IGDC Resources & Guidelines

This document aims to briefly summarize the process and considerations of organizing an online or offline game jam. While it tries to address as many areas as possible, it should be considered as a high level guideline, allowing for adjustments or modifications in specific cases as necessary.

  • There are no restrictions on Game engine or Assets being used as long as there are no repercussions related to licensing etc.
  • Game can be 2D or 3D.
  • You're free to make a game from scratch using any tools of your choice, as long as they don't restrict the sharing or distribution of your published project.
  • Final deliverable can be in any executable format, preferred is either an exe for win64 or apk for Android or even browser.
  • The platform the game is built for should be secure, generally accessible, and should not require any payment, subscription, purchase of hardware or software, or any kind of additional collection of data for advertising or other purposes.
  • You may build and upload the game on itch.io or GitHub for example, but don't upload it to a cloud service that requires users to have an account or subscription in order to download.
  • Participants or Participating teams must also prepare a brief presentation or video to go along with the build of the game. This presentation should be an overview of the process that went into creating your game and the learnings from it. Try not to make it too technical, and instead discuss the goals you set for yourself and your experience in their pursuit.
  • The presentation should not be too lengthy, i.e. less than 10 slides. In the case of a video, it should be under two minutes.
  • The presentation and/or video MUST contain the names of the game and the team, and the link or instructions to access the build of the game from where you have uploaded it.

Other Resources:

  • Game Engines such as Godot, Unity or Unreal Engine etc make the task of developing games much more straightforward and allow you to focus more on solving design problems.
  • However, if you're up for making a game using your own libraries or SDKs, go for it!
  • There are many resources available online for acquiring scripts, artwork, models or animations etc. OpenGameArt.org, freesound.org, and Poly Haven are excellent resources. Feel free to use any resources you like, just make sure that you have all the necessary rights to use them and distribute the content made with them.
  • For creating artwork and 3D assets, there are plenty of options. For 2D you can use Krita, Gimp, Photoshop etc and for 3D you can use Blender, Maya, Cinema4D etc.

Game Jam Format:

  • Game Jams can either be for 48 hours or for a week.
  • The duration of a game jam is largely related to scope, location availability and participants
  • The themes or topics can be very broad so as to facilitate various interpretations or implementations.
  • The game jam begins as soon as the topics are revealed.
  • It is encouraged to form teams and collaborate while making a game. Ideally 2 or 3 members should constitute a team. , But solo submissions are perfectly valid and acceptable. Game jams are more about celebrating creativity and the passion for making games, and that may come from individuals just as it may from teams.

Judging:

  • It is extremely important for game jam judges to be impartial and unbiased.
  • Games are a subjective experience and we all have our preferences and favourites.
  • When selecting a jury for a game jam, it's important to ensure that they are experienced, fair, and respectful of differing opinions.
  • The jury must take into account the final submission and not any roadmaps or ‘promised’ or ‘planned’ additions to the game. In the case of technical challenges or last minute rushes to the deadline, the jury shall have the final say on qualifying or disqualifying any submission.
  • When selecting any winners, the jury must give a clear and unanimous assessment of the entry they have chosen and the reasoning behind deeming it worthy of recognition. They must not award prizes on just popular opinion and personal bias.
  • The criteria for judging should be but are not limited to: adherence to the theme, Interpretations of theme, creative license, uniqueness and execution of design ideas, application stability and performance, technical prowess, and most importantly, enjoyment!
  • If a game looks great but crashes even on a high end PC, that's not great, nor is a game that feels fun to play but looks like the developers forgot about adding art altogether.
  • Scoring will depend on originality of an idea, engaging gameplay and completeness of the app.
  • Judges should look at all-round performance and creativity when awarding winners