March 17, 2025

Game Jams & Mobbing: Supercharging Learning, Speed, and Creativity with James Herr

46 minutes

🚀 How do Game Jams accelerate learning? Can mobbing make game development more effective? In this episode of the Mob Mentality Show, we dive deep into Game Jams, Mobbing, and Game Dev Collaboration with James Herr—a full-stack developer, game dev enthusiast, and published game creator on Steam.

🎮 What You'll Learn in This Episode:

🔹 What Are Game Jams and why they’re a must-try for devs?

🔹 The tech stacks and tools commonly used in Game Jams

🔹 How themes shape a Game Jam’s creativity and constraints

🔹 How James is bringing mobbing into Game Jams

🔹 The difference between solo development, swarming, and full mobbing?

🔹 Pros & Cons of Mobbing Game Jams—Does it boost creativity or slow things down?

🔹 How Discord & Twitch fuel real-time game dev collaboration

🔹 Can Twitch chat act as a “navigator” in game development? Does the live audience guide decisions?

🔹 How Game Jams reveal code smells faster and teach refactoring & design patterns

🔹 Why public game dev can be a game-changer for learning speed

🔹 How Game Jams can simulate real-world software challenges and improve teamwork

🔹 Mob timer tools & Git handover techniques for smoother collaboration

🤝 Why This Episode Matters:

Mobbing isn’t just for software teams—it’s transforming game development, learning, and onboarding. James shares his firsthand experience mobbing with kids, running Game Jams with cross-discipline teams, and teaching mobbing roles in game dev. Whether you’re a seasoned developer, indie game creator, or just curious about Game Jams, this episode is packed with actionable insights!

📢 Want to Join the Game Dev Community?

James discusses how Discord and Twitch connect developers worldwide, making it easy to collaborate, get feedback, and learn from others. Checkout James' communities here: https://jamcraft.io/

🎧 Subscribe & Listen Now!

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🔗 https://www.mobmentalityshow.com/

Video and Show Notes: https://youtu.be/AZEH_FmBBKs

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By The Mob Mentality Show

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