This Jam has ended Join the 2024 edition here: Learn You a Game Jam 2024 - itch.io

Captain Coder's

Learn You a Game Jam: Pixels Edition

The secret THEME is "You are the Monster"!

Captain Coder wants YOU to learn how to create art, code, and make games!

In this game jam, you are encouraged to push yourself outside of your comfort zone to learn something new! Learning a new tool? Learning a new programming language? Making pixel/voxel art for the first time? Go for it, learn and grow! 

As part of your submission, you are also encouraged to submit a dev-log, blog, or vlog sharing what you learned with others! Doing so makes your submission eligible for the Most Educational award ($250) and prize! Additionally, by submitting a dev-log, blog, or vlog, you will be entered into a drawing to win $50 (5 drawing winners!)

The secret THEME is "You are the Monster"!

Discord & Twitch

Captain Coder has hired 3 amazing game developers, artists, and programmers to help you learn and code and grow! They will be spending much of the week from June 17th to June 24th answering questions and helping live in voice chat on the discord. Do not hesitate to hop in and ask for some guidance. 

Join us on Discord: https://discord.gg/68HBjPGbSp

Additionally, Captain Coder will be live streaming via twitch everyday during the Game Jam helping people program, brainstorm, and debug their projects: https://twitch.tv/thecaptaincoder

What should I put in my dev-log, blog, or vlog?

This is really up to you! The main idea is to share your progress before, during and after the jam with others.

Here are some ideas:

• What did you want to learn going into the jam?
  • Was this your first time coding? 
  • Was this the first time you made a platformer?
  • Was this your first attempt at pixel art?
  • Was this your first time attempting to create pixel art animations?
  • Was this your first attempt to compose music?
• What did you ACTUALLY learn?
• How did you grow during the jam?
• What resources did you use to learn during the jam? Were there any good guides, video tutorials, or people that helped you?
• What was the most challenging part of the jam?
• What was the most interesting part of the jam?
• If you could do it again, what would you do differently?

Ratings

Submissions will be evaluated using 5 categories:

1. Gameplay. How well are the mechanics of the game executed and how well does the gameplay match with the idea presented?
2. Visuals. How well is art utilized in the game’s presentation? Is the art consistent? Does the art compliment the game play?
3. Audio. How well does the game utilize music and sound effects? 
4. Theme. How well does the game fit the secret theme?
5. Enjoyment. How much did you enjoy the game?

Rules

1. Ranked Jam: Although this is a ranked jam, the main goal of the jam is to learn something new! 
2. Prizes: You may opt-in to be considered for the Most Educational prize. By sharing a devlog, blog, or vlog, you are eligible to win the $250 Most Educational prize and will automatically be entered to win one of 5 - $50 drawings. (See Prizes below for more details)
3. A secret theme will be announced when the jam starts. If you would like to suggest a theme, you can do so here: LINK. About one week before the jam, you will have an opportunity to vote on a theme.
4. You must have the rights to all assets you use in your game. It is highly encouraged that you and your team make all of the assets for your submission. However, any asset that you have the right to use may be used as long as you properly credit the assets *WITHIN* your game as well as on your submission page.
5. You can use any game engine you want (you can even write your own).
6. Your game must be made within the time constraints of the jam. The game jam is 10 days long giving you a full week plus 1 day for final changes. You can update your game anytime **BEFORE** or **AFTER** the voting period.
7. Teams are encouraged (Max 3)! You can go solo but working with a team can be super fun and you'll learn a ton along the way! If you don't already have a team, feel free to search for one on our Discord channel. Max team size of 3.
8. Submissions must be free during the voting period. No one is going to play / vote on your game if they have to pay for it.
9. Content should be appropriate for all young people. This game jam should be safe and fun for all ages! If you wouldn't feel comfortable sharing it with someone who is 13 years old, then it doesn't belong in this jam. Heavy topics are allowed as well but please refrain from romanticizing/advocating for racism, sexism, transphobia, etc.

Prizes

During submission, if eligible, you may opt-in to be considered for the Most Educational prize.

1x Most Educational ($250 - via PayPal or Venmo)

Captain Coder and the 2 guest judges will review the dev-logs, blogs, and vlogs to determine which submission will receive the Most Educational prizes.

Note: Depending on the volume of submissions, this may take some time to complete. The judges will make a best effort to review and select a winner by the time voting has ended but make no guarantees on an exact timeline.

5x Dev-log, blog, or vlog Drawing($50 - via PayPal or Venmo)

Anyone who submits a dev-log, blog, or vlog and does not win the Most Educational prize will be entered into a raffle to win $50. 5 unique winners will be drawn from all eligible submissions. To be eligible, the submitted dev-log, blog, or vlog must have some amount of "substance" which expresses what the developer (or developers) learned as well as the resources they learned. I don't want to be super strict about this BUT this requirement is subjective and is in an effort to prevent someone from submitting a 10 second video / a 1 sentence blog and winning the raffle.

Eligibility

Everyone is encouraged to submit to this Jam regardless of eligibility! However, due to legal reasons, to be eligible to receive prizes, you must:

• You must create and submit a dev-log, blog, or vlog sharing what you learned with the broader community
• Be 18+ years old (13+ with parent/guardian consent)
  
• Opt-in during the submission process
• Have a PayPal or Venmo account that can receive money