Um, alright I'm a be straight with you. This isn't a serious competition or anything, it's just meant to be a fun experience. I mean hell, the reward is "kenergy." So in a lot of ways, it's up to you to make the call. If you think it's cheating, then maybe it is. But someone submitted in the last jam a mod for an existing game and we let it through. This may not be the answer you want or were looking for, but it's up to you to make the decision whether what you want to work on fits the jam.
I kinda expected that reply due to the reward being kenergy. But i would also like to take game jams seriously cause you never know if i may enter a serious one, and its also good practice, so i will try my best.
i would say making a mod of a game is an acceptable but excessive way of doing things, since it comes with an excessive amount of add ons. The one thing i wanted to know was starter templates, since there are not an infinite number of ways you can code at the start, having a good starting point for like FPS, puzzle, 2d etc that you can extend would make game jams with more variety because otherwise wed just be stuck coding like UI and other bland stuff at the start (im saying cause idk the rules of other game jams).
but ill carry on with what im doing as fairly as i can.