JAMfest Spring 2024!

Theme: Unusual Source of Power

Hello and welcome to GADIG's game jam event: JAMfest, Spring 2024 Edition! JAMfest is a celebration of any and all creative expression! It's like a hackathon, but for anything creative. Got a game idea you want to make really fast? Cool! Want to make a character design and draw it, make a dance routine, come up with a cool outfit, make a story, or write music? All of those are great too. Let's make something cool this JAMfest!

This jam has rankings enabled, but don't stress about it too hard. Use them to give feedback to fellow JAMfesters if you feel so inclined!

Rules

1. Anything (code, art, sound, choreography) you create for this jam must be created during the Jam Period (10:00 am April 5th, 2024 - 10:00 pm April 7th, 2024). 
2. For games, you may use asset packs if you want! If you do, please be sure to credit the source of the asset pack with its name and the name of its creator.
3. AI Generated Code is strongly discouraged. If you aren't able to code very well, form a team! Teamwork is a valuable experience. AI can be used to help organize your code, but you'll need to be able to proofread it. AI does get things wrong!
4. AI Generated Art and Sound are entirely banned. We have people who can make these things, and if you can't find a team, give it your best shot! If you're new to art or sound, check out the resources in the next section for help. Let's learn together <3
5. Keep it PG-13. We're all adults here, but we're also playing submissions on a charity stream that raises money for a children's hospital!
6. Take breaks and get water when you need it. :)
   
   

How Should I Get Started?

• Join the GADIG Discord to look for potential teammates and follow JAMfest updates live! Join here: https://discord.gg/Ha5BGC4fCt
• Start forming ideas before the start of the jam
• Watch the theme reveal on April 5th at 10:00 am!
• Start making your project!
• Submit by April 7th at 10:00 pm (and if you want us to show your work on-stream, submit by 9:00 pm!)
• If you'd like, give fellow JAMfesters feedback on their work.

Resources

What's a game jam?

Free game engines:

• Game Maker (Beginner-friendly game engine. 2d only, but free for commercial use! Has decent drawing/pixel art tools built in.)
• Unreal Engine 5 (Hefty free game engine used by AAA studios. Makes realistic looking games with no tweaks necessary. Mind the engine's download size!)
• Unity (Good all-rounder game engine, works well for 2d and 3d. Steeper learning curve at the start. The main game engine taught in GMU's Computer Game Design program!)
• Godot (Game Maker, but with 3d support and free for commercial use! Steeper learning curve at the start but is loved by many GADIG folk.)

Free sound software:

• LMMS (Audio editing and music making.)
• Reaper (Audio editing and music making. Great audio recording, interface is a lil weird)
• Ableton Live Lite (Audio editing and music making. Has some limitations as a lite version, but Ableton is used for indie games often!)
• Chrome Music Lab's Song Maker (In-browser music maker. You can lock into scales, so it's easier to make nice sounding music for beginners! https://musiclab.chromeexperiments.com/Song-Maker/)

Free art software:

• Krita (Similar to photoshop)
• Piskel (Free pixel art editor and in-browser! https://www.piskelapp.com/)
• Aseprite (Free if you know how to compile its source code! Aseprite is open source: https://github.com/aseprite/aseprite)