Hello! In general, I think that game jams are very good for testing out new game ideas and gaining experience. On the other hand, I don't think that they define how successful a game is going to be if it is released commercially. I believe this because the sample size is extremely small and the gamers playing the games less casual and more critical than your average player.
This game jam in particular was great. The theme was flexible and the rules were fine. A suggestion that I have for this game jam is having a better criteria. To be more specific, the game jam description clearly stated that a scoring model is a must-have for each game, yet it didn't include a scoring section in the rating criteria. This was unfair to the people who followed to scoring must-have because it won't help them with their rating. Games that didn't have this must-have were not removed either(most games did have this though). All the owners of the jam need to do next time is add scoring model as a criteria.
There were several great games, but my favorite was Pizza Rivals. The game transformed an average cooking game into a challenging multitasking frenzy. The game is extremely polished and the artwork is amazing. The only major issue with the game is that there is not much of a story.
To me, the strength of a video game resides in its gameplay. You can have a very good-looking game, but if the gameplay sucks, the game also sucks. In order for a video game to be successful, it should be fun and have great replay value.
I am a game designer who's in his senior year of high school. I have been been programming for 9 years now. I am also a Gdevelop youtuber(Queue The Game Dev). Thanks for the questions!