What I learned from my first game jam
I designed and coded everything and made all the assets from scratch in the 72-hour period I had, and while it was quite an experience, I also got physically ill from exhaustion and lack of sleep. So I thought I'd share the things I learned, in case it helps anyone out here. If you'd like to check my game out, you can find it here: https://ldjam.com/events/ludum-dare/55/fellwand
Preparation is really important. I sat down to start coding the game engine a few hours before the Jam started. That was an awful idea. I spent the next 40 hours working out engine issues. While you can't prepare everything, due to theme constraints, I advise that everyone should start out with some sort of codebase that they can pull from or adapt. At least simple things like collision functions, custom libraries, etc.
It's not a 48-hour game jam; it's a 24-hour game jam. I could have submitted to the compo because I did everything myself from scratch, but I simply wasn't prepared for how much time and work it would take, so I had to use the 72 hours. Even then, I should have taken a full 24 hours to playtest and refine my game. Instead I got about 24 minutes. Add to this the fact that everything takes twice as long as you think it will, and now the jam is actually a 12-hour game jam. I don't think I'm exaggerating; I think if you want to comfortably finish, you should aim to make a prototype in 12 hours.
I was most productive once my engine progressed to the point where I no longer had to hard-code any features; I simply threw some numbers and functions together and out popped a new weapon or item or boss. This is the ideal state to be in, because you can 100% focus on making new features, but it took me 48 hours to get there; so remember to prepare such things beforehand, as much as you can.
Players like to feel that they can improve and progress in your game at a reasonable pace, indefinitely. I made the mistake of making my game a little too difficult; there's a sort of barrier preventing you from playing well until you learn the base mechanics. However I feel like it also has a lot of room for skill expression, which is where I did best. I could have done better, however, by making combat more involved and giving the player more feedback/reward for the actions they took.
Sleep is important. Though you lose time from sleeping, yes, you also lose a massive amount of time and innovation from being sleep-deprived. The pace and motivation I had decreased the longer I went without sleep. It was also just straight unhealthy to work for as long as I did, so make sure you're taking care of yourself.