itch.io

Update:

We got a cool suggestion from one of our higher up members, saying that I should provide a PNG file of the Future Inspire Jam logo to use as a splash art in Unity. Seems like a pretty cool idea and I'll most likely post it on the discord server, jam page, and maybe here as soon as its ready. 

Update:

Just wanted to share some cool news that we are featured on UModeler's blog post! You can check it out here: https://docs.umodeler.com/blog/May-26th-2024-blog/

It's always fun to see our organization's growth and how we are able to be recognized in the world outside of our own promotions. Thank you to Jaesik (CEO of UModeler) for this post and congrats to UModeler's other accomplishments this week. Wanted to share this not only because we are proud of the exposure we are getting from other companies but also to show you guys that our organization is slowly but surely getting more known in the world, which has always been the dream.

Just going to keep the community aware that if you are looking for team members to participate in our jam, you can head over to our server (linked on the jam page). We are getting a good amount of discussions about this in the community section of the jam page. We try to answer all the questions there, but obviously, you can get the info much quicker and get communication way easier by joining our server where we post the updates there first. 

Usually we post announcements and updates on the server, and then we try to repost on our old server (still trying to migrate everyone from there) and then we might post here. There can be a delay of possibly one or two days from the server to here so urgent questions should always go to discord. 

But if you're just trying to have casual conversations, totally cool with me to talk here.

Update:

This time we're locking submissions the entire rating period so you must make sure your submission is good to go before the deadline ends. However, you can edit your submission before the submission deadline in case you submitted early but have a better version. There will be no exceptions, so make sure the game is what you want it to be! 

We allowed it last time for a brief moment but this time there will not be any sort of grace period to update the game.

Note: This does not mean it's impossible to submit late. Late submission links should still work. There will still be our 12 hour grace period but once you submit you will be locked in and we won't allow you to change. We had some problems with this last time and it raised concerns about the fairness of the jam so we are being more strict about this.

FYI if you didn't get a response from him he might be in our server so make sure you join; also that will just be better for getting updates cause we are posting updates pretty frequently

Just on the server linked on the jam page. It'll take you right to our organization and you'll be able to get in touch with me and get mentoring whenever you need it. I've helped people in the past level up their Unity game development skills to a place where they feel comfortable going off on their own

Hey! You can join our server linked in the description and we have a channel specifically for looking for jam members

That's cool to hear. I know DafluffyPotato or something makes really cool games using Pygame. If you need help with Unity at anytime you can find me in the server and you can DM me

What do you use then?

 Thank you! Not going to participate yourself?

Sorry for the inconvenience, if it doesn't work for you, it will work by the end of the jam. I can't tell you exactly what you need to do unfortunately because there is a hacker that is harassing us and trying to get in, but just keep trying and security will let you through. There's a community post in the game jam section where I post all of the important information relayed from the server to itch so please check that out in the meantime and ask as many questions as you like

So we got a good question from one of our members, asking if the game they make for the jam has to be a 3D game. By that question, I think they were mainly implying and asking if typical 2D genres like platformers and top down is still available to create. The short answer is YES.

But we would want to see you use 3D assets for the game. So don't make your "2D platformer" 2D and flat. Make it at an angle so we can appreciate the 3D dimension. Thanks for the great question 

Update:

Jam has officially launched! The theme is Without ___

Fill in that blank with something.

We also had an interesting question about if you had to make a 3D game for this specific jam. When we say you must make a 3D game, we still allow typical 2D genre's like platformer or top down but we'll need to see you use 3D assets for it

We require Unity because you must use UModeler X. The theme will be announced at launch. Join the discord to get the fastest updates

Updating on this, we now have the giveaway display on the jam page for anyone who misses this post

I had a debate with some guy today about having titles too misleading and just wanted to get the community's opinion on this so I can improve on future jams. Also this would just help promote the thread

Hey man, you can join our discord server to find people easier!

Update:

We are going to be running a Odin Inspector + Validator giveaway in our server during the jam. Come join the server to apply for entries (its free don't worry you just need to earn points in our program). 

We are giving away three vouchers to people in our server, the more loyal members will have a better chance with more points but everyone is encouraged to join. It's supposed to be a fun activity to engage our community while we host this special jam. I will update this post once the giveaway news is on the jam page but for now you know about it here.

Update:

Just a reminder to anyone interested in joining the jam, it is in your best interest to start learning UModeler X now so you can get ahead of everyone during the competition.

Update:

We have acquired a new sponsor: Distant Lands! They are a Unity Asset creator most popular for their 3D COZY Weather assets. For this jam, they are willing to award our winners Thalassophobia: Stylized Oceans. 

You can check out the product on our jam page. This tool increases our prize value by $120. We expect to hear back from more sponsors leading up to the jam, so stay tuned by joining our discord server and keeping an eye out on our website. Thanks Distant Lands for sponsoring us!

Hello community,

Future Inspire Academy is back at it again! Now we are hosting our fifth game jam with a prize value of $960 for the winning team. We don’t just offer cash, but we offer up personal licenses from our partners that are some of the top Unity Assets in the market. This time, we are featuring the new UModeler X, the hot new modeling asset from the creators of the classic UModeler! We also give you other assets chosen by our wonderful sponsors. One even lets you choose what you get!

Unlike our last three jams, this one has a unique gimmick: You must use UModeler X for (almost) all art! This asset provides everything you need to make your models and is very comparable to other established 3D software like Blender! Join our game jam now right here and check out what you can win. Our prize pool is expected to increase over the next two weeks with new sponsors in coming so stay tuned: https://itch.io/jam/future-inspire-jam-5-value-prize

Future Inspire Academy is a non-profit organization that strives to kickstart game development in a fun, convenient, and casual way through our gamifying point system. What makes our game jams unique is our upgradable prize pool where you can redeem more rewards by using points you gain from our program. We offer tons of benefits like daily challenges, weeklies, mentoring, beta access, and more. Read about us here on our dedicated website: https://futureinspireacademy.com/

This is our initial advertisement promotional message but we'll be keeping this post active with new updates and clarifications. Good luck jamming!

Join our discord server now to start learning and stay updated on the game jam: https://discord.gg/22y5x2E52g

Yeah you might be able to update it; I think I did that for a game jam before. But I would just submit one time with the finished product just in case

There's plenty of games that look great with just basic shapes. I'm not that great in art either but I can make it work with some post processing and stuff. There's still a chance you can get a high rating in the presentation category so don't sweat it, do your best!

yup, that's totally fine with me. Sorry for the late reply. You can join our discord server to get faster replies.

And if you want to join a team, you should probably join a more popular and well known game jam (like the featured jams) that have a large community of participants also looking for teammates

Update:

If you are using Unreal Engine 5 (or any version of an engine where the latest version does not support WebGL), start a new project in Unreal Engine 4 (or any version of your chosen engine that does support WebGL) then port your assets over and go from there.

$960 PRIZE VALUE. That means we are giving out $960 worth of prizes. This can be both actual cash and other assets and tools. Winner can get $100 cash + other cool assets that are useful for game dev. Read our disclaimer too, $960 is an advertised prize pool but its entirety is not attainable

You must submit your game to this itch jam page and have a web-based build for people to play without needing to download anything. Hopefully that answers your question.

Yes, it's totally fine to use any pre-made assets. Sorry, we hoped that "any software, tool..." rule in the description answered questions about using assets but it probably wasn't clear enough. We appreciate all the feedback and we'll clarify better in future jams. 

If you need any help, come join the discord server because it's easier to do instant replies there

Update:

Our game jam has launched! The theme is MEMORY

Make sure to join our server to get updated on the latest info. Our community chat on the jam page works too but you'll get your answer much faster on our server

Go to our discord server (our second server) and there's a jam devlog channel. All the instructions are there

Great question to ask in our discord server where we have a large community!

What part do you not understand?

Yup that's totally fine. That's why we're giving all the money to the "team captain" and letting them distribute it to the team however they see fit. So if your members don't want the money and you guys agree that you'll just take the money, then that's a perfectly valid thing to do and that will just be handled between you guys and I won't get involved with it.

Reminder that our game jam starts this Monday, so we have one day left to join! Make sure to pair up with your friends!

You are right about our intentions for requiring web-based games. We are not really worried about the technicality of whether you are creating a WebGL build or not; as long as your game can be played on the web and be submitted to itch's jam page, we are totally fine. The point is to not require anyone to download games for our jams if they prefer not to. Hopefully that answers your question 😁

New Update:

We have added a new sponsor to our game jam: Kubacho Lab, creator of popular assets vTabs, vFolders, vHierarchy, and vFavorites! They are generous enough to provide vouchers to the winning team so each member can choose a free copy of Kubacho's tools. We are now at a prize pool of $960 (+$120). Thanks Kubacho Labs! Make sure to join our jam if you like what we do. 

Hello community,

Future Inspire Academy is back, hosting our fourth game jam with a prize value of $840 for the winning team. We don’t just offer cash, but we offer up personal licenses from our partners that are some of the top Unity Assets in the market. This time, we are featuring Odin Inspector and Dialogue System, two popular assets that are constantly on the store's front page! Unless a solo developer wins, we add a gimmick to attain the full cash prize. This is because we value our community and want to reward members of our organization that help push us in the right direction. After all, we would never hope to host game jams with amazing sponsors without them! Join our game jam now right here and check out all the prizes you can win: https://itch.io/jam/future-inspire-jam-4-840-value-prize

Future Inspire Academy is a non-profit organization that strives to teach game development in a fun, convenient, and casual way through our gamifying point system. What makes our game jams unique are our upgradable prize pool where you can redeem more rewards by using points you gain from our program. We offer tons of benefits like daily challenges, weekly game creations, mentoring, beta access, and more. Read about us here on our dedicated website: https://futureinspireacademy.com/ 

Join our discord server now to start learning and stay updated on the game jam: https://discord.gg/rnpUYpkABa This is our initial advertisement promotional message but we'll be keeping this post active with new updates and clarifications

If you are a solo developer, you will get all $100 without needing to spend any points. That's the benefit of winning solo, but we also make it easier for teams to collectively gather the points to afford the entire prize pool too. Congrats on being first, thanks for the support