On this page you will find suggestions for gamemaking beginners, tips for interviewing friends and family members about their stories, and a library of gamemaking tools.
We also strongly encourage participants to join IndieCade’s Discord server, where you can connect with other jammers for team building, brainstorming, coding help, and more.
No prior experience is necessary! There are plenty of easy-to-use game-creation tools to choose from and you can create any type of game you like, digital or otherwise—a board game, a card game, even a tabletop roleplaying game.
You also don’t have to jam alone. Hidden Heroes is designed to encourage intergenerational collaboration. If you have a relative or friend who’s into games, ask them to join your team! We also encourage you to join our Discord server to meet other jammers and collaborate.
There are lots of different easy-to-use tools that you can use to make a game. Here are a few to consider, special thanks to the Global Game Jam community:
A larger list of tiny game tools can be found HERE.
Even more tools are at the bottom of this page!
Participants are encouraged to interview their hidden hero and record the footage, or audio, of them doing so. Previous projects have shown that players respond strongly to games with authentic voice and video, so maybe you can use those elements in your game? Alternatively, participants are welcome to bring the person that inspires them along (in person or remotely) to collaborate on the project.
Here are three questions that could help guide this conversation:
Here are tips and guides for interviewing someone about their story.
Basics:
In-depth guides:
Are you an IndieCade Alumnus? We want to know! If you've been a speaker, organizer, juror, or presented your game at IndieCade or any IndieCade-related showcase (ex. IndieCade @ E3, IndieCade @ SIGGRAPH, etc. - doesn't need to have been a finalist) we'd like to be in touch.