Feel free to discuss the awards over at our discord server (https://discord.gg/NebhWjs).

Awards:

1. Warlock's Revenge by David Duncan and JR Dunn (131/150)
   1. A first-person hack-and-slash.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 22 points
      1. This entry was quite creative with visual style and theme. The secondary combat mechanic was actually very creative.
   3. Design: 23 points
      1. The combat of this game was well-designed, and although it's easy to strafe around enemies the core player mechanics are very well--done.
   4. Polish: 14 points
      1. The game was quite polished. Particle effects, screenshake and other game-feel stuff was done acceptably. Little things like the dual-camera rendering added to the game immensely.
   5. Art: 11 points
      1. The game's art was well-done. Although it used free assets, it maintained a consistent interesting visual style. The custom shader really pushed the art from mediocre to great. Animations were good, and the programming was well synced (the animations were surprisingly not physics-based). The game did use the default unity skybox, but the shader masks it acceptably (no points lost). Additionally, the lighting was a bit much (the skeletons' lighting was probably unnecessary, and even one was a bit much.
   6. Sound Design: 5 points
      1. The sound was decent, with good-sounding sound effects.
   7. Music: 7 points
      1. The music was good, although some of our judges said they would prefer if the main menu theme played over the entire game.
   8. Fun: 13 points
      1. The game was quite fun, and the combat mechanics pushed it to a high standing.
   9. Theme: 13 points
      1. The theme was acceptably incorporated into a core mechanic of the game.
   10. Overall: 24 points
       1. Overall this game has a really good prototype. Some content is somewhat rough (the lighting had some issues, and the sound could use some improvements), but the game overall nails the combat loop and presents a game that can be expanded upon easily (as opposed to more minigame-y entries that cannot be meaningfully expanded upon). This game barely edged out the second place contender, and if one thing set it over the top it was the execution of the combat systems and the great implementation of the features.
   11. Total: 131/150
2. Cell Shield by LGL Studios Game Jam Team (130/150)
   1. A defender-like game set inside a cell.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 13 points
      1. The entry lacked a lot of creativity, and copied all its major mechanics from the 1981 classic in 3D.
   3. Design: 23 points
      1. The entry did introduce a wave mechanic, which improved the pacing a lot.
   4. Polish: 14 points
      1. The entry was extremely well polished. Visual effects, particle effects and other "feel" were all very well-done.
   5. Art: 13 points
      1. The art was really nice. The cell-shaded look did wonders for the game's aesthetic. There were no custom shaders, and the lighting was fairly even.
   6. Sound Design: 8 points
      1. The sound effects were good, although the timing was off (the sound played about a second after the impact.
   7. Music: 8 points
      1. The music was really good, but did not loop. This left the game completely silent after about 3 min.
   8. Fun: 13 points
      1. The game was actually really fun, especially with the pacing changes.
   9. Theme: 13 points
      1. The theme was decently incorporated.
   10. Overall: 24 points
       1. Technically, the game was the most polished of all of them but it lacked imagination. The mechanics were somewhat mundane as a result.
   11. Total: 130/150 points
3. Swordfighting Duels! by Leo Johnson, Peter Right and "Murker" (120/150)
   1. This game as a physics-based fencing simulator.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 21 points
      1. This entry is extremely creative. The fencing gameplay is extremely unusual and has an interesting
   3. Design: 20 points
      1. The game's design was pretty bad, but it could fall into the "intentionally difficult" controls category.
   4. Polish: 10 points
      1. The game had some bugs, but overall worked ok. There were some good visual effects.
   5. Art: 11 points
      1. The art was a decent low-poly style. Lighting made it hard to see at times, and there were not custom shaders.
   6. Sound Design: 8 points
      1. The sound effects were okay.
   7. Music: 5 points
      1. There was no music in this entry.
   8. Fun: 11 points
      1. The game was decently fun, although sometimes frustrating. The slicing mechanic made it difficult to move back to a "default" position.
   9. Theme: 14 points
      1. The theme was well-incorporated into a core mechanic of the game.
   10. Overall: 20 points
       1. The entry was good, if not a bit simple. I would certainly like to see a project like this progress in the future.
   11. Total: 120 points
4. SWORDS kill SLIMES by Jonathan Wiggins (118/150)
   1. A game where the player controls a physics-based sword in 2D.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 20 points
      1. The gameplay mechanic is creative, although it doesn't behave as intended all the time.
   3. Design: 21 points
      1. The mechanic also falls under the "intentionally difficult" category, although it feels quite nice to control. The controls for rotation are sometimes unintuitive, as the rotation is object-relative rather than world-relative.
   4. Polish: 13 points
      1. This game is insanely polished. The particle effects and visual effects are on point.
   5. Art: 10 points
      1. The art is quite nice, although a little bit plain.
   6. Sound Design: 8 points
      1. The game's sfx are great.
   7. Music: 8 points
      1. The music is nice.
   8. Fun: 7 points
      1. The game is decently fun, although it is possible to only mash the "up" key and play the game in a more simple manner.
   9. Theme: 13 points
      1. The theme is well-incorporated into the project.
   10. Overall: 18 points
       1. The game overall is a bit plain in concept but extremely polished overall.
   11. Total: 118/150 points
5. End of Eras by Pitt Marcado, Elena Guerrero and "Darangor" (100/150)
   1. An RPG with real-time combat elements.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 20 points
      1. The game's QTE-based combat is certainly new, although it is a bit difficult to nail the timing.
   3. Design: 15 points
      1. The design of the QTE combat is nice, although poor level design sticks out. The game was difficult to navigate, and the combat was too common and too easy to escape from.
   4. Polish: 8 points
      1. The game had a number of translation errors, and the story was difficult to parse. Other than that, the visual effects were well done.
   5. Art: 14 points
      1. The art was the best in the jam. Extremely high-quality graphics were everywhere.
   6. Sound Design: 8 points
      1. The sound effects were decent, but extra points for the amazing sound effect on a hit or dodge.
   7. Music: 6 points
      1. The music was decent.
   8. Fun: 6 points
      1. The game's major problem was the combat encounters being more tiresome than fun. There were too many, and there wasn't any incentive to fight when running was an option.
   9. Theme: 10 points
      1. The theme was decently incorporated into the story.
   10. Overall: 13 points
       1. The game although artistically amazing was hindered by some bad mechanics. There was serious framing in several parts of the game, which in addition to the translation problems took away from the game.
   11. Total: 100/150 points
6. Ghost Sword by "zmads" (93/150)
   1. A platformer-like game with various colored swordds.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 15 points
      1. This game was fairly creative, although the core mechanic took a few tries to understand.
   3. Design: 10 points
      1. The game was well-designed, although a bit repetitive with no difficulty scaling.
   4. Polish: 8 points
      1. The game was decently polished with animations and effects.
   5. Art: 13 points
      1. The art in this game was very well-done.
   6. Sound Design: 5 points
      1. There was no applicable sound in the game.
   7. Music: 5 points
      1. There was no music in the game.
   8. Fun: 5 points
      1. The game, although well-done, can get repetitive after awhile.
   9. Theme: 14 points
      1. The theme was well-incorporated into the game.
   10. Overall: 18 points
       1. The game overall was well done.
   11. Total: 93/150
7. Sword of Doom by LGL Studios Game Jam Team (92/150)
   1. A 3D hack-and-slash racing game.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 15 points
      1. The game was a third-person hack-and-slash racing using what appeared to be Mode 7. The game can be described as a racing game with an attack button.
   3. Design: 10 points
      1. Attacks were extremely difficult to land, the line between crashing into the back of another racer and landing a hit was too thin to be enjoyable.
   4. Polish: 8 points
      1. The game lacked a lot of game feel mechanics, but used a lot of screenshake and fake-3d particle effects.
   5. Art: 11 points
      1. The art in this game was mediocre, and lacked a lot of animations.
   6. Sound Design: 8 points
      1. The sound design was nice, although a lot of the sound effects were rarely heard.
   7. Music: 5 points
      1. The music was mediocre, and although good on its own did not really fit the game.
   8. Fun: 5 points
      1. The game's core mechanics was more frustrating than fun.
   9. Theme: 12 points
      1. The theme was well-incorporated into a core mechanic.
   10. Overall: 20 points
       1. Overall the entry was technically well-done, but brought down by major design flaws that impacted the fun of the game/
   11. Total: 92/150
8. Kingdom of Shield by Scott Smith (91/150)
   1. A kingdom-themed sim game
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 14 points
      1. A sim game was a very creative take on the theme.
   3. Design: 15 points
      1. The design was decent, although a bit plain.
   4. Polish: 6 points
      1. The game had some polish, although not much.
   5. Art: 8 points
      1. The artstyle was questionable, although it didn't harm the mechanics.
   6. Sound Design: 5 points
      1. The sound was mediocre.
   7. Music: 7 points
      1. The music was decent, although it didn't entirely fit the game.
   8. Fun: 6 points
      1. The game was decently fun.
   9. Theme: 12 points
      1. The theme was incorporated, although not into an irreplaceable position.
   10. Overall: 18 points
       1. Overall the game was decent, but not amazing.
   11. Total: 91/150 total
9. Shieldouette by Adam Pype and "jmas" (75/150)
   1. A shield-swinging game.
   2. Innovation/Creativity: 8 points
      1. The game was very simplistic. The design was somewhat new but ultimately without depth.
   3. Design: 5 points
      1. The design was very mini-gamey and failed to hold the attention of our judges for long.
   4. Polish: 13 points
      1. The game was fantastically polished, with great effects and mediocre overall game feel;
   5. Art: 13 points
      1. The art was good, and maintained a consistent theme.
   6. Sound Design: 5 points
      1. The sound design was okay.
   7. Music: 9 points
      1. The music was amazing, and boosted the game's feel significantly.
   8. Fun: 3 points
      1. The game was fun for a short time, then became extremely boring.
   9. Theme: 12 points
      1. The theme was well-incorporated.
   10. Overall: 7 points
       1. The game was poorly designed, and did not hold attention for long. The music and the art were standout points of the project.
   11. Total: 75/150 points
10. Shield by Gent (72/150)
    1. A matching-like game that appears to be intended for Android.
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 12 points
       1. The game had some unique elements but was ultimately somewhat unimaginative.
    3. Design: 8 points
       1. The design was mediocre.
    4. Polish: 5 points
       1. The game was polished a little bit, but was quite simplistic overall.
    5. Art: 10 points
       1. The art was well done, although somewhat vector-y.
    6. Sound Design: 5 points
       1. The sound was mediocre.
    7. Music: 5 points
       1. The music was also mediocre.
    8. Fun: 6 points
       1. The game wasn't much fun.
    9. Theme: 5 points
       1. The theme was cursorily implemented.
    10. Overall: 16 points
        1. The game although overall okay, was
    11. Total: 72/150 points
11. Forever Sword by "pitr" (71/150)
    1. A "fencing" game where time jumps forward between fights.
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 12 points
       1. The game, although unique, was quite plain.
    3. Design: 6 points
       1. The design of the game was difficult to understand. Once it became more clear, the game just wasn't fun.
    4. Polish: 3 points
       1. The game was very basic, and there wasn't really any game-feel stuff.
    5. Art: 12 points
       1. The game's art was good, the sci-fi sword being particularly nice.
    6. Sound Design: 7 points
       1. The sound wasn't bad, the impact ones in particular worked ok.
    7. Music: 3 points
       1. The music overall detracted from the experience. It was quite annoying.
    8. Fun: 3 points
       1. The game seemed like a giant boring QTE. It was not fun overall.
    9. Theme: 12 points
       1. The theme was well-incorporated.
    10. Overall: 13 points
        1. The art was okay, but the game overall was difficult to have fun with.
    11. Total: 71/150 points
12. Sword or Shield, can't decide! by Ali Al-Ahalifa (64/150)
    1. A two-character platformer game.
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 15 points
       1. The game's core mechanic was interesting, although got stale after a few minutes.
    3. Design: 5 points
       1. The game's design was difficult to understand, and the instant death mechanic made it difficult to figure out the game. Being kicked back to the first screen was irritating.
    4. Polish: 3 points
       1. The game was not very polished. Level design flaws caused characters to stick on surfaces and teleport upwards through them.
    5. Art: 10 points
       1. The art was decent pixel art, although a bit difficult to understand the sword-and-shield part.
    6. Sound Design: 5 points
       1. No sound.
    7. Music: 5 points
       1. No music.
    8. Fun: 3 points
       1. The game was more frustrating than fun to play.
    9. Theme: 8 points
       1. The theme was incorporated acceptably, although it felt a bit of a late addition to the game.
    10. Overall: 10 points
        1. The game had an interesting mechanic but failed to incorporate it in interesting ways.
    11. Total: 64/150 points
13. Stabb by "<deleted>" (60/150)
    1. EDIT: This game has been disqualified for reasons stated below. All the games below this have been moved one rank higher.
14. Shielded! by Adrian Orzech (53/150)
    1. A top-down game.
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 12 points
       1. The game's concept seemed innovative, although all our judges struggled to figure out how the game works. Having to restart the game in between deaths didn't help.
    3. Design: 5 points
       1. The game's design was also difficult to understand. The lack of a restart function and an unforgiving death system made it unbelieveably difficult to figure out the point of the game.
    4. Polish: 2 points
       1. The game was not well polished. Several basic features had flaws communicating their function, and the game's window was tiny (making it hard to see what was happening).
    5. Art: 8 points
       1. Some art was good, although other art wasn't. Layered circles made up a decent portion of the art, and there was little to no animation.
    6. Sound Design: 3 points
       1. The sound was annoying, and detracted from the game overall.
    7. Music: 5 points
       1. Mediocre.
    8. Fun: 3 points
       1. The game was extremely unfun to play.
    9. Theme: 7 points
       1. The theme was cursorily incorporated.
    10. Overall: 8 points
        1. The game was overall quite poor. A lot of important features were incomplete, buggy or missing altogether.
    11. Total: 53/150 points
15. The Valhalla Sledge by Julius Davis and Michelle Elmgren (44/150)
    1. An endless runner.
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 5 points
       1. This game takes clear inspiration from all the mobile over-the-shoulder endless runners.
    3. Design: 3 points
       1. The difficulty doesn't scale, and the game is very monotonous. In addition, the player character moves towards the left by default, which is extremely annoying.
    4. Polish: 3 points
       1. The game is not well polished. The mechanics are basic and not well put-together.
    5. Art: 9 points
       1. The art is decent, although it could be improved by adding more color and variety.
    6. Sound Design: 5 points
       1. Mediocre.
    7. Music: 5 points
       1. Mediocre.
    8. Fun: 2 points
       1. The game feels like a boring clone of a 3D endless runner.
    9. Theme: 5 points
       1. The theme is incorporated very basically, and feels like a very late addition to the game.
    10. Overall: 7 points
        1. The game has decent art but the gameplay is barely functional.
    11. Total: 44/150 points
16. Breach of Aegis by Brandon Myers, David Rosen III and Brian Gately (35/150)
    1. A "Tower Defense" game
    2. Innovation/Creativity: 5 points
       1. Nobody on the judging team could figure out this game. The camera is super-zoomed out. The concept seems somewhat creative in theory, but it is simply not executed.
    3. Design: 3 points
       1. The game is not understandable, and makes no sense. As a result is is difficult to critique the design.
    4. Polish: 8 points
       1. The game has some elements of polish that ultimately don't support the nonexistent gameplay.
    5. Art: 3 points
       1. The art was inconsistent and varied between combinations of primitive shapes and a low poly artstyle.
    6. Sound Design: 5 points
       1. None.
    7. Music: 5 points
       1. No special points.
    8. Fun: 2 points
       1. The game was impossible to understand clearly, and
    9. Theme: 2 points
       1. The theme was basically not incorporated outside of a title and an icon.
    10. Overall: 5 points
        1. The game was essentially unplayable.
    11. Total: 38/150 total
17. MiniSword by "<deleted>" (0/150)
    1. This game cannot be judged normally. It technically doesn't meet the requirements for disqualification, but it probably should have been. Since this was submitted privately, this game is basically a bunch of memes flying around on a screen. Is not really a game.

Disqualifications:

1. Resident (No Keyboard Controls)
2. "Sword Number One" (Actually a pirated AAA game)
3. Sword Racing (Not playable on PC)
4. Shielder (Produced before jam start date)