A mysterious boy appears...

Deep in the dark, dark forest
The little boy begins to cry
He's not kept, nor locked,
Nor has anyone really died

Not pollution, not death, and not even chaos
Are the reasons for why he cries
"EVERYTHING CHANGES," he sobs
And the theme is now defined

The theme is: Everything Changes.

Hi all, and welcome to the first annual Godot Fire Charity Jam held by the GodotNuts team! Over the month of October, you will be tasked with creating a game using the Godot game engine, found here: https://godotengine.org/ The theme will be updated here the day before the jam begins, so check back!

This jam is a bit special though. It's a charity jam! There are large prizes should you place in the top three of this event after ratings. The prizes are as follows:

First place: $568+

Second place: $318+

Third place: $318+

Leftover for Godot: $1 (whatever doesn't divide well)

In addition to the above starting amounts, I'll also be personally donating a further $1,000 directly to the Godot team for their constant efforts bringing to life this little engine that could. But wait, there's more!

Any donations I receive from the ko-fi link below through the end of October will be spread among the top three places evenly. And if you would rather not receive money if you win, you can choose to donate it either to Godot, or to a charity of your choice! I'll donate whatever your prize amount is on your behalf, if you choose to go that route. I will be periodically updating the jam page with the current prize pools based on the donations on a semi-regular basis, so you know what you're building for. And I'll call out especially large donations here as well, with personal thanks to whomever is listed (if anyone is).

Prizes have been updated with latest donations!

Last, but not least, the top three winners will be featured on the Indie Dev Tracker Twitter account for two weeks, as well as The Radar, a super-popular newsletter published by our very own Luke Hollenback!

Feel free to join our Discord to discuss the jam! https://discord.gg/xXKYN2ZxDB You can also ask questions about Firebase, Godot, life in general, and whatever you feel like! We also have a nice news room to keep you up to date on the game development world.

Some brief rules:

1. You MUST use the Godot game engine for this jam. Prefer to include a web build, and Windows if possible.
2. Use of the theme is *mandatory*, and the game must be made only in the month of October - no cheating!
3. You are allowed to team up, 5 folks or fewer only.
4. If you are in a team, the prize money will be given to one person only if you choose to keep the prize money! It must be split accordingly from there, and the organizers have no liability for it not being split correctly or at all!
5. If you are on a team and choose to donate to a charity, there can be only one charity chosen. I call this the Highlander rule. THERE CAN BE ONLY ONE! But seriously, make sure everyone agrees with the charity before you submit your game.
6. The theme will be displayed here the day before the jam begins at or around midnight, EST.
7. Edit: Wanted to add a clarification for all.  You can only use assets you are legally allowed to use, whether they be art or music/sfx. You *can* use plugins, but only if they aren't the main purpose of the game - you should write the vast majority of the code during the month of October.
8. You are only eligible to receive money if you are legally allowed to receive money from the U.S., and are of age in your country (typically 18+).
9. Participation in the jam does not lead to a restriction of license; jam organizers give up all rights to submissions and assignment of intellectual property; there is no limit on country of national origin to submit a game, nor company employment restrictions, et al., outside the aforementioned.
10. If you wish to receive the prize support directly, you must have a PayPal account in order to receive it.
11. Be sure to add your fellow team-members as contributors to the game - this will make it so they can rate games after the fact, making it a far more egalitarian approach to the prize pool.
12. The deadline is final; no late submissions will be accepted. This is only fair when money is on the line.

I'd like to finally say *thank you* so much to the Godot community for making this such a great place to be. People hate on us for being so passionate about Godot, but you know what? It's their loss! A final thanks for @kaishido for providing the sick logo.

Top Donators:

Crush ($50!!!)

TheDuckCow ($50!!!)

Fenix ($30!!!)

Chuck ($30!!!)

Selina ($12!!! - she also helps out in the Discord chat, so come visit because she's awesome)

Loten ($11.52!!! - I rounded up, up above, and will donate that myself :P)

Paperjack ($5!!!)

Mr. Eliptik ($5!!!)

halfwaywrong ($5!!!)

Anonymous ($3)

Anonymous ($3)