IcehouseJam 2021 - November 27th to December 18th!
On Discord here :)

Create a Game in 3 Weeks!

Anyone with a computer, an idea and an internet connection, is invited to create a game over the course of 21 days! The Winners will receive great prizes by the end of the year!

The Icehouse is an online community of passionate indie creators who try to help each other. For some of us, making games (and more) is our primary job and we try, very hard, to do it for a living. For others it’s a genuine passion and we do it at home during our free time, but we all like to play and create adventure games of all kinds. More than anything else, we like Creation and Art in general! Whether you love old-school, point & click adventures, pixel games, modern and realistic 3D environments, stylized worlds or new gameplay ideas (etc.), we want you to create a game into which you put all your heart and creative passion, whatever that means for you!

IcehouseJam will begin on November 27th at 00:00 GMT, and end 21 days later on December 18th at 00:00 GMT. A public voting process will follow immediately after the jam concludes, and will last until December 24th 00:00 GMT. Then a committee of 4 Judges will deliberate and choose 3 winners.

The main theme of this Game Jam is:

An old game that you loved

“As amateur or experienced developers, we have all been inspired by games that have shaped us, nourished us and made us want to do what we do today. Celebrate one of those old games by creating something new and original, but that strongly evokes what you once enjoyed so much. Will you succeed in making better than the original game?”

Please note that by "an old game" we mean a game that is at least 10 years old. It is not limited to the adventure genre. Also you are asked to Credit the title of the original game in your creation, particularly if you are using copyrighted material.

The secret (mandatory) theme has been revealed!

Storytellers, treasure hunters, library rats… GET READY for The Icehouse Jam!

And finally the Final Results (Judging committee)! Congrats to the winners!

1 Projet Z
1 Francium

3 Oblivion

4 Pity of Thieves

5 Elise

6 Mystery Dungeon

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Join our Community!

Meet your fellow IcehouseJammers, hang out, find teammates, and get advice on our Discord server! You can learn more about us on our website www.theicehouse.fr. We are also on Facebook and Twitter if you want to follow us...

Activity Feed

Want to check out what our IcehouseJammers are creating? Click here to see what your fellow adventurers have been posting with the #IcehouseJam2021 hashtag on Twitter!

Rules

As we have said before, for us the most important aspect is Creativity, so we want the Jam’s rules to remain as simple as possible.

1. You have 3 weeks to make a game with the engine of your choice. By "game" we mean any interactive experience with enough content, and more specifically: graphics, lifetime, gameplay, soundtrack and story. Your creations will be judged on these 5 main criteria...
2. Constructing the game itself is not allowed until the date of the beginning of the jam. However, you are allowed to assemble your team (if you choose to have one), write your story/dialogue, gather your assets, and map out your game right now.
3. You are free to reuse any assets that you have made in the past, or use freeware or commercially available assets. This includes sprites, models, music, sound effects, etc. (If using freeware or commercially available assets, please credit the original creators appropriately).
4. SUBMIT YOUR GAME!  In order to have your game included in IcehouseJam 2021, all you need to do is upload it to itch.io.

Judges List

The Judging committee will be composed of the following talented creators:

• Aaron Gwynaire (developer of the beautiful Myst-like adventure game Neyyah) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1289720/Neyyah/
• Goloso Games (talented studio that gave birth to the one and only Inspector Waffles) https://store.steampowered.com/app/1055850/Inspector_Waffles/
• Klemens Koehring (a passionate voice actor that you could hear in different games, from Boinihi: The K'i Codex to Dark Nights with Poe and Munro, and more) https://www.klemenskoehring.com
• Josh Reynolds (member of The Icehouse collective who doesn't specifically make games, but who has helped us so many times... Master at resolving mechanical puzzles)

The Judging Phase

On December 18th, the public/open votes will begin. The results of the public votes will be very important as we will pick up the 10 games with the highest ranked: they will be submitted to the Judges.

The judges (see above) will then choose their 3 favorite games from amongst the top 10. The creators of the 3 selected games will be declared winners.

The results of the vote will remain secret. Then they will be announced on the web-page of the Jam around mid-January, and the prizes will be sent to you as soon as possible in 2022.

The Voting Phase

Once the jam has ended, everyone is encouraged (not just participants) to play and rate as many entries as possible.

Voting categories:

• Graphics Does it appear that the creator spent sufficient time on the visuals of the game? Do you like it, and do you feel something special when you look at it?

• Depth Did you have enough fun, considering the amount of time given to the creator? Was the game too short (but maybe intense?) or, on the contrary, was it too long (but eventually lacked enough twists and turns?)?

• Gameplay Some games might appear weak in some of the other categories, but could surprise us with a very special gameplay. If you felt that a lot of programming and effort was put into the creation of this interactive experience, then say it!

• Soundtrack Globally the “soundtrack” category will refer mainly to any music involved, so you are asked here to share your opinion about how immersive the game’s audio was. Some creators put a lot of effort into their sound design and we want to encourage this.

• Story / Affinity with the theme We love to create adventure games, and it’s not just the other categories listed above that we admire: for most of us at The Icehouse, the story plays a very important part of a game - adventure or not! - and you should allow yourself to dive into the world that is revealed, to feel the challenges faced by the characters, or the sensitivity of a particular moment… that takes you on a journey! The storyline should also relate to the theme/s outlined in the Overview.

Note: We (The Icehouse) do not wish to place any undue/unreasonable level of pressure on any team or developer, or (under any circumstances) for them to devote "too much time and effort" into what they submit.

The public/open vote will end on December 24th 00:00 GMT, at which time the judging phase will begin (see above).

Prizes

The winners of the Icehouse Game Jam will receive:

· 1st Place: 

A wonderful prize valued at around $45
The champion of the Jam will receive a Steam key of the excellent adventure game Inspector Waffles, generously offered by our partner and judge, Goloso Games.
We will add a secret demo of Neyyah in exclusivity, a game that is still in development. This demo is generously provided by our partner and judge, Aaron Gwynaire.
And that's not all: we will also include a Steam key of Boinihi: The K'i Codex by Simon Mesnard, released in 2020 (it can be replaced by any other game of The Black Cube series).
Finally, the champion will be able to choose an additional Steam key from the (long) list of games generously offered by our friend Yazorius (list will be posted later in the Community tab).

· 2nd place: 

A prize valued at around $20
The winner of the 2nd prize will receive a secret demo of Neyyah in exclusivity, a game that is still in development. This demo is generously provided by our partner and judge, Aaron Gwynaire. 
We will also include a Steam key of ASA: A Space Adventure by Simon Mesnard.
In addition, the winner will be able to choose an additional Steam key from the (long) list of games generously offered by our friend Yazorius (list will be posted later in the Community tab).

· 3rd place: 

A prize valued at $5-$10
The winner of this prize will be able to choose a Steam key from the (long) list of games generously offered by our friend Yazorius (list will be posted later in the Community tab).

· Icehouse Honorary Prize:

We reserve the right to nominate an additional winner for an honorary prize, who will receive a surprise.