[SGDC] GAME JAM FRIDAY!! - no meeting today + info on game jam

[Filip Sigda]

Hello again!

I hope the long weekend helped you recharge! Due to the incredibly odd scheduling brought on by our day off, we won't have a meeting tonight.

Instead, you should save your energy, because our Game Jam Alpha is starting Friday at 9:15pm in Kidde 228.

The entire event is 48 hours of pure game dev difficulty. The short time limit means every hour is valuable, so spend your time wisely and efficiently! (There's a reason we covered Scope last week). At the opening ceremony, we will unveil the game jam theme with a fun little video. After which, time starts! We will unveil it via a YouTube premiere, so even if you can’t make it, you won’t be at a significant disadvantage. Be sure to attend both the opening and closing ceremony for free food and drinks! (dates in the poster). More details are given below in the poster and rest of the email:


[cid:a161a9b8-0ea1-4e74-b3bd-3a4dc2acf8bd]


Theme

Once the theme is announced, you have to make a game that fits that theme. Any way you can fit the theme into your submission is fair game, whether it’s thematically, aesthetically, literally, or musically. However, you have to consider: the more creative your theming is, the better it’ll stand out amongst the voters.

Game Contents

48 hours is not a lot of time to make and finish up a game, and levels are a notoriously slow part of the process. Unfortunately, you can’t dedicate too much time to levels, because then you won’t have time to polish your visuals and mechanics. On top of that, you have to consider features such as title screens, win states, pause menus, etc. Balancing the features you include and the ones you cut is a key part of a good Game Jam submission. Do you value quality or quantity? Balance it well, and it’ll skyrocket the quality of your game!

* Presentation *

Once the submission period ends on Sunday at 9:15pm, We’ll have the closing ceremony. At which point we’ll showcase and present all the submissions. Game dev is a technical and artistic endeavor, yes, but you also have to remember marketing your game is a major aspect of the field. Be sure to sell your games to win the attendees’ votes. Why should they vote for your game over others? Give them a convincing answer and you might just boost your chances! Even if you miss the ceremony, any submissions will be presented by the eboard, however, we can’t really speak on a game we know little about... So keep that in mind.

Submissions

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT PART OF THE GAME JAM!! You never want to leave this for the last minute! Be sure to make a couple of builds of the game to make sure it works outside of the editor, but also most engines need to download the packages they need to export before they can make a playable file. DO NOT LEAVE THAT UNTIL AN HOUR BEFORE CLOSING!! Trust me I’ve made that mistake in the past and it  s t i n g s. Submissions will be on itch.io, so remember to make an account before the jam starts!! And if you intend your game to be played in-browser then please read up on how itch handles submissions like that.

The Rules

Along with any competition, there’s rules on how things work (annoying but necessary). Any group size is a-okay, but remember that each group can only win 1 prize. The use of generative AI is strictly prohibited. Artistic integrity is incredibly valuable not just to us as artists but is greatly frowned upon in the industry. On that note, If you use any asset pack or premade artwork, CREDIT CREDIT CREDIT! (Also credit everyone in your team). It can be anywhere in the submission, title screen, credits screen, or in the description on the itch page. It just has to be somewhere. Don’t be mean, any cruel/hateful content in your game is grounds for disqualification. These rules are just grounds to keep the playing field level and fun!

See you Friday,
SGDC







-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.stevens.edu/pipermail/sgdc/attachments/20241015/c5a2d06b/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1722657 bytes
Desc: image.png
URL: <http://lists.stevens.edu/pipermail/sgdc/attachments/20241015/c5a2d06b/attachment-0001.png>