I have just released my first ever game-jam game as well as first ever publicly available game ever: The Calm Before The Draw. The game was made in under 3-hours for the Trijam Game Jam, a jam where developers are charged with building an entire game from (basically) scratch in under 3 hours. 

The theme of the jam this week was "Don't Shoot". After some time of brainstorming, I came up with a game that takes place during an old western standoff, wherein three dusty cowboys have got guns aimed all at each other and have to talk themselves out of mutually assured destruction. 

In TCBTD, you must keep your opponents in the standoff at bay using your trusty revolver, but must also talk your way out of the endeavor before anybody gets hurt.

I chose a 3-hour long game jam in part because that's about how long I can spend working on a game before getting bored and going off somewhere else. I figured it would play to some of my strengths. In a sense, it did play to one strength: procrastination. All of the game's assets (audio, sprites, etc.) where put together in the last hour I had to work on the game. I spent the last 10 minutes frantically making sure every button worked properly and setting up menus that at least looked presentable. It reminded me of high school, when I'd be trying to throw together my math homework whilst the teacher was coming to collect it. 

Despite all that, I am glad I took part in this game jam. I've been bouncing back and forth between unfinished project and unfinished project for the better part of a year now during my free time in college, and I'm glad to have finally actually put a game out that other people can play, even if it isn't completely perfect (according to my own perfectionist self). I hope that this is the start of something new, and I'll be able to participate in future game jams down the line. I'll definitely want a bit more time though. :)