We Made a Game With 24 Devs - (Biggest Team in GMTK 2023)

[@JonasTyroller]

Once again big thank you to the entire team! You were amazing. Also congrats to all the GMTK team participants who managed to score higher than us! You have eternal bragging rights for beating out a 24 (23 + 1 joined during the jam) people team consisting of fairly skilled developers! We really gave it our best! We admittedly made a lot of mistakes and we have some ideas for what we could do better next time, so perhaps we'll try again next year. We shall, see. I hope you enjoy the video! Thanks for watching. :D

[@Creator_Chrris]

Lmao, love your vids dude.

[@orangomango]

Your videos are great

[@Xennol_Playz]

Amazing vid Love the CHAOS! 😂

[@andrewzizhen]

Next year please make it 100 devs haha

[@juliancharizard2008]

A full version would be nice because the game seems like it has potential.

[@GMTK]

This video is giving me a panic attack

[@JonasTyroller]

It was a bit crazy. Thanks for putting together such a nice game jam, Mark. :D

[@LineOfThy]

Lmao yes

[@The-EJ-Factor]

When seeing their team on AIA’s stream, our team got discouraged and decided that we aimed for a very complex game that take way too long. And ended up not turning it into the jam. We are still working on “Kill it with Froggger” though. Don’t worry the three g’s were part of the title, when we made a design mistake and just rolled with it.😅

[@NoahTheGuyy]

Its chaos of the purest kind :D

[@socon5714]

Chaos at its best

[@AIAdev]

That feeling when you get stuck making the AI because no one else wants to...

[@JonasTyroller]

"Not my problem." is an easy thing to say with so may programmers haha. True. Sorry you had to suffer through that... RIP

[@heterotrophic]

I mean, you _are_ the 'AI'Adev...

[@infinitenex8165]

There is a reason why in business the most optimal teams under a single manager are around 10-15 people. The madness of managing so many people leads to less work and more discussions. There is efficiency in small numbers.

[@JonasTyroller]

Yeah, I really understand that now. Haha. :D

[@Muskar2]

Also, organizing a team of people who aren't used to working with each other is bound to be inefficient for the first few months, let alone 48 hours.

[@Cameo221]

What I've heard from Masahiro Sakurai, one manager per 7 people?

[@nandans2506]

That's the startup magic right there and why it's lost as startups grow aswell

[@Goodie_Music]

I'm SO HAPPY that this is (basically) my first game jam, I've participated in! It was an event like no other and I've gathered a lot experience from that. Everyone was so nice and even though, the "sound design team" was very small, you all made me feel like I was part of the whole group! There always was someone who just hopped in the call to see how things are going on my end, how they're doing and just for a small talk in general. And because of that, I knew how chaotic this jam went but seeing it in your video makes me realize even more how INSANE it is that we STILL PULLED IT OFF! You can count on me being open for another one ♥

[@CodeMonkeyUnity]

I can't even imagine how tricky it must have been to keep so many people on track, super impressive! Funny to see the art team having so much fun while the programming/design team was going crazy heh And the idea itself is great, I think this has potential to be made into a full game, great job!

[@JonasTyroller]

Sign up for next year's madness? :D

[@samersaid9706]

YES PLS

[@louxie6367]

Haha yeah that is so accurate! Since it was a 3D game us 2D artist were just having fun experimenting with the concepts and visuals xD

[@Syndrielle]

I actually believe we really were having more fun than you guys :D

[@slyceth]

@@JonasTyroller how do I sign up?

[@RugbugRedfern]

Thanks so much for inviting me and juggling the monumental task of organizing everyone! The game turned out amazing, especially with how much coordination we had to do. 48 Devs for GMTK 2024? 👀👀

[@slyceth]

I think the scope of the game was wrong from the start. You needed someone like me to make a board game concept of the high level gameplay first

[@cescimes]

​​@@slyceth ahh, first term game design course, yes

[@slyceth]

@@cescimes tell me more please where is this course

[@ElevateCode]

I'm down for the 48Dev kpop group that will come out of this :P

[@aqple]

slay rug

[@YaenGamedev]

As always, it's been a real honor to work together. With everyone, this time :) You've all been great and I've learned a ton. If we were to do something like this again, I'd already have a few ideas on how to do my part better. But it's already been a great jam with you all and I do love the result

[@slyceth]

You shouldn't have done a voting Olympics where a random artist dictated a funny sounding game concept with no knowledge of inherent gameplay mechanics and the meaning of fun. When you voted for the haunted house you all were into it because it sounded cool, but "haunted house" is not a game, it's an anime plot. Games are pitched by gameplay

[@YaenGamedev]

@@slyceth The game idea was not suggested by "a random artist". Each game idea was suggested and put together by an inderdisciplinary team to make sure there's a part of each perspective in each idea. The gameplay was also a bit more defined and discussed than it seems in the video. For a project and team like this, we put some emphasis on everyone being able to find something from themselves in the direction so that people overall could be rather happy with what they're working on. Good feelings in the team are really important to me. Happy people create better work. Someone just dictating everything including the ideas does not make for a happy team. People want their voices to matter and I wanted to give that to them. It's a different approach to the whole thing but I do think it was worth it.

[@Syndrielle]

I also think it was worth it, I agree with Yean. The amount of passion and fun everyone on this team had while on this project was outstanding to me :D I think you can see in the end product that it at least has a lot of soul to it

[@Selrisitai]

@@slyceth "Haunted house" isn't even an anime plot, lol.

[@Selrisitai]

@@YaenGamedev As someone who's worked on collaborative projects before, I would say that the trick is to give one personal creative veto power, ultimate creative control. Then give him one or two "team leaders" who are working toward his vision, and everyone beneath works toward that vision. This reminds me of the power metal band Battle Beast. They made three fantastic albums, then kicked out their song writer and "everyone" in the band started making creative decisions together. The band now sucks. I think it's important that the individual artists and programmers and writers be given a level of leeway, because, frankly, they know better than you how to make things that look good or that work, but if EVERYONE can be as crazy as they want with no restrictions, you're going to end up with either a scattered, confused result, or you'll never finish at all because of the constant squabbling.

[@ZygerGFX]

Thanks so much for inviting me to take part, it was super awesome and something I have never done before !! You were amazing and honestly the fact that you were able to plan and manage such a big team was amazing !

[@Syndrielle]

Thanks for letting me be part of this awsome journey, Jonas! I could feel how skilled and passionate everyone was on our team and this made it a really special experience I'll probably never forget :D

[@slyceth]

10:33 common guys this would've not been a problem with me on the team

[@YaenGamedev]

@@slyceth Surely we'd love to have someone on the team who can't stop praising themselves in every single comment they write. Sounds real pleasant!

[@slyceth]

@@YaenGamedev Maybe give me a chance to prove myself before laying judgement. Even Davinci wasn't close to the perfect person to work with, but it's always the troubled artists who can make masterpieces

[@YaenGamedev]

@@slyceth My guy, I'd much rather work with someone who's somewhat talented and pleasant in a team than someone who is insanely good but full of themselves. Social skills matter as much as "hard skills" when working in a team setting... Brush up your social skills, get out of yourself, and then we could talk. Until then, best of luck with all your endeavours.

[@slyceth]

@@YaenGamedev well then you will just end up stuck making the same simple games over and over, you need to break out of this mindset of black and white where you believe people are always full of themselves or completely sympathetic.

[@GuitarGuruGaming]

the "meanwhile, in the art department" bit had me rolling. the sudden cut from chaos and problems to them just joking around and having a great time was hilarious

[@alexanderlinderson2655]

Can confirm, this is a microcosm of how studio work is like. Worked in mostly 30 people teams and it's constantly on fire.

[@moumekie]

I couldn’t be more grateful to have helped on such an amazing jam, even if I joined a day late into the jam! The real highlight of this experience is making something together with other people and getting to know them more. Thank you for this experience!

[@mistercokes]

"It feels like nobody ever needs you but simultaneously the entire house is on fire" really captures product ownership and team lead roles really well :D Congrats on actually finishing a nice game in this short time!

[@JuniperHatesTwitterlikeHandles]

hm, wierd, I wonder why positions of 'ownership' and 'leadership' specifically feel worthless even to the people in them. Really makes you think, huh?

[@YaenGamedev]

As a note to this, I never really felt the "nobody needs you" part. I'd hop into any vc, and usually there was something that I could do or communicate, set up a vote, assign tasks, help with small things here and there, test something etc. At the same time I also feel like Jonas *was* totally needed a lot of the time, especially regarding design and its communication. I think he may just have felt this way because he's not used to taking on a more organizational role in a dev team and usually does a lot of the stuff himself.

[@YaenGamedev]

That being said, the house was definitely on fire at times!

[@mistercokes]

@@YaenGamedev that's also how I interpreted it. As soon as you actually talk to people who you think know exactly what they have to do, you realize that you can still help out a lot.

[@ziwuri]

@@JuniperHatesTwitterlikeHandles Alright comrade, chill out. I would reconsider that. Product ownership isn't the same as e.g. being a shareholder, leadership roles can be very useful and critical to the success of a team.

[@nolram]

It was an honour to take part in this - thank you and Yän for organising!

[@bonicle7610]

Thank you so much for the opportunity jonas! this was genuinely the most fun ive had (and the most stressed ive been) in a game jam ever, and it was amazing meeting and working with everyone in the team. It was amazing and i will never forget it. Heres to a bigger team next year! 🍹:)

[@xTomCat]

I love how all the comments are people who helped because the team was just that big lmao

[@emperor8716]

fr lmao

[@WiliamKarlsen]

It's insane how you managed to keep the team together!

[@f11bot]

THE ANIMATIONS ARE SO GOOD!! They’re so bubbly, already by themselves it looks fun

[@piranha1337]

This sponsorship was so nicely integrated.

[@AndrisGameDev]

I'm happy that I could be part of this! ^^ Also... 14:55! :Đ

[@KhAnTlol]

"Ooooh!"

[@aprildev1]

He used a c64..........

[@Goodgis]

Absolute chaos! Looked like fun though. Great work, everyone.

[@jitxio]

Hi Jonas, I've been following your channel for at least 2 years and have to say that it's amazing to see the progress you're making and it's truly inspiring to see someone follow their passion and their dream job!

[@Blackthornprod]

What a crazy collab 🔥

[@montageofchips]

ikr

[@todmopel1818]

it sounds really fun to do it on a large team ! but so hard also, i was alone working on ‘a loading story’ and it was so fun ! your design videos helped me prepare this Jam. it’s crazy how much things you can make on a weekend.

[@Lexinathan]

The idea of a reverse escape room really reminds me of the don't escape series, which itself is a really fun collection of games :)

[@YaenGamedev]

Yes! I thought the same when it was pitched. Scriptwelder is awesome

[@harrysanders818]

Haha, I assure you, the short glimpse you got of the art department, as it was just cheering the knight armor animation, was misleadingly coincidental :D We also ran into blocks, e.g. with rigging procedures, aside from trying to populate what from one day to the other suddenly had become an entire Mansion floor, with 3d assets :P. It's super interesting to see the perspectives and struggles of the other departments. Designers and programmers, and esp. moderators and PM, did a really amazing job of making a result like this possible in the given time frame.

[@__dane__]

I have done game jams with: • 7 person team • 9 person team • 11 person team And it is all about communication and cooperation my god. And you rarely ever get to fully realize your idea

[@arv_is]

Genious! People who 100% work remote and alone and are shy, are forced to work in a huge team!

[@YaenGamedev]

Actually depends very much on the person. Not everyone in our team is an introvert. And certainly no one was forced to do anything, no animals were harmed during the production of this media etc etc.

[@Orionhart]

I use Miro for my games as well. Definitely a legit sponsor. We also used it for our jam and we aren't even sponsored!

[@louxie6367]

Really good video Jonas! I am so happy you showed both the ups and downs so other people can learn from if they want. Also it was great fun participating and I really think you and Yän did an amazing job organizing and managing the team! :D

[@TheShelfman]

This was absolutely mental

[@Keywarn]

Really interesting seeing how you worked on this. Found the game super impressive when we tried the demo! Your point about a playable prototype is interesting, I definitely think that is super important, especially for game jams

[@maximilianyeet1886]

Haven't finished the vid but I just wanna say that the music and the vibe and the editing and the whole idea is so fun! I Phenomenal content truly. We are blessed, thank you Jonas and Yan and the whole team!

[@AnasMations]

Really wanna see this again next year! Learning from the mistakes done I think you will be able to manage slightly better next time!

[@Break.]

It's honestly impressive that you guys were able to make a game with that many people, it looked so hectic! Great job :) (also you guys _just_ beat me lol, you got #382 overall I got #385)

[@Lugmillord]

This sounds like a relaxing, stress-free fun experience :3

[@void-highlighter]

Yooooooo!!! I rated your game. I didnt even know it was from you!!

[@DallaswithaD]

Props to the team! I felt so stressed watching your final day. This is really valuable. Thanks for the insight!

[@bruswen7]

The 3D art guys are amazing

[@YaenGamedev]

They all truly are

[@IronBrandon22]

I would love to do something like this one day, especially since I've only made games by myself and really need the experience of working with other people. Also, I love the jump from the chaotic development of the game to the goofy model dancing in the art area

[@thereasoniswhatever5068]

I am a co-producer on 48 hour film project which is basically the same as this, just for filmmakers and it is funny to see how similar it is in terms of planning and cooperation. We had amazing teams of 50 and also a few films made by just one person (the one person film actually won the fan-favorite)

[@byucknahthered3914]

Omg please do a huge team like this again for another jam! I would love to see how workflow would be improved by taking lessons learned from this attempt!

[@barttennekes544]

This video has to be one of the funniest ones I've seen on this platform

[@r8teful]

This was such a great video to watch. Good job Jonas and everyone that was in the team! I would love to see this again next year and improve on the mistakes you guys made!

[@jotrocken007]

Wow the music and art are amazing. I played the game a bit and these are the best.

[@cynixide3567]

Ive been waiting for a video, but this is better than I expected

[@termisher5676]

This gave you plenty of team work experience and idea hwo much time everything might take

[@ST3PF0RD]

Awesome game, awesome video! Amazing work as usual, Jonas. I think the main issue is the scope, despite having so many people it's only 48 hours. That game would've been tough in a month, let alone a weekend!

[@MikeyT_LFC]

This video and all other Game Developers videos, just prove how talented and amazing they are at what they do. The amount of work and time they put into the games that we have so accessible is crazy. I truly respect everyone that does this

[@ocean_ow]

You guys should do this again next year with more people for even more chaos.

[@YaenGamedev]

Eeh if anything I'd do it with roughly the same / the same amount of people but learn from our mistakes and do things better.

[@flyingsquirrel3271]

What a ride! And the game turned out really great! I just tried it multiple times getting better and better until I finally made it and it was a lot of fun :)

[@Joe-bk3qw]

Great video. Congrats on getting everything done

[@omegand.]

What I learned from this is a team of art designers in general is a great idea, programmers not so much, especially on such a small project 💀

[@Aeroxima]

What I learned from watching and previous input, git is not really great at fast-paced, real time collaboration. I wonder if multiplayer editors would be better, but it'd be hard to test anything with everyone editing things all over. There must be a better way, though.

[@wednesdrei]

@@Aeroxima the thing with git is that you really need to understand how to use it whilst in a team. otherwise you're settings yourself up for failure

[@DeerDesigner]

It’s not really a problem with git though, there’s so many things you can hate git for but stuff like 5 people force pushing at the same time is simply a user error and nothing else (otherwise no changes would get overwritten)

[@Aeroxima]

​@@DeerDesigner It's not just things getting overwritten, it's merge conflicts and people trying to write things at the same time that just don't make sense together, but not knowing what the other is doing. It's also less of an issue with a bigger project, and more of an issue when it's a lot of devs working in a small space, and especially on a brand new project. It could be a challenge even if you were in the same room, if git can manage that without being clunky, perhaps I have something to learn about git.

[@maltebp]

I don't think this is a problem with Git, and I think a "multiplayer editor" approach would be complete chaos. Imagine trying to build the game with 24 people editing code, art, scenes, prefabs etc. at the same time. Proper project structure (such as modularizing your code, scenes and prefabs) and agreed upon guidelines on which files to be touched by whom and when makes working with git a lot easier, and much less of a headache. Also, a team I was part of did continous build and deployement for a similar jam, which was really nice, as it meant we always had an idea of whether your project would even build, and a much easier time pinpointed problematic commits. It also meant we always had a working build that could be playtested. Setting all of this up takes time of course, but it would be something for the programmers to do while game design figures out what should be programmed.

[@BitBeginnings]

Working with such a big team sounds really fun and challenging. End product looks great!

[@CoreDump07]

perfect video and sponsor integration, miro is actually pretty useful and versatile

[@mariofashaj1256]

I'm very impressed with your coordination skills, and structure on Miro reaaally helped. This could have been easily a complete mess but you all managed to deliver a crazy good result, i'm shocked of that score.. Well done though!

[@jameswyatt9256]

These videos just keep hyping me up! Well done guys, awesome work!

[@hremlynnthegremlin]

im not gonna lie, I've been looking for something like miro to organize my animation projects, it works exactly with how my brain works for organization and i honestly just needed to hear that it exists with that design before i was sold

[@BrannoDev]

This video is a great insight into what being a project manager is like.

[@arceyominyin]

Oh wow this was intense to watch lol. I can already feel the anxiety creeping in just thinking about trying to work in a team that large. Congrats to you all, the game looks great!

[@Moloxer]

They realy went full-on corporate! This seems so frustrating but also extremely fun :)

[@3DPrinterAcademy]

absolutely amazing what a team can accomplish in 3 days. Imagine what they could do in 6 months!

[@arctiformgames]

Dang that would be challenging. People usually take a week or two to get used to how a team works together, but you all figured it out on the fly! Nice work!

[@purplesockyt]

As a solo developer watching all of you guys scramble to finish was unbelievably entertaining

[@rentaspoon219]

This is amazing haven't watched the whole video yet just up to the ghost idea, so have had thoughts of my own. *When you stand still you are invisible, moving increases your visibility, so does going through walls. *You're looking after a little ghost, thats why things keep moving, he doesn't seem to know about the humans and doesn't seem to realise. *Ghost hunters, Ghost busters and regular families, you have to scare away families while avoiding hunters and busters. I really want to make this concept

[@Matthew_Fog]

Thw contrast between eveyone and the animators was just hilarious

[@MrEdubs]

Congrats on finishing a game in just 48hrs, let alone one made by so many creative contributors!

[@gnastygames]

Miro is actually goated, I use it all the time even for solo projects

[@scientificthesis]

I've been team lead on collaborative projects before and its an absolute nightmare. Congrats on getting this far!

[@samyam]

The game came out amazing!!

[@El-Burrito]

Yeah this is stressful and this is for a fun weekend gamejam. This makes me dread what teams in big companies with tight deadlines must feel like!

[@razorback9999able]

This is absolute chaos. Imagine being a CEO of a AAA game company managing an entire team of 100+ people.

[@slickTMC]

I think if you do this again it might be good to have more organization in the team structure, like having leads for each different sector of the development! Amazing work!

[@Merom]

I really like the concept. I wish this was a serie!

[@Ralke1]

really nice narrative, is good to see some reality of a big team.

[@ThinkWithGames]

Managing a group of 20 + people is not easy, good job! Your game turned out awesome!

[@brycephillips153]

Incredible

[@DesignFrameCaseStudies]

I'm impressed that you were able to manage such a big team. Sounds like a nightmare to me hahaha. Great work!

[@Barren_soul]

Whoever put the reign arataka image in the background is a legend

[@exodius9054]

To be honest It would be awsome to see what you guys might be able to do in a week or a month. Its just interesting to see videos about a team of programmers working together in this style where you show actual conversation snippets (not like typical devlogs)

[@omerZauber]

The poltergeist idea sounds cool - like a reversed phasmophobia Ooh, and that's the idea you've picked!

[@holonaut]

Thanks for being so honest about it. THIS is what I imagine happens when people say something like "all the big game companies and modders should work together to make the biggest most perfect game". Well no, that's not how anything works. It's also a lesson in how important proper management and separation of concerns are. Most devs hate managers, meetings, etc, but I bet if they would have to run a company on their own for two weeks without any of those mechanisms, they'd come back crying and sobbing.

[@ErikBod]

I love the over Kilness of this!

[@davie10863]

This is crazy. I make games too and this was so fun to watch. 24 devs...Insane good job to all of them.

[@leemclafferty5622]

I think with this sort of thing, each team needs a good leader that gets the final say, but that person has to be a leader and listen, not a boss, and not just take themselves into account.

[@realapppleC.E.O]

Basically a little sample of what AAA studio developers go through everyday, props to them for surviving for few days.

[@JonasTyroller]

lol. Probably ture. :D

[@realapppleC.E.O]

@@JonasTyroller 100 people next time, that will truly test your patience haha.

[@thewoodpeckers655]

I gotta see Jonas doing stuff in scratch with this amount of chaos.

[@AEGIS-RED-MEGA-VIEWS]

we had a team over 100 devs

[@YT775]

You are all insane. (for some reason or another) When I saw the progress @11:52 I almost fell off my chair

[@Kenionatus]

Director/Producer Jonas. Next step: 20 person game studio?

[@Achapp24]

This is why I love game jams

[@gc7512]

Hey Jonas I absolutely love your video! If you are continuing to making a full or polished version of this game to buy on steam I have some ideas/suggestions. Suggestions: 1. Maybe instead of trying to not get caught by the ghost hunters the game could potentially be more about getting them (or residents) out of the ghost’s mansion (or killing them?) 2. And if you scare away the residents to retake the mansion they could drop valuables like their watch or suitcases which could be used to add more thing or power to said things to kill the hunters giving us a game loop 3. Maybe the mansion could be set in the 1890s? Which meant things like suits of armor would be more common Ideas: The hunters could maybe be like a pope that throws holy water, or a Japanese Priest that throws salt, which eventually level up to something like a ghost hunter like in Castlevania

[@gc7512]

Also there’s a game called: “midnight ghost hunt” where it’s a ghost hunt mixed with a prop hunt but I think you can get a lot of inspiration from!

[@zuzu8424]

the reverse escape room idea reminded me of the "Don't escape" series

[@Qwiggalo]

Woah, miro is so awesome!

[@Muphynz]

I have literally been psuedo-coding a game like this for my programming class in college. I had never heard of anyone doing it and then I stumbled upon this video. I am a solo dev so will take me more than 24 hours to get even a demo going once I have it all sorted out. My theme is similar but the gameplay loop is different, in my game you play as the ghost ( though i was also thinking you could play as the Haunted house if i made it sims-ey) and your goal is to scare them out before they exorcize you. Do you have any ideas or tips to keep a beginner solo dev going on a project like this?

[@Muskar2]

I'm not sure I agree. I think working with a big team is very helpful if everyone on the team has a lot of experience working with all the other people, so that they intuitively know how the other people will work. And secondly, I think it's important for the leader to make great and quick decisions on the hard problems when team members get stuck with dilemmas - and for the team to trust the leader's direction. Lastly, for productivity you should _ideally_ be working with your in-house game engine so you don't get "random memory leaks", long Unity load/compile/export times, but I don't think that's necessarily required to make a winning game for GMTK's jam just yet. It was fun to see this experience though, thanks for sharing it.

[@Jordan-Tech]

thank you for making this kind of format ! really refreshing to watch

[@capitanpico-jk4ln]

Yoooo New Jonas Upload!!!!

[@Xiaoxiao738]

This video is insane marketing for miro. I've used it a couple of times and yea it's awesome.