My First Game Jam – The Story Behind Door Loop

GMTK Game Jam 2025 was my very first game jam – and also my first time using the Godot engine. Here’s a little behind-the-scenes of how it went:

Before the jam

I spent some time watching videos about how to prepare, what tools to install, and what to expect. The day before the jam I installed Godot and followed a beginner YouTube tutorial (thanks to Krejcak) – that project later became the foundation for my game.

Brainstorming & scope

When the theme “Loop” was revealed, I immediately knew I wanted to create something simple – a small platformer with doors that loop you back if you choose wrong.
At first my Trello board was full of bigger ideas: enemies, coins, score, health with hearts… But as the hours went by, I had to cut, cut, cut. In the end the game became smaller, but it worked – and I was proud that it was complete, with a menu, an ending screen, and music.

The grind

Although everyone advises “sleep well, eat, take breaks” … I didn’t follow that 😅
I worked almost nonstop from morning till late night, with barely any walks or breaks. I was so consumed by ideas and tasks that when my partner came home from work, I felt like I had forgotten how to talk. Sleep was terrible – my head was buzzing with thoughts about bugs and tasks.

Submitting & panic mode

When I submitted the game, I realized I hadn’t set it up to run directly in the itch.io browser. That hit me hard – I cried, thinking no one would want to download a game from a complete unknown.
Then I learned on Discord that the best way to get people to play your jam game is… play theirs. So I started rating like crazy, leaving feedback everywhere. Sometimes brutally honest. At the end of my comments I always asked kindly if they could rate mine too. And it worked!

The feedback rush

For a few days I went a bit overboard – playing, rating, commenting almost nonstop. My head hurt, I couldn’t focus, I even had trouble speaking properly because I was so exhausted 🙈 Eventually I told myself to stop panicking. I slowed down, rated just a few games per day, and tried to enjoy the experience again.

Reflections on ratings

Yes, I received quite a lot of ratings in the end. But honestly, the final results didn’t match my expectations. Based on the comments under my game, I thought the score would be much higher. It made me wonder if some people left overly positive comments just to receive good ratings in return.
Next time, I definitely wouldn’t push myself into such a “rating chase” again – it drained me too much and didn’t bring the satisfaction I had hoped for.

Lessons learned

• Keep the scope small – cut ideas when needed.

• Sleep, eat, take breaks (next time I’ll really try 😅).

• Community matters – giving feedback brought me comments and ratings in return.

• Don’t obsess over chasing ratings – it’s not worth the stress.

• Even with doubts and stress, finishing a game is an amazing feeling.

Final thoughts

With some distance, I realized that the overall rating wasn’t that important after all.
What truly matters is the huge experience I gained and the incredible joy of finishing something, even if it’s a simple little game.
Feedback is essential – but only the truly honest one, which I luckily received from friends, colleagues, and mentors from my game design course.
In the end, it was an unforgettable experience that gave me motivation to keep going ❤️