Scroll down for questions and answers.

Welcome to the Summer Shades Jam, a monthlong jam with a color scheme and a theme: A dark road into the ocean. All kinds of work are welcome, whether static art or animations or games or otherwise. Surprise me! The goal is to really be able to see that all the works are unified by the colors and theme, and then to appreciate how different people's taste and style and technique all are.

Please use the hex values so different displays are able to get the same unified effect.

Don't submit anything with racism, homophobia, transphobia, misogyny, or any other form of hatred. I'll delete it. Also, please don't make art that depicts anything illegal. Otherwise, there are really no additional rules. The hex values are #1F1F7A, #1D17A2, #004D99, #007399, and #009999, plus black and white.

If you have questions or thoughts, let me know in the Community tab, or message me wherever you can find me. I make art and text games, but am nowhere near as skilled as many of my friends and the creators we admire. Folks of all levels of experience or development are very very welcome.

"The start was made in a fair breeze, and it looked so nice overhead that Mont proposed they take a short run directly into the ocean." -- The Wizard of the Sea by Roy Rockwood

"I see the mountains of New England rising from their rocky thrones: they rush forward into the ocean, settling down as they advance." -- Ocean's Story by Frank Goodrich

"How that dreadful abode must have swayed in the irresistible hurricane, and trembled at each crashing sea! The poor unfortunates must have known that if those seas, leaping always higher and higher, ever reached their house, it would be flung down into the ocean." -- The Book of the Ocean by Ernest Ingersoll

QUESTIONS

q: Can I blend the colors?
a: Yes! Use your own judgment. The goal is to make art and have fun.

q: When I eyedrop, I get slightly different hex values.
a: I'd love if you used the ones I provided, but also, I'm not a cop. Close enough!

q: What do I do if I'm color blind?
a: Please feel free to saturate or shift the colors into values that work better for you, or choose one accent color to use with black and white. Having a fun, accessible time during the jam is more important than adhering religiously to anything.

q: Is art depicting nudity okay?
a: Absolutely! The only rule is no illegal stuff, so everyone depicted has to be adults. If you make adult content, please label and gate it appropriately with itch.io's options. If you have an idea you're not sure about, I'd love to talk it over with you.

q: Can I use traditional media? Are watery versions of the colors okay?
a: I love traditional media, and please go ahead.

q: Is there a Discord?
a: Please use the Community tab! I'd love to see people in there sharing their questions or thoughts.

q: Is this just for [games, art, etc.]?
a: Games are very welcome! You can make literally anything. Let the colors and theme inspire you and be part of what you make: art, animation, video games, graphic design or layout, tabletop games . . . ?

q: Will there be more jams like this?
a: This jam is a spiritual sequel to the Four Color Art Jam, which was really wonderful and brought out a ton of great artwork and games. I'd love to continue doing jams like this periodically.

q: does "don't submit things that depict bigotry or hatred" apply to work about our own experiences facing bigotry?
a: personal experiences of facing bigotry are welcome and totally within the spirit. i just don't want anything that is normalizing bigotry or hatred -- with the broad audience on itch.io that can be a real concern.