-- YUdum Dare is Back!!! --

Another Weeklong game jam event hosted by Game Devs at YorkU

Timeline:

Theme Submissions (August 5th to 11th):

Fill out this google form and submit ideas you have for a jam theme: https://forms.gle/Zdw7H8aENchZQdUEA

Theme Voting (August 6th to 18th):

Club staff members vote on our top 5 themes from the submitted. We then allow the club to vote on the theme we'll use.

Jam Time (August 19th to 26th):

Make your game based on the theme voted on!

Rules

• The jam lasts from the 19th at 12:00 am to the 26th at 12:00 am (so it's due the night of the 25th.)
• You may work alone or in a team.
• Any tools/engines/libraries are allowed, as long as your able to provide us a web export or standalone executable to play your game through.
• You’re free to start with any base code you may have, but the project should be original, not finishing up an existing project.
• You can use any assets/art/sound, make sure to credit anything you didn’t make yourself.

Submissions

• Try to make it available on as many platforms as possible, web exports are the highest priority, followed by windows mac and linux.
• You’ll submit your game through Itch.io, on the Game Jam’s page (Here!).
• We encourage you to post your source code on Github.
• By submitting to the Jam, you’re giving us permission to use your submission in-club advertising and publication.
• After the time period is over, the week afterward will be dedicated to giving people time to clean up their submissions and record footage to include in the jam compendium video.
• Include a README file for any important information or credits for things used, you could also include this information in your jam submission.

Prizes

• There won’t be any prizes or judging.
• Successful submission will give you a special discord role added to your account on the server.

-- FAQ --

#1 “I don’t know how to pick a theme!?”

A Game Jam’s theme is to help you have something to base your ideas on. They’re generally vague and are designed to be interpreted by the individual. Try to keep the theme a concept instead of a specific idea. If you’re really stuck and don’t know what to submit, just find a different game jam’s theme and steal it! We won’t know.

#2 “I’ve never made a game before! I can’t make one in 1 week!”

Never underestimate the power of a time limit! You may think you need more practice making games before you’ll be “ready” to participate in a game jam, but I think regardless of your skill level, game jams are very valuable learning experiences and are worth participating in anyways. And if you don’t end up finishing your project, you’ll have learned something, and are in a better position than when you were when you first began.

#3  “Any Tips on making a game in a week?”

• Think up as many different ideas as possible. Don’t worry about if they’re good or bad at first, you can edit through them afterward.
• From your ideas, try to design something with a very small scope, something you’re certain you could finish in a time limit half as long. Game Dev has the habit of taking longer than we planned for.
• Separate your game's requirements into “Needs” and “Nice to have”. Make sure all your needs are met before you start adding nice to haves
• There’s the making of the design of your game (Systems and mechanics) and making the content of your game (Levels), content is usually simpler to make and you should focus on making sure the design of your game is good before getting too far into the content. Jam Games usually don’t have that much content in them due to most of the time being spent on making the design work.
• Don’t forget the audio! Sound can really make your game feel much better :)