Who is this game jam for?

It's for young developers! Maybe you've never done a game jam before. Maybe you don't think you could win. Maybe you're nervous about working together with others on a project. Maybe you don't think you could make a game. Maybe you have doubts.

Take those doubts and throw them in the trash!

We are here to help you through the entire process. 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. Our lessons are designed to give you the tools you need to make your own games, then you practice your skills in game jams. Like any art, practice is critical to progression. This is how we get you prepared for college-level game development and beyond!

What is the Jam Theme?

"Summer Simulation" means your game should allow players to experience some aspect of summer. Think about themes like the sun, beach, your favorite pastimes, foods, it can be anything!

Rules and Requirements

• Anyone between the ages of 13 and 19, regardless of experience, is welcome to participate!
• You must have an itch.io account to be able to join the jam and submit your entry.
• Games must be made in one of the languages we teach at Hackington's: Unity, Javascript, or Python
• Games must be conceptualized and built during this jam. You cannot submit previously finished games.
• Games must use the theme!
• You can not edit your submission after the deadline!
• Teams are allowed, but 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.
• 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.
• Participants who are determined to be out of the age range will be ineligible to win prizes.

Prizes

Winners will receive a choice of prizes! More prize options will unlock as more participants join so tell your friends and convince them to give it a go. You can work together, but there is only one prize per team.

If we cannot dropship the prize to you, then we will convert its value into a suitable online Amazon gift card. This means your email must match your itch.io submission!

Unlocked at the start

Unlocked @ 40 people joined

Maono Cartioid microphone and stand

Unlocked @ 60 people joined

Arctis Prime headset

Unlocked @ 80 people joined

Among Us Neon Glow Wall Decoration

Unlocked @ 100 people joined

Judging and Rating

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

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:

• 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?
• Theme: Does the game fit into the theme?
• Humor: Does the game make you laugh or snicker?

There will also be a Judges' Choice rating done by our own panel of judges. They will take into account any double or unfair voting in the normal rating in order to balance uneven or unfair votes.

After the jam ends, 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).

Tips

The Hackington's Summer Jam is going to take place over 8 weeks. That's a lot of time for a game jam, but use it wisely! Think about BPBP: Brainstorm, Prototype, Build, Publish. You're the master of the schedule, but consider this: 1 week brainstorming, 2 weeks prototyping, 4 weeks building, and 1 week publishing. Always be playtesting during every step, and be sure to give yourself more time than you would think for final bug fixing after you've completed all the features.

Brainstorm.

Be inspired by the theme. What mechanics can you imagine? Think about how would you play your game. Think about how your game should look and sound. Write out lists of ideas. Don't dive deep into one idea right now! Think about lots of possibilities, then refine those into a few excellent candidates worth prototyping.

Prototype.

You won't know if your game idea is any good until you play it. You have to hurry up and build something playable. At this point, you are not implementing art or sound, but trying to make sure the mechanics that create the gameplay feel correct. You will know early whether your game is any fun to play based on this prototype.

Build.

Build your game. Extend the prototype. Spend the majority of this time polishing your core mechanics, implementing the style through art and audio design, and producing content.

Publish.

Fix bugs until the moment you have to submit! You should not be creating new features or mechanics. Finish out the itch.io profile page. Take screenshots. Write a description of the game. Record a playthrough or teaser/trailer. Get it ready to be played by other people. Do not underestimate how long this process takes!

Other advice:

• Make your game easy to understand for new players. Think about how you want to teach your mechanics right from the start,
• Make your game not too hard to win. Rage quit = low scores.
• Make your game Quality over Quantity. High polish can really make your game stand out in a short jam like this.
• Make your game Unique. People tend to vote for games they enjoy that they've never played before.

Resources

Many of the assets are eligible for use in the jam but check the license before using and provide credit in your game’s description! Thank you to the GMTK Jam for most of the items on this helpful list!

Art

• OpenGameArt (2D + 3D)
• Kenney (2D + 3D)
• Game-Icons (2D)
• Textures.com (Textures)
• Poly.pizza (3D)

Fonts

• Fontsource (Fonts)
• Font Squirrel (Fonts)
• Google Fonts (Fonts)

Audio

• Incompetech - Royalty Free Music (Music)
• Free Music Archive (Music)
• Freesound (SFX)
• OpenGameArt (Music + SFX)
• Kenney (Music + SFX)
• Soniss (SFX)

Tools

• BitFontMaker2 (Fonts)
• Photopea (Art)
• sfxr (SFX)
• Chiptone (SFX)
• Bosca Ceoil (Music)
• BeepBox (Music)
• Lospec (Palettes)
• Easy Releasy (itch.io page designer)
• Tiny Tools (More!)

Tutorials

• Hackington's YouTube (Videos)

Who is Hackingtons?

Hackington's is one of the bay area's oldest coding schools, and we now have a complete video game development curriculum! Learn Unity using project-based lessons, help from teachers, and with your friends on Discord.

We are one of the only dedicated game development programs for middle and high school students.

Inside our official Game Division, we have advanced lessons to make you a better game designer. Plus, the Game Division Showcase is where students can put their projects on display for other student designers to provide valuable, constructive feedback. We help each other make our games better!

Aside from Unity, we also teach you Python, web development in HTML/CSS, and Javascript! We love Scratch too 😺

You can get access to all of this support with a free trial. Click here to check it out.

Legalities

Anything you make during the Hackington's Game Jam is your property. Hackington's claims no rights or ownership of your game. 

Any game submitted to the Hackington's Game Jam may show up in a Hackington's YouTube video or Vimeo 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.