How to prepare for a game development competition?

Ludum Dare 18 is coming up and I'll be participating in it. I've done a couple other short-term game competitions in the past but this is my first big one (and my first solo one). I am REALLY excited for it, but I'm wondering if there are any tricks to preparing for this sort of thing, and any advice on what to do while in the competition. So...

How do you best prepare for, or participate in, a short-term game competition?

Your answer can be specific to Ludum Dare but I'm really talking about any game competition, as long as it's short-term -- not the month-long ones where you casually develop your game and release it; I'm talking high-pressure, finish-in-time, pull-an-all-nighter type competitions. The Global Game Jam fits here as well, if you participated in that earlier this year.

Also any tips in the context of a group of people (each working on their own solo game) would be great; I will be with the game development club at my school for most of the 48 hours (only a few other people, not a huge group).

Answer

As both a game jam organizer and participant, here are some tips from my experiences:

• Familiarize yourself with the tools you'll be using. You want to be using a development environment that you're already comfortable with; you don't want to be learning anything new on the fly if you don't absolutely have to.


• Corollary: if you're allowed to start with some pre-written code (libraries, game engines, etc.) - whether it be something you've made yourself, or from a third-party source - familiarize yourself with that as well so.



• Short-term contests require physical endurance, so don't neglect your physical side! Eat well, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and in general make lifestyle choices that keep you as healthy as possible. In the short term (i.e. a couple days before the contest starts), make sure to catch up on your sleep so you're starting fresh.


• Know your limits. From your own experience, how long can you develop in a continuous stretch before you start to see diminishing returns on your time? How long and how frequently do you need to take breaks to maintain optimum performance? What's your sleep tradeoff curve (that is, if you stay up late developing, does that make you MORE productive for the extra time spent, or LESS productive because being tired slows you down)? If you don't know these things about yourself but you have time to "test" yourself in advance of the contest, do so.


• Prepare all the mundane stuff in advance. If you're participating from home, make sure you've got pre-made meals, snacks and drinks ready to go, and have shortcuts and bookmarks right on your desktop for everything you think you'll need that you want easy access to. If you have any favorite reference textbooks, pile them next to your computer. Think of other tools you might want: pencils/pens, graph and standard paper, maybe some dice and index cards and such for physical prototypes, etc. If you're going somewhere outside your home (as with a typical "Game Jam" event), pack a bag in advance with everything you want to take with you, and have that ready so you're not waking up early or scrambling at the last minute.


• As a longer-term strategy, build your development skills; there is absolutely no way that being a stronger developer can hurt you. There's also nothing stopping you from doing your own "private game jam", challenging yourself to make a game in a week (or a weekend) as your personal schedule permits. The more of these kinds of projects that you do, the better you get at them.