Hi andyherbert

Thanks for your comments. Let me try to address them, starting with "why mobile only?"

I decided "mobile-only" for a couple of reasons. 

First, I personally prefer mobile games because for me games sometimes function as stress relief. So if the game is good, I want to be able to play it at any time, and I carry my phone with me more than I carry a PC with me. So I think there would be more game play if the game were mobile.

Second, I really think the 'mobile game' market segment is growing faster than PC games, probably for the reasons above. So not only do I personally prefer mobile games, but mobile is also the future.

All that said, I've been getting a lot of feedback about the Jam being mobile only, so I'll have to think about whether to expand to PC as well before next Monday.

Your other question, about why "ads micro transactions and other money making criteria are used to judge the winner" is a good one, so let me address that. Again, there are personal and commercial reasons afoot here.

On the personal side, I grew up Black and poor, which gives one a delightfully clear perspective on poverty: it sucks. Beyond comprehension. Beyond imagination. Beyond words. So the truth about me is: a) I do want to be successful; b) I want to help others be successful too; c) I plan to invest heavily in Black people and Black communities, and d) I hope that the people I help become successful also invest heavily in Black people and Black communities. One of the best things anyone can do is use one's financial wherewithal to attack poverty as if poverty were a flesh-eating bacteria hideously eating at the soul of a people.  Poverty has to go.

For example there are, right now, thousands and thousands of Black people in jails solely because they can't make bail. If you watch the movie 13th - required viewing, imo, for anyone who's serious about BLM or social justice - you'll hear the tale of a young Black man who was falsely arrested and imprisoned and who remained in jail for 3 years because his family could not make $10,000 bail. Not sure about you, but when I was a kid, $10,000 might as well have been $10,000,000. He was eventually freed and all charges were dropped because they all were bullshit anyway, but the mental toll of the brutality he faced in jail never waned, and things ended tragically for him. Poverty has to go.

So I really want to crash the belief that making beautiful games and making commercially viable games are mutually exclusive. They are not. I want developers to embrace the challenge of balancing commercial viability and game design. For example, I used to play Empires and Puzzles constantly, and the fact that I had the opportunity to watch an ad and gain jewels for it was 100 % okay with me. I wanted them to make more ads available more often, so I could get more jewels. The ads never interrupted game play, and they added value to me, so it did not impede my joy of the game at all. Those developers got it right. 

Sorry for writing you a whole PhD dissertation on this, but I think it's important to gently challenge the construct of "generate revenue rather than make great game." I want this Jam to attract people who want to make a super fun, socially helpful game that is commercially successful AND does some good in the world. This is the kind of team I want to work with and the kind of game I want to publish and help make successful. 

Thanks again for your feedback.

Best,

Marcus