The 1st GoedWare Game Jam Special Edition is over. Everyone who was able to make a game within the 7-day deadline submitted it. We had 73 entries, nice new record! We are hoping to get even a few more at the 12th GoedWare Game Jam in September 2024! 

We really enjoyed organizing this event and we will do so again in the future. So watch out for the next GoedWare Game Jam! We hope you will join us again

First, thanks to everyone for participating and forwarding your games! Without you there would be no Game Jam. We hope you had fun creating, testing and playing your games. I know we did. 

And now for the results the winners in the various categories are listed below:

#Overall winner

The overall winner of the GoedWare Game Jam ZERO UI Special Edition is: Dual Shadow by Lunarii. Congratulations!

#Runner-up

The runner-up  is: U and I, lost without UI by cole, navybluechilipeppers, Garrick Snug.

#ZERO UI

The winner in the Special Edition category is:  Bloomblade by CMSaiko.

#Gameplay/Fun

The winner in what can be called the most important individual category for a game is: Dual Shadow by Lunarii.

#Visual/Audio

We all love eye candy and audio and the winner in this category was  Find Us by GM637.

#Theme

This game represented the theme "LIGHT & DARKNESS" the best: Thank You, My Friend by Sergio98chat.

#Jury ranking

#1 

U and I, lost without UI by cole, navybluechilipeppers, Garrick Snug. 

#2

Dual Shadow by Lunarii.

#3

Dark Switch by tzbq.

#ZERO UI

Bloomblade by CMSaiko.

#Visual/Audio

Flicker's Abyss by Hosein_SunFlower.

#Gameplay/Fun

Shadow Path by Florian Castel.

#Theme

Dual Shadow by Lunarii.

Join the GoedWare Game Jam ZERO UI Edition, a 7-day coding challenge open to all! Where you can learn, enjoy, and share game development experiences. This special edition focuses on creating games without any traditional user interface elements. Use any game development framework, and submit your game on itch.io. Games are rated in categories like zero ui, gameplay/ui , visual/audio & theme by both participants and a special jury panel. Prizes include gift cards and sponsored items for the winners. The theme will be announced at the start. Have fun, learn, share your creations and you might just win!

This is the 1st ZERO UI Edition Game Jam organized by GoedWare ( LinkedIn | Website | Discord ).  Our goal is to let you practice coding, create and finish a game in around 7 days and also learn from the experience, expand your skills and above all have fun and enjoy making your own game and playing other participants' games.

*(Link to our previous (main) Jams #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 #11 #12)

It is always challenging to find an engaging theme. It should provide a solid foundation for game ideas while remaining versatile enough to accommodate diverse concepts. We believe we've discovered that  with our theme:  

"LIGHT & DARKNESS"

Some inspiration: the theme LIGHT & DARKNESS challenges you to delve into the nuances of illumination and shadow, both as a narrative theme and as a physical element within your game mechanics. Envision a world where light and darkness are not only states of being but also materials that shape environments, challenges, and interactions.

Consider creating a survival game where light is a critical resource, shaping a character's experience as they survive against the darkness. Or, explore a psychological thriller that delves into the mental toll of navigating between light and shadow. Imagine an adventure game navigating illuminated and darkened spaces, or a strategy game where light and darkness materials are crucial for building and exploration. Alternatively, design a puzzle game focused on balancing light and shadow, or a narrative-driven game exploring the effects of physical and emotional light and darkness. Simulation games could also use light and darkness as a foundation for scenarios that mirror real-life contrasts.

We're excited to see how your creativity and technical skills transform these ideas into engaging and thought-provoking games. Embrace the depth and complexity of light and darkness, both as a theme and a tangible element in your game design 🤔😊!

You can always discuss, brainstorm and exchange ideas with your fellow participants @ our Discord Server.

Best of luck to everyone and enjoy this Game Jam!!

PS: here you can find a mindmap that could be of help. Feel free to use it as a starting point, reference, or simply for inspiration as you work on your game concepts. It's just to help get your creative juices flowing.

• Anyone, regardless of experience, is welcome to participate!
• An itch.io account to be able to join the jam and submit your entry.
• You can use any engine or framework you like! For example: Unity, Godot, Unreal, Gamemaker etc. You can even make your own if you want. But some of our prizes are Assets for the Unity Engine (you can choose a gift card instead).
• You can not edit your submission after the deadline! So be wise and submit your game a few hours before the deadline to be able to tackle any last minute issues.
• Teams are allowed, but we recommend keeping the teams up to 4 members, after that it becomes hard to manage a team in 7 days for a game. (Prizes are only for the whole team, not the individual members)
• If you have the time and can manage it, multiple entries for the Game Jam are allowed.
• Music must be royalty / copyright free and properly credited. 
• You can use fonts from the internet, as long as you have the correct license for it.
• You can use assets you own. For example assets from the Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace.
• Please only use assets you have permission to use, and avoid infringing upon any copyright or trademark.
• No NSFW games.  Games must not contain nudity, or hateful language or visuals.
• Participants who try to manipulate voting will be removed.

All entries will be judged by other participants of the jam, so that includes you (hopefully)!

The categories the games are rated in are:

• ZERO UI:  How effectively the game conveys information and mechanics without the traditional user interface elements.
• Gameplay / Fun: Basically, how easy and how much fun it is to play the game.
• Visuals / Audio: The combined impact of the game's visuals and audio. How well they work together to create an immersive experience and enhance the theme.
• Theme: Does the game fit into the theme.

There will also be a Judge/Jury Ranking: a rating by our own panel of judges. They will make a separate ranking from the participating games based on their own tastes, preferences and gaming enjoyment as to who will receive a prize. They will take into account any double or unfair voting in the normal rating. To balance uneven or unfair votes.

The theme will be announced when the jam starts.

After the jam ends, a 1 week rating period starts, in which people can play and rate all of the submitted games.

Don't forget to leave feedback on any game you rate! It's more helpful than just a number, and it helps them find your game 😊.

Note: You need at least 10 ratings to be considered for winning in any of the categories. So make sure you play a lot of games so your game will have a higher chance of getting rated!

*The voting is open, but we reserve the right to take any submissions down that are clearly vote brigaded.

** The number of needed ratings to be considered a winning will be adjusted according to the number of participants.

Yes, this Game Jam will have prizes for the winners 😊. These prizes are made available by our sponsor and organizer GoedWare.

Let's start by saying that if you press that join button and upload a game before the deadline, you are already a winner!  Having fun while creating and finishing your game project is an achievement in itself!  That experience is more valuable than money, but we do have some real prizes for the winners also 😉.

We have a public vote with prizes and we also have a jury ranking (see these prizes under the public vote) with prizes.

#Overall winner

The overall winner will receive a $100 gift card!* + Eternal Glory of winning the Game Jam😁! 

* Participants will receive an Amazon gift card for the Amazon website that applies to their country. 

** For the record for Brazilians. Unfortunately, no gift cards are possible for amazon.com.br and we will give out gift cards for amazon.com online shop.

#Runner-up 

The runner-up will get a $25 gift card.

#ZERO UI

The runner-up will get a $25 gift card.

#Gameplay & Fun

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Visuals & Audio

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Theme

The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Jury ranking

#1:  The winner will get a $200 gift card!!

#2:  The runner-up will get a $100 gift card.

#3:  Third place will get a $25 gift card.

#ZERO UI: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Gameplay & Fun: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Visuals & Audio: The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

#Theme : The winner in this category will receive a $25 gift card.

*Jury ranking prizes will stack with the public prizes.

Discord

All the winners get a fancy Discord server role 😁.

* Because the organizers already know the theme in advance, we will merely be participators. If one of us gets voted to be winner of a category or the overall winner, prizes will be awarded to the next person instead.

** The prizes may change a little bit before the Game Jam starts, but will mostly contain the content as it is shown now. Once the Game Jam has started the prizes will not change anymore!

In my experience, here is what you need to do if you want to win one of the top spots:

• Make your game easy to understand for new players. This is a super common trap a lot of game jam games fall into.  Start thinking about your tutorial or how you want to teach your mechanics right from the beginning!
• Usually it's a good idea to make your game not too hard to win. People spend roughly five to fifteen minutes on each game. In most cases they won't have enough time to reach a super high level of mastery. Keep that in mind when balancing the difficulty.
• Quality over quantity. Keep your game super simple! This is important in this jam but every bit of extra polish can really make your game stand out in a short jam like this.
• Take risk. The winning games are usually those who were brave enough to try something completely new and crazy (while also following the other three tips above). 

Obviously there are exceptions to all rules but still, I hope it helps. 😊

Some resources to help you started.

• Blender, for 3D  models and can also do 2D and/or sculpting: https://www.blender.org
• Freesound.org: https://freesound.org | License: https://freesound.org/help/faq/#wait-this-is-all-free
• 8bit Sound Generator: https://www.bfxr.net/ | License: You have full rights to all sounds made with bfxr, and are free to use them for any purposes, commercial or otherwise.
• Kenny Assets: https://kenney.nl/assets | License: CC0 1.0 Universal
• Color Scheme Generator: http://colormind.io/
• Color Scheme Designer: https://paletton.com/
• Open Game Art: https://opengameart.org | License: https://opengameart.org/content/faq#q-how-to-credit
• Piskel,  a free online editor for animated sprites & pixel art:  https://www.piskelapp.com/
• Mixamo, animations: https://www.mixamo.com/
• Tree It, free tree creation tool: http://www.evolved-software.com/treeit/treeit 
• WOWIE Asset Pack (by Jonas Tyroller): https://jonas-tyroller.itch.io/wowie-pack
• LabChirp, a powerful and versatile sound effect generator: https://labbed.itch.io/labchirp
• Kay Lousberg free Game Assets: https://kaylousberg.com/game-assets
• ChipTone, a free tool for generating sound effect: https://sfbgames.itch.io/chiptone | License: All sounds created using ChipTone are free to use for any purpose, commercial or otherwise, under the CC0 licence. 
• Beepbox, BeepBox is an online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental music: https://www.beepbox.co
• Material maker, for procedural materials: https://rodzilla.itch.io/material-maker
• Audacity for editing audio: https://www.audacityteam.org
• Game idea generator, for if you're completely stuck on an idea: http://ygd.bafta.org/resources/game-idea-generator
• Ship Mixer, create ships that perfectly fit the shmup style:  https://kenney.itch.io/ship-mixer (License see link)
• Creature Mixer, create characters that perfectly fit the platformer style:  https://kenney.itch.io/creature-mixer (License see link)

Question: What is the theme? 
Answer: The theme will be announced when the jam begins.

Question: Does my game have to be a certain format?
Answer: No, but remember that not all users have Windows/Mac/Linux devices. Browser based is a good idea to get as many people playing your game as possible and try to make at least a Windows version.

Question: What assets can I use? 
Answer: The vast majority of code must be written during the jam, but you can use whatever art and audio assets you have the legal right to use.

Question: Can I submit a game that I already started on?  
Answer: No, it is required that all participants make the entirety of the game in the time provided.

Question: Is there a Discord I can join? 
Answer: Yes, click here to join.

• Anything you make during the GoedWare Game Jam is your property. GoedWare claims no rights or ownership of your game. 
• Any game submitted to the GoedWare  Game Jam may show up in a GoedWare YouTube video, Social Media or website without your express permission.