Make a game over the weekend with Union College. Union College students will have access to launch events and live workshops to learn how to make games with unity. You can use any game engine and assets you have legal access to use. 

THEME:

QnA:

What is a game jam? 

A game jam is a competition where you are asked to create a game in a short period of time. Any type of game is welcome, and the only limit is time and creativity.  To help guide you in making your games, we will announce a theme for the jam at the start of the competition (Friday at 2 pm). You do not have to make a game based on this theme, but it may be helpful to generate ideas.  

When is the game jam? 

You can submit your project anytime between Friday, January 22nd at 2 PM and Sunday, January 24th at 11 PM. The theme for the game will be revealed on Friday, both on the itch.io page, and over zoom at our launch event. 

I don’t know how to make a game, can I participate? 

Yes. We will be hosting a workshop on Saturday where you can learn how to make a simple asteroids-like game, using the Unity game engine. For those with less experience in programming, we will also have a Python Collab notebook available teaching how to make a tic-tac-toe game and asteroids. 

The game I made isn’t very good, should I submit it anyway? 

Absolutely! The point of game jams isn’t to make high-quality games, it is to practice skills and generate ideas. The expectations for submitted games is very low, and any 

How do I join? 

You first need to have an itch.io account, which you can create for free on the itch site (itch.io). Once you have created your account, go to the game jam page https://itch.io/jam/union-game-jam and hit join. Once the game jam starts (5 PM on Friday) who will be able to submit your project. 

How do I submit my project? 

On the itch site, create a new project. Here you will be able to put in information about your game like name and description. Here is also where you will upload your game. If you have a URL to access your game, you can put this in the description of your game. Otherwise, you should upload the game files under the uploads tab. Make sure that people can download and play your game on Windows (you can provide other compatibilities also).  If you have a webGL file you will have the option for people to play your game on the itch site.

Once your project page is complete, you can go back to the game jam page (https://itch.io/jam/union-game-jam) and submit it. You will be able to make any changes to your project page until the deadline (11:59 PM on Sunday). 

How will winners be chosen? 

After the end of the jam, there will be a one week voting period, where anyone can play the games submitted and vote on them. These ratings will determine your rank which will be announced at the end of the voting period. 

What can I use to create my game? 

You can use any game development platform you are comfortable with. Some common ones are Unity, Real Engine, and Godot. You can even use Scratch, as long as you provide a link to your project in your description. 

You can upload pure code files, but this is not recommended as not everyone will be able to download and play your game. If you want to use Python, something like https://trinket.io/features/python3 can let you upload code online and send an URL for people to play. 

You also can use whatever assets (art, code, music) you have the legal right to use for your game. Don’t hesitate to reuse the code that you wrote before, or to get art and sound from outside sources. 

Where can I find assets for my game?  

If you use the Unity engine, the Unity Asset Store is a great resource for finding assets to use for your game. 

Other places to look at are: 

https://www.gameart2d.com/freebies.html 

https://opengameart.org/ 

https://www.storyblocks.com/audio/collections/video-game-music 

Any other questions? 

Feel free to reach out to me at shynef@union.edu, or post a question to our community page(https://itch.io/jam/union-game-jam/community)