Rules

This section outlines and explains the rules to adhere to as a participant in the jam. In this document, "you" and "your" refer to the participants of the jam, while "I," "we," "us," and "our" refer to the organiser of the jam. The jam starts on the 1st June and ends on the 31st August and the results will be avaliable sometime in September (subject to change)  

Theme

The focus of the Jam revolves around accessibility, aiming to craft an experience suitable for a diverse range of disabled players. Participants should grasp which players are likely to find the game accessible or inaccessible. While not every entry needs to cater to every disabled player, entrants should demonstrate an understanding of their target audience for accessibility.

Diversifiers

This jam has multiple diversifiers that entries can optionally use as a secondary theme

1. Camp Crush: Set in a summer camp, players navigate the ups and downs of teenage romance as they interact with fellow campers, participate in camp activities, and navigate the drama of camp life..

2. Summer of Mysteries: Develop games with a mysterious or supernatural summer theme, such as investigating ghost stories, solving puzzles, or unraveling conspiracy theories in a sunny setting.

3. Festival Fever: Celebrate summer festivals from around the world, featuring music, food, dance, and cultural activities.

Judging

Games will be ranked by a panel of Six Disability Advocates/Content Creators.

• Ian Hamilton
• Liana Ruppert
• Mike Luckett (MikeTheQuad)
• Laura Kate Dale
• Ross Minor
• Laura McClelland (16bitlaura)

When submitting your game, please state what accessibility issue you are focusing on so that the game can be categorised for judging as some of our judges have different levels of visual impairment so please state what level of accessibility your game has when it comes to vision so the judges are able to judge games fairly.

Here is the judging criteria 

• Reach: The extent to which players benefit from the game's accessibility features.
• Impact on Accessibility: The degree to which these features enhance the experience for the players who rely on them the most.
• Underserved: The rarity of accessibility considerations in the genre selected.
• Innovation: The level of creativity and uniqueness in the approach to accessibility features.
• Gameplay Quality: The enjoyment and effectiveness of the game's design and mechanics.

Useful Links

Here are a number of useful links for accessibility purposes

•  https://gameaccessibilityguidelines.com/
• https://accessibleweb.com/color-contrast-checker/
• https://igda-gasig.org/how/sig-top-ten/
• https://igda-gasig.org/how/for-developers-researchers/

NSFW

This game jam strictly prohibits the inclusion of NSFW content in any submission. NSFW content includes, but is not limited to, pornographic material, racism, and sexism. If you are unsure whether your submission is NSFW, we encourage you to seek clarification by contacting us through our Discord server before submitting your game. Any submissions found to contain NSFW content will be removed and the creator may be reported to itch.io.

Game Engine and Format

You should submit your games in the PC/Web format, such as Windows. This is so it can be played by everyone. With other formats, everyone may not have the necessary tools to play your game. For instance, individuals without a VR headset would be unable to play a VR submission. 

The subsequent list presents a few examples of the game engines that are deemed acceptable

• Unity
• Unreal
• Godot
• Game Maker
• Scratch
• Pico
• Pygame
• Ren'Py

Horror Games

Horror games are permitted in the jam, provided that they do not breach the NSFW rules section. If you have created a horror game, you must include a clear horror warning before the game begins.

Premades

The jam permits the use of premade assets such as scripts, soundtracks, sound effects, and animations. However, participants are prohibited from excessively utilising them to the point of creating a completely premade game or a combination of premade games. Any submission that violates this rule will be disqualified from the jam. Additionally, all assets used in the game must be properly credited in the description of the submission page.

Teams

You can join the jam either as an individual or as a team of any size. However, please be mindful that the bigger the team, the harder it is to manage. You are also only allowed to join one team.

If you are joining as a team, kindly note that only one team representative is required to submit the game while crediting all team members as contributors on the submission page. To maintain fairness, contributors cannot rate other submissions directly on itch.io.

Submissions

You are limited to submitting only one game. If you submit more than one game, you will be disqualified from the jam.

Changing your submission

You may modify your submission during the jam period but you cannot do so after it ends. Changing your submission after the deadline will result in its removal from the results. This action will not be done by us but by itch.io's algorithm.