itch.io

Sorry Dungeons - been sick. Had to go to the Dr. on Monday, just now feeling better.

Let me look into it.

Thanks.

Best,

Marcus

Hey, Dungeons.

Sign the competition agreement.

Not sure how I’ll proceed if the scenario you describe occurs. 

Best,

Marcus

No worries.  

Take care & best of luck,

Marcus

Hi Dungeons!

I'll take your questions one at a time:

thank you very much!! sorry but here is another question.

Not a problem.

1°How long should the game last at least?

No requirements there. The winning game should have "high re-playability", meaning players enjoy playing it repeatedly and / or for longer periods.

2°When will the winner be announced?

Depends on how many games get submitted.  The Digital Agency has agreed to help vet the games, so I also have to account for their availability.

3°Are the prices of the IAPs chosen between you and the developer if you win the game? Or do you have something in mind to choose that?

The costs of IAPs will be determined jointly between the developer, me, the digital agency and player feedback. Some of my fav games have tiers of pricing that vary with what I'm buying, so that's likely to be the model.

4°If I couldn't finish the game, but I still upload it to the story half, would I still be participating?

Sure, you can upload it.  I'm planning to invest in only one game for now, but if your game is cool, you can keep developing it and perhaps we can work together at some point in the future. 

I really appreciate your answers !!

Any time, Dungeons. Good luck!

Hi Dungeons -

No, not required. If you can make an awesome game without them, great!

Thanks,

Marcus 

Split between developer and Publisher (me). Developers who integrate IAPs best (i.e. doesn't degrade game play, not pay-to-win, smartly deployed) have a better chance of winning the contest and getting the publishing contract. It's all in the supporting docs in the Google drive. Thanks for asking!

Cool! Feel free to hmu if you have any other questions. Good luck!

Re: the protagonist of the story Six Words

The protagonist is the narrator, Calvin, a young Black activist during a time of great oppression. He is friends with Harriet, Rett for short, a young Black woman who has the power to travel back and forth in time, and to see upcoming danger, through dreams; and Dre, an attractive Black man to whom Calvin is conflictedly attracted.  Calvin is devastated when he ignores his intuition, which results in Rett being captured by agents of the oppression forces, despite her final words to him before she fell asleep , exhausted from her dream journeys:   Stay with me. Watch over me. Those six words haunt him, because he did not stay with her, and now she's been kidnapped. It is what fuels his obsession with intuition; he feels that had he followed his intuition, he would have saved her. He might also have spotted the traitors inside the movement who sold out by revealing where Harriet was and what her powers were. Intuition is absolutely critical for success.

Does this help?

Thanks!

Best,

Marcus

Hola Dungeons! As long as it's purchased not licensed I think we're good. Thanks for your question!

Will answer your other question separately.

Best,

Marcus

Hi everyone.

I'm going to host a Google Meet session on Sunday, October 4th at 1:30 Eastern. Here is the link:

https://meet.google.com/pdc-bsqb-ufj

I'd love it if everyone who's working  on a game for the jam could attend. It'll be a great opportunity to meet me, meet each other, ask questions, and give me direct feedback about the jam and whatever else. Hope this is a good time for you.

Really looking forward to meeting you.

Thanks so much and best of luck to you all,

Marcus

Hi DylanGameDev

Re: Question #1: also nope, you don't to use my story if you have a better one. 

Just remember that you don't have to use the whole story; you can use a page, a scene, even a paragraph. 

Also, the point of the story is to make a contribution to the social / racial justice movement, which it does (hopefully) by 

a) emphasizing the value of Intuition as a way to protect the movement, and 

b) creating a vision of the future that's attractive and nourishing.

All that said, again, if you have a cool story and a can parlay it into a cool commercially viable game , that's totally okay and I'm all for it. Can't wait to see it. 

Good luck,

Marcus

Hi DylanGameDev

Re: Question #2: nope, you don't have to be part of a team. If you can create an awesome mobile game and want to fly solo, that's totally cool. Good luck!

Hi everybody.

Oy, this jam has aged me by ten years lol. But it's all good. Every time I talk to people about how important Intuition is for a successful social / racial justice movement, they all agree, and they become very excited and eager to see how we turn this idea into a cool game.  We are really gonna change the world with this game.  Thank you thank you thank you for your ingenuity and dedication. Even if you don't win, I hope your game makes a fortune for you while it's changing the world for the better.

Okay, here's the scoop.

The official jam sign-up docs are ready. They can be found at the same link where the story is:

https://drive.google.com/drive/u/5/folders/12LQqkqHaaby2SDUHKy9Ry67P6NjxW6kZ

There are 4 docs there. They are:

1) The Competition Agreement.  This is the parent document that references the detailed terms of the contest.

2) The Contest Rules, which  includes things like: you have to be 18 or older, etc. In hindsight we probably could have combined the official rules into the Competition Agreement. Lesson learned. 

3) The Publishing Agreement. This is the biggie. This one  governs our relationship should you win the contest and we agree to publish the game. It explains how much you get in royalties, when you get paid, all that stuff.

4) Finally there's a summary of the overall process. This one I wrote, and it tries to lay out what happens overall, summarizing the contents of all the other docs. It provides an overview of what happens, e.g.:  after you win; when we decide if we will publish the game; if we do, here's what happens next; here's how much we are initially planning to invest in your game to market it (around $30k to start), etc. It tries to summarize everything so that you are clear on the overall process. It's about one and a half pages, and it does not replace the other docs. If there are any discrepancies between that doc and the other docs (I'm pretty sure there are no discrepancies but you know, legalese) then the other docs supersede.

Again, this is a learning process for me too. I've consulted with a bunch of people in an effort to make sure the docs are clear and the deal is really fair and hopefully generous.

Okay. I'm going to go take a long-assed break from staring at legal documents and getting proofreader's error and so forth. 

Please hmu if you have questions or comments, which I'm sure you will. 

Thank you again. Good luck.

Best,

Marcus

Sorry! Created a new topic with a different link. Please lmk if there are any issues with that one.

Best,

Marcus

Not sure what happened.  

Created a topic with a new link. LMK if there are any further issues.  Thanks.

Ok, somehow I screwed up the link to the Story.

Please try this one:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/12LQqkqHaaby2SDUHKy9Ry67P6NjxW6kZ?usp=sha...

Hi andyherbert

Thanks for your comments. Let me try to address them, starting with "why mobile only?"

I decided "mobile-only" for a couple of reasons. 

First, I personally prefer mobile games because for me games sometimes function as stress relief. So if the game is good, I want to be able to play it at any time, and I carry my phone with me more than I carry a PC with me. So I think there would be more game play if the game were mobile.

Second, I really think the 'mobile game' market segment is growing faster than PC games, probably for the reasons above. So not only do I personally prefer mobile games, but mobile is also the future.

All that said, I've been getting a lot of feedback about the Jam being mobile only, so I'll have to think about whether to expand to PC as well before next Monday.

Your other question, about why "ads micro transactions and other money making criteria are used to judge the winner" is a good one, so let me address that. Again, there are personal and commercial reasons afoot here.

On the personal side, I grew up Black and poor, which gives one a delightfully clear perspective on poverty: it sucks. Beyond comprehension. Beyond imagination. Beyond words. So the truth about me is: a) I do want to be successful; b) I want to help others be successful too; c) I plan to invest heavily in Black people and Black communities, and d) I hope that the people I help become successful also invest heavily in Black people and Black communities. One of the best things anyone can do is use one's financial wherewithal to attack poverty as if poverty were a flesh-eating bacteria hideously eating at the soul of a people.  Poverty has to go.

For example there are, right now, thousands and thousands of Black people in jails solely because they can't make bail. If you watch the movie 13th - required viewing, imo, for anyone who's serious about BLM or social justice - you'll hear the tale of a young Black man who was falsely arrested and imprisoned and who remained in jail for 3 years because his family could not make $10,000 bail. Not sure about you, but when I was a kid, $10,000 might as well have been $10,000,000. He was eventually freed and all charges were dropped because they all were bullshit anyway, but the mental toll of the brutality he faced in jail never waned, and things ended tragically for him. Poverty has to go.

So I really want to crash the belief that making beautiful games and making commercially viable games are mutually exclusive. They are not. I want developers to embrace the challenge of balancing commercial viability and game design. For example, I used to play Empires and Puzzles constantly, and the fact that I had the opportunity to watch an ad and gain jewels for it was 100 % okay with me. I wanted them to make more ads available more often, so I could get more jewels. The ads never interrupted game play, and they added value to me, so it did not impede my joy of the game at all. Those developers got it right. 

Sorry for writing you a whole PhD dissertation on this, but I think it's important to gently challenge the construct of "generate revenue rather than make great game." I want this Jam to attract people who want to make a super fun, socially helpful game that is commercially successful AND does some good in the world. This is the kind of team I want to work with and the kind of game I want to publish and help make successful. 

Thanks again for your feedback.

Best,

Marcus

Hi weckar - 

Prefer all mobile platforms, but of course you're free to target one if you desire. Thanks for your question.; lmk if I've answered it satisfactorily.

Best,

Marcus

My name is Marcus Stephens.

Every day that I monitor this page, I see Polyduck’s Topic.

Polyducks and I have corresponded via that Topic posting. I’m initiating a Topic to clarify, in case either a) my responses directly to Polyducks are tl;dr for some, or b) people only read the Topic headings, not the responses.

Here is the link to the full exchange between Polyducks and I: https://itch.io/jam/commercially-viable-game-social-justice-game-jam-1/topic/950846/this-is-unethical-spec-work-not-a-game-jam

Below is a reproduction of my clarifications that this is NOT an unethical spec work grab. 

Hello Polyducks! Thanks so much for your thoughtful response. My name is Marcus, the host of this jam. Let me take a minute to respond.
This is not a Spec Work project for reasons I will articulate in a moment. But just to be clear, I’ve worked in corporate America for most of my life and spec work from designers, consulting firms, developers, screenwriters, directors, comedy / sketch writers, software providers, designers, etc., etc.  is extremely common. I’ve worked with “famous” consulting firms who gave away astonishing amounts of work in order to land an account. Providers must always assess how much work to put in vs the likelihood of landing the deal, but it is an extremely common activity.

That said, this is not a spec work project because people who do not win the jam are free to do with their games whatever they wish.

By mandating that the game be commercially viable, I am essentially requiring that developers create a game that has at least a chance of making money for them. If I publish a viable game, I will then pour thousands of dollars into marketing that game. Non-winning teams are free to market their games as well if they choose. The story is robust enough that there will likely be a huge diversity of games emanating from it.

All of this is distinct from doing spec work for a company, where the company requesting the work nearly always requires that said provider sign an NDA which, among other things in my experience, usually introduces restrictions on the provider regarding usage of spec work for anyone else. I am requiring no such document.

Further, the micro-transactions do not pay off the $12,000. I see how this might be concerning, so let me be clear: when the publishing agreement is posted, it will indicate that the developers receive royalties for the game using the “from the first dollar” model, which means royalties will begin to flow to developers before I recoup marketing or contest costs. Very often, as I’m sure you well know, when an initial pay-out is provided by a publisher, the publisher will then withhold royalties until these expenses are recouped. We are not doing that. We will select a game in which we believe so strongly that we are willing to risk paying royalties from the first dollar because the game will be so good that there will be more than enough wealth to go around.

Lastly, the focus of this jam is creating games that give love to the social justice movement. I am enormously passionate about this movement, which is part of why I decided to go ahead with the jam, despite the fact that I am apparently making every conceivable mistake in the book. There might need to be an Appendix to cover all the mistakes I’ve made. I’m putting up sizeable amounts of my own money and screwing up sometimes but I’m passionate about this anyway and want to proceed. Let me explain – first from a business perspective and then from my perspective as a Black man.

Suppose 20 teams submit games. I will choose one winner, so 19 teams will not get the marketing deal and funding – but there will be 19 games in existence in the world that are focused on social justice, not just another boring af world-building game that has no value or relevance to what’s going on in the world.

Now look at this Jam from my perspective. I’m creating a Jam where tons of games will be created that will compete with mine. It’s entirely possible that one of the games from this Jam that I do not select takes over the world.

I would be happy with this outcome because there needs to be more games in the world that care about Black people and other marginalized communities. Practically every new game I see has no relevance to my life as a Black man – and developers just keep churning out more of them. It’s like no one in the gaming community even cares. But I decided to believe that’s not true. I decided to believe that there must be developers who care. So I figured: maybe they just need incentive.

So I designed a Game Jam with a) crazy generous prizing, plus b) a marketing deal worth thousands of dollars to help the winning viable game be successful - and c) a way to create lots of games that will likely compete with mine. From a business perspective this sounds completely insane. From a soul perspective, hopefully it will start to create shift in the thinking of game developers such that we get better, more socially conscious, super-fun games placed into the world.

So the video you presented - which is excellent btw – differs from this Game Jam primarily in that the non-winning development teams do not “walk away with nothing” for all their hard work. They walk away with a solid game, designed to have strong commercial viability, that hopefully does some good in the world.

I hope this helps address your concerns. & thank you again for your feedback.

Best,

Marcus 

Hello Polyducks! Thanks so much for your thoughtful response. My name is Marcus, the host of this jam. Let me take a minute to respond.

This is not a Spec Work project for reasons I will articulate in a moment. But just to be clear, I’ve worked in corporate America for most of my life and spec work from designers, consulting firms, developers, screenwriters, directors, comedy / sketch writers, software providers, designers, etc., etc.  is extremely common. I’ve worked with “famous” consulting firms who gave away astonishing amounts of work in order to land an account. Providers must always assess how much work to put in vs the likelihood of landing the deal, but it is an extremely common activity.

That said, this is not a spec work project because people who do not win the jam are free to do with their games whatever they wish.

By mandating that the game be commercially viable, I am essentially requiring that developers create a game that has at least a chance of making money for them. If I publish a viable game, I will then pour thousands of dollars into marketing that game. Non-winning teams are free to market their games as well if they choose. The story is robust enough that there will likely be a huge diversity of games emanating from it.

All of this is distinct from doing spec work for a company, where the company requesting the work nearly always requires that said provider sign an NDA which, among other things in my experience, usually introduces restrictions on the provider regarding usage of spec work for anyone else. I am requiring no such document.

Further, the micro-transactions do not pay off the $12,000. I see how this might be concerning, so let me be clear: when the publishing agreement is posted, it will indicate that the developers receive royalties for the game using the “from the first dollar” model, which means royalties will begin to flow to developers before I recoup marketing or contest costs. Very often, as I’m sure you well know, when an initial pay-out is provided by a publisher, the publisher will then withhold royalties until these expenses are recouped. We are not doing that. We will select a game in which we believe so strongly that we are willing to risk paying royalties from the first dollar because the game will be so good that there will be more than enough wealth to go around.

Lastly, the focus of this jam is creating games that give love to the social justice movement. I am enormously passionate about this movement, which is part of why I decided to go ahead with the jam, despite the fact that I am apparently making every conceivable mistake in the book. There might need to be an Appendix to cover all the mistakes I’ve made. I’m putting up sizeable amounts of my own money and screwing up sometimes but I’m passionate about this anyway and want to proceed. Let me explain – first from a business perspective and then from my perspective as a Black man.

Suppose 20 teams submit games. I will choose one winner, so 19 teams will not get the marketing deal and funding – but there will be 19 games in existence in the world that are focused on social justice, not just another boring af world-building game that has no value or relevance to what’s going on in the world.

Now look at this Jam from my perspective. I’m creating a Jam where tons of games will be created that will compete with mine. It’s entirely possible that one of the games from this Jam that I do not select takes over the world.

I would be happy with this outcome because there needs to be more games in the world that care about Black people and other marginalized communities. Practically every new game I see has no relevance to my life as a Black man – and developers just keep churning out more of them. It’s like no one in the gaming community even cares. But I decided to believe that’s not true. I decided to believe that there must be developers who care. So I figured: maybe they just need incentive.

So I designed a Game Jam with a) crazy generous prizing, plus b) a marketing deal worth thousands of dollars to help the winning viable game be successful - and c) a way to create lots of games that will likely compete with mine. From a business perspective this sounds completely insane. From a soul perspective, hopefully it will start to create shift in the thinking of game developers such that we get better, more socially conscious, super-fun games placed into the world.

So the video you presented - which is excellent btw – differs from this Game Jam primarily in that the non-winning development teams do not “walk away with nothing” for all their hard work. They walk away with a solid game, designed to have strong commercial viability, that hopefully does some good in the world.

I hope this helps address your concerns. & thank you again for your feedback.

Best,

Marcus 

Hi Cyfrmedia - 

It is legit lol. Though, based upon the feedback I'm obviously getting, I'll probably move the start date and do a better job addressing these concerns, and promoting the Jam within the community.

Good luck!

Best,

Marcus

Thank you! Best of luck to you as well.

Best,

Marcus

Hi Xascoria -

Read your comments and they seem really helpful. As much as it pains me to do so, I probably will postpone the start of the Jam and get some more help to properly promote it.

Thanks for taking the time to respond thoughtfully to me. The fastest way to fail is to ignore the feedback of people who know more, and I don't want this to fail. If you have any further feedback, I'm more than happy to listen!

Again many thanks,

Marcus

Just replied in Linked In.

Best,

Marcus

Hi fMooNek.

Thank you for your response. I'll head over to LI and respond to whatever is in my inbox there.

As I've said I am new to hosting GJs and am probably making a huge number of mistakes. I've been getting feedback that says: slow down. Work more closely with itch, do a better job marketing the jam so that more people can participate, and address the concerns about the Jam's legitimacy up front. I talk to Rob Hassett almost every day, and almost every day he tells me: slow down. I feel like things are moving at a snail's pace lol, but I may take everyone's advice and move the start date of the Jam out, in order to do a better job of enabling participation for others.

Thanks so much for your patience. 

Have a great day,

Marcus

Xascoria - 

Please be nice.

Ok, your next question: who is handling the marketing  / publishing?

I've talked to several digital agencies and haven't settled on one yet. The front runner is a company called Game Marketing Genie, but the deal is not signed. Every agency I've spoken to has told me: wait until you have a game developed, let us evaluate that game, and then we'll create a marketing plan for you. All of them have quoted budget numbers that I can do.

Again, this is new for me, so I've gotten help. Rob Hassett has been incredible helping me with the legal documents. Rob is the General Counsel for the Georgia Game Developer's Association. Andrew Greenberg, president of the GGDA, has also been helping me. There have been others, especially Karen Williams at hiccup interactive, Kimberly M. Starks at Blue Scorpion Reputation Management, Joe Cassavaugh, and many others have been super-helpful as well. But be clear: these and the other who are helping me are really great, and their help has been invaluable, and only the mistakes are mine.

Ok, hope this helps. Please hmu with any other questions you may have. Thank you!!!

All the best,

Marcus

Hi Daryksteak. Thanks for your question. Let me take them one at a time.

Who is funding this: me lol. My name is Marcus Stephens. Here is my linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marcus-stephens-44b6a985/. 

I don't go there often; please let me know if you can't access it. Thanks.

It's my first game jam, so it is a little bumpy; apologies for that. I'm sponsoring it for two main reasons: 1) I want to publish video games, but not the standard kinds that are routinely published ; 2) because, as a Black man, I want to do something about the issues  we're facing regarding race relations in the US , so I don't want just another world-building clash of armies type game.  I want a game whose theme and execution actually add value to social justice warriors on the front lines of marches, demonstrations and boycotts. I may fail spectacularly and expensively at this. But in my heart of hearts I really need to do this; to at least try to make a difference. I feel that if I can help put something into the world that is super-entertaining and fun while also conveying a message of love and support to social justice warriors, then that's a contribution worth at least trying to make, even if I totally embarrass myself in the effort.

The theme of the jam will be intuition, though the story for it is still under construction. I'll be honest; after the Jacob Blake incident in Kenosha, I tore up the old story and did a new one. Sometimes my heart literally hurts thinking about Jacob Blake, and so many others, and I had to put new stuff into the story.

I'll answer your other questions / concerns next in the next post.