What is a Game Jam?

A Game Jam is an event where you create a small game based on a theme in a short amount of time either by yourself or with a team. Game jams are a good way to spark creativity, test ideas, work on your skills, and meet other game devs. They're highly recommended for a reason.

Rules

1) Your game must be made with Redot 4.3 Stable

2) Your game must follow the itch.io TOS

3) Your game must include the theme in some way

4) Your game must be made during the jam period; no previous or in-progress projects are allowed

5) No more than 5 people on a team

6) Purchased and pre-made assets are allowed, provided that you have the license to use them and they must be credited in your game (make sure you know the licensing limits for anything you use)

7) No NSFW content is allowed in your submission

8) No sabotaging other teams

9) No VR submissions. We don't have anything against VR, but our judge panel doesn't have enough people with VR headsets to judge these games.

Submission

- A working version of your game must be submitted before the deadline. We are mostly concerned about the playability and performance of your game.

- Your game must either run in web browsers or Windows 10/11

Judging Criteria

Performance

How playable is the game? Does it stutter or have glitches? Does it crash? Make sure the final product is as polished as possible. It doesn't matter how great your game is if we can't play it.

Theme usage

How well did you implement the theme? Can we see it in the art style? Were the mechanics of the game built around the theme? Interesting usage of the theme will go a long way.

Uniqueness

Do you have any unique mechanics in your game? Was the story told in an interesting or different way? Think about how your game will stand out from the rest.

Art Style

This isn't about doing your best to push out a AAA quality look. Think about what art style you think fits your game, the mechanics, and the theme. We don't care if it's Pixel Art, Low-Res Polygons, or pristine 3D models as long as it feels right for your game.

Sound Design

Does the music for your game go with the art style? Does the SFX make sense within the context of what's happening in your game? Sound Design may be overlooked compared to the other categories, but it can completely make or break the immersion of your game.

X Factor

This one is hard to quantify and will vary from person to person. It could be the secret sauce that makes your game fun to play, it could be a deep and moving story, it could be how harmonious all the other parts of your game come together to craft a perfectly cohesive experience. Each judge will have their own thoughts on what this is, but if your game has an X Factor, we'll be able to feel it.