It would be really neat to try splitting this jam into two: one jam for the Game Design (2 weeks?), and then one jam for Game Development -- where the games must be made from one of the designs that were submitted.

Absolutely! I appreciate the feedback! That is definitely something we are looking at for the following year

Just to increase the sample size to >1; I would not personally participate in a jam where I had to adhere to a game design document.

i don't always have the energy to make something after struggling to think about it. i will do a design jam and go to bed