whole process of getting everyone a Santa and giftee. As soon as I
planned on hosting the jam I started working on a Discord bot for this. At that point I've made my
fair share of Discord bots already, so I had the experience. But there was a date planned for the
jam, so I had to be quick. I actually pushed a change in the very last minute, right before the
start of the jam. The start of the first jam was very chaotic, as things didn't work as planned. I
was so stressed out that the next day my jaw hurt from clenching my teeth so much. The second and
third year were a lot more streamlined, and no longer stressful.
The fact that we used a Discord bot meant that we had to communicate to our participants that they
need to join on both Itch and Discord. We edited the Itch page to make this very clear, but still
we'll have about a hundred people who joined on Itch but not on Discord.
What plans do you have for the future in game development and game jams?
I have no concrete plans, because when I do they fall apart. I am planning on making games, and will
keep hosting the Secret Santa Jam. I don't have any plans for another kind of game jam, but if an
idea pops up I'll go for it.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to host a game jam?
Start early with organizing everything, and give people enough time to join. Sometimes starting
the jam a week later might be worth it if it means you get more time to plan everything.
Check for other popular game jams, and make sure the dates don't collide with yours. Hosting a game jam in the same weekend as LDJAM or GMTK is not a good idea.
There are tons of game jams, so as soon as I open the page it should be clear what makes your jam special. Even better would be if it's in the title.
Published on 18 January 2023