Judging Starts Now!

Now that you have submitted your game it's time to play and rate other games over the next week!

A note about late submissions, there is always the case where you might be in the middle of submitting when the deadline hits.  Itch.io submission deadline is hard and unfeeling and it shuts of the second the time passes. We however as hosts aren't hard and unfeeling :). If you just missed the deadline never fear! We can generate you a late submission link. Just email me: jsprague@redhat.com, or chat (@hosts) in discord, a link to your game and I'll generate you a link. https://itch.io/docs/creators/game-jams#the-submission-process/late-submissions

Can't wait to play all the games!

Open Jam 2021 has two themes you can pick from: Cats OR Dogs!

Open Jam is a game jam with 🖤.  At Open Jam, you build an open-source video game over the weekend, rate other creators’ games, and compete for delicious open source karma.   Open Jam is a game jam that promotes open source games and game creation tools. 

Using open source tools is highly encouraged!

Last year's Open Jam 2020:  https://itch.io/jam/open-jam-2020

How is Open Jam Different?

What we want to do with Open Jam is promote not only open source games, but open source game creation tools as well.  This jam encourages use of open source game engines, authoring tools, and platforms, and Creative Common assets, and to link those tools in your submission.  Anything open source in your game creation process is encouraged!  Open Jam is all about open games and open game development.

How does it work?

Open Jam will be a 80 hour Jam based on a theme.  

Here are Open Jam’s guidelines:

1. Games source must be available and licensed as open source, and include a LICENCE file.
2. You can use any tools to create your game and it can run on any platform, open source tools and platforms are encouraged.
3. There is a voting category for "Open Source Karma" based on open source friendly your game is i.e. how many open tools you used, if your game runs on an open platform,  and a nice public repo (github, gitlab, anything publicly accessible).  See table below.
4. It is very important to list all the open source tools you used and link to your git repo in your game entry, so you can get credit for your Open Source Karma
5. You can create or use your own assets or use existing, openly licensed assets (e.g., Creative Commons).
6. You can work solo or on a team. 
7. The theme will be announced at 1:00 PM October 1st 2021 (US Eastern).
8. Judging will be peer-based and and possible guest judges if not enough people rate games.
9. Games require a minimum of 10 ratings to place in the top 3.
10. Games must be created originally for Open Jam. They cannot be forks of other games.  You may submit your game to other game jams as long as their rules allow it.

If you’re looking for open source game creation tools to try, we have a list below.  We encourage any openly licensed game engine, framework, or library, but it is not a strict requirement.  For non-code assets like music and sprites, anything marked with Creative Commons is welcome, or you can create your own! Make the greatest game you can by bringing together the best of the open world.

At the end of the weekend, release your game and code to the world, play other participants' games, and rate them.

Open Source Game Creation Tools

There are too many amazing open source tools to list on this page, but here is a categorized list of many to get you started:

Calinou's "Awesome Gamedev" list of open tools

If you want to suggest an open source tool used in game creation email questions@openjam.io and I'll do my best to get it added to the list above.

Social

1. Please stop by the community and introduce yourself or team and share your progress once the jam starts
2. Join our discord channel if you want to keep in touch in real-time
3. Follow these twitter accounts:  @openjamio, @caramelcode, @mwcz
4. Use social hashtag:  #openjam2021

Judging and Prize

After judging has completed, the top three games combined score of Overall + Open Source Karma categories will be declared the winners.  Your game, your source code, and your contribution to open source are an even bigger prize.   There are no monetary or physical rewards in Open Jam.  

Open Source Karma

Open Source Karma will be awarded as points on each game by the Jam Hosts based on the following score table.  You will get a comment on your entry page with your Open Source Karma score from a Jam Host.  You can  get a max of 5 stars.   Judges reserve the right to add additional points for notable open source friendliness even if not in this table.

Note: "Open platform" refers to any open-source OS. Examples are Linux, FreeBSD, or even the web.

Examples 

Rankings of three games based on Overall Score + Open Source Karma

Mega Fighting Game Overall Score: 4.9 Open Source Karma: 3 Total score: 7.9

Super Awesome Game Overall Score: 3.7 Open Source Karma: 5 Total score: 8.7

Craazy Insane Game Overall Score: 2.1 Open Source Karma: 4 Total score: 6.1

Rankings #1 Super Awesome Game (8.7) #2 Mega Fighting Game (7.9) #3 Craazy Insane Game (6.1)

Questions

There are a number of ways to ask questions.  

1.  Ask in the community
2.  @hosts in discord
3.   Tweet to us @caramelcode or @mwcz
4.  Email: jsprague@redhat.com

Credits

Open Jam is a collaboration brought to you by  Red Hat,  Jared Sprague and Michael Clayton.