Our friend Dom Camus of the Thinky Puzzle Games discord (not to be confused with our own, similar discord server) will be kicking off the latest iteration of the Thinky Puzzle Game Jam a few hours from now, an annual community event that the community has really embraced and made their own.
On the jam page you can find all the rules and info, but the basic gist is: this is a very casual, friendly and relaxed kind of event, much more creative-motivation and community oriented rather than competitive. There are no prizes or awards, but it's a great opportunity to hang out with a crowd of other like-minded thinky-game-enthusiasts who are interested in trying their hand at making something interesting.
Over the next week everyone will find a total of 48 hours, broken up however is most convenient, to work on their entries. Whether it's your first time making a puzzle or you're a veteran dev who would like a little side-project distraction, all are very welcome.
If you're a puzzle-lover who's been interested in having a go at crafting something of your own, I think this is a great place to start: the pressure is very minimal, as the short time window of a jam like this means that the expectations are small, short games. PuzzleScript is a free, in-browser tool that lets you make grid-based puzzle games quickly, and many people end up using it for the jam every year. It's a good starting point and the community is full of experts who will be happy to answer questions as you learn.
Another benefit of using a tool like PuzzleScript is that it can export webgames — I personally think it's always a good idea to make a jam game playable in browser, so that anyone who's interested just has to click and play, as few barriers as possible. To get an idea of what the TPGJ games usually look like, there are 4 previous years of entries on itch.io to browse (and there are lots of little gems to find there.)
It's been a while since I made a game, and my plan is to use this event as motivation to get back into it. I hope you'll join us, and hey, if making a game is of no interest to you, just sit back and wait a week for a fresh new batch of puzzles to be delivered to your monitor.
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