Welcome to the Hackingtons Student Jam!

Who is this game jam for?

Like the title says, it's for young developers! This is an invitation to students of game development.

The Games Division at Hackington's Code School wants to encourage the next generation of game developers to participate in collaborative and challenging game jams. That's because we believe game jams are a cornerstone of learning how to become a better developer.  Like any art, practice is critical to progression. This is how you can prepare for college-level game development and beyond!

The Theme:

It's a Gamble!

There are many directions games using this theme can take. In the most basic sense it's all about Risk vs. Reward. A common challenge presented to the player in most games. Imagine what the player is thinking: "Can I make that jump? Do I have enough life for this fight? Can I take this boss challenge on right now?"

As game designers, you will be indirectly manipulating the player behavior. You need to take responsibility for what you're getting your player to do in your games in order to be an ethical developer.

Rules and Requirements

• You must be between the ages of 13 and 19 to be eligible for prizes.
• You must have an itch.io account to be able to join the jam and submit your entry.
• Games must be conceptualized and built during this jam. You cannot submit previously finished games.
• Games must use the theme!
• You cannot edit your submission after the deadline!
• Teams are allowed, but prizes are only for the whole team, not the individual members
• All assets must be created by team members, or be appropriately licensed. Your game or itch.io page must show attribution.  You can use assets you own (e.g. purchased assets from the Unity Asset Store). You may 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.

Judging and Rating

All entries will be judged by the general itch.io public, and other participants of the jam, so that includes you! 

Your game needs at least 10 ratings in any of the categories to be considered for winning. When you rate a game and leave feedback, they can see your game in exchange. The more games you rate, the more your game will get rated!

The rating categories are:

• Judges' Choice: The best overall game.
• Theme: Does the game fit into the theme?
• Gameplay: How do the mechanics feel? Is it fun to play?
• Art: How does this game look? Does the art style set this game apart?
• Audio: How are the sound FX and music? Do they fit with the game?
• Humor: Does the game make you laugh or snicker?

The Judges' Choice rating is determined by Hackingtons, and we decide what we believe to be the best overall game from all the submissions. This is considered the grand prize! 

After the jam submission deadline, there is a 1 week rating period, but we reserve the right to take down any submissions that are clearly vote brigaded (that means if you bring your whole Discord server to vote for just your game, we're going to disqualify it).

Legalities

Anything you make during the Hackingtons Under18 Jam is your property. Hackingtons claims no rights or ownership of your game. 

Any game submitted to the Hackingtons Under18 Jam may show up in a Hackingtons YouTube video or other published recording without your express permission.

Itch.io's terms of service states that you must be of at least age 13 to create an account.