What is your method to build a game for BJJ when you start going to open mats?

For me, I picked a starting position in guard, passing, and attacking. Personally I picked bottom half guard, top half for passing, and side control. I picked one technique from each and tried to get to 1 of those 3 spots as much as I could during each roll and tried to hit that technique. When the technique failed, I tried to figure out why and kept working till I had some success with people my level and muscle memory started kicking in. Then I added a second technique that directly works off the first. Example, in bottom half, I stated with underhook to dogfight knee tap, then added limp arm, then the roll through, etc. Slowly over time, I built a game 1 item at a time.

Don’t be afraid to backtrack and pick small items to get better at. I spent weeks just framing from bottom half with the biggest guys I could find. Not even trying to sweep, just seeing how long I could hold them, manage weight and figure out how to move them.