Posted January 13, 2025 by HAGJ
#historicallyaccurategamejam #hagj #hagj jam wiki #game jams
Credit: Tuile
Rules
Browse through any of the links, to read further on the topic.
Code of Conduct
Applies to both the jam, and the HAGJ communities on itch and Discord
The jam wiki on our official landing page has more wiki posts for you to browse through, including this one about what happens when receiving a warning/disqualification!
WHAT KIND OF THEMES CAN I SUGGEST TO HAGJ?
To suggest a theme for HAGJ that won’t be removed during the vetting process, here are some important guidelines to keep in mind:
Before sharing your theme idea, check the following:
For more details, consider reading another wiki article, How is the Game Jam Theme Chosen?.
WHAT KIND OF GAMES AM I ALLOWED TO SUBMIT?
HAGJ is a video game jam, so your submission should be a video game (not board games or paper-only), created and submitted within the jam period. It may be a downloadable program or a browser-based experience (itch.io supports both).
It should not require physical materials to play. Supplementary physical materials are fine, but we recommend putting any information that would be useful to players into the game itself, and the game should not require those to run.
(Note: installation instructions and tutorials/controls are the exception, although we recommend putting those directly on the game’s itch.io page if not in the game itself).
Additionally, while we want to give participants as much creative freedom as possible, we do have a few rules regarding content:
WHAT GAME ENGINES ARE ALLOWED?
One of the first (and earliest) choices made in a game jam is what engine to use. In HAGJ, there are many options – any engine that is publicly available can be used for a HAGJ project. You may also use any publicly available coding base. So what we’re trying to say is - no purchased assets allowed.
Participants may also create/use their own engine. Obviously, this is extremely difficult, so we strongly recommend using a pre-existing publicly available engine, but we aren’t going to stop you if you can! Participants should feel free to choose whatever engine they like, regardless of its complexity.
Here are some options of free/publicly available engines that you can use during HAGJs:
Open-source engines
Non-open-source engines
Considering whether an engine is open-source or not may be important. Many non-open-source engines require users to pay a fee to upgrade to the complete version, to sell the games they make using the engine, or to pay royalties if game sales reach a certain threshold. Please ensure that you give proper credit for everything you use, whether it’s a pre-made asset or yourselves!
IS PRE-MADE/AI CONTENT ALLOWED?
HAGJ allows both pre-made and AI content to be used in the jam, with some restrictions:
Regardless of the source, they must all be publicly available, and attained without payment (similar to our rule for game engines.
Jam participants may use assets/features/components that they have created in the past in the jam (as long as it’s in their git-repository, and publicly visible). You don’t need to make those resources free for others to use.
You can use free/AI generated code as long as it’s really basic - e.g. you can copy-paste a movement script to save time but you can’t copy-paste an advanced shader script or a whole game system.
For art/music assets, restrictions are reduced on using free/publicly available assets, but we also encourage that jam participants consider opt-ing out of categories where more than 30% of said category is not self-created. e.g. If you’ve used a lot of free/AI art assets, opting out of the category for the Graphics category, would be fair to others who have made the art themselves during the jam period.
Also for the sake of fairness, it is mandatory for developers to add a disclaimer on all pre-made/free/AI resources used on their submission page. Unfair use and lack of disclaimers of AI/pre-made resources may result in a disqualification in special cases. If you find yourself being part of an edge-case, or simply fell into a grey area/didn’t know - you will be given a warning, but still allowed to participate. A repeat of a similar edge-case will result in disqualifications in the future.
HOW TO GIVE CREDIT TO MY TEAMMATES? WHO NEEDS TO BE CREDITED?
When submitting a game to HAGJ, everyone who contributed to the game must be credited on the itch page. As there is a 6-person team limit, there are two kinds of roles people may take up while creating a HAGJ submission: Core and external team members.
It is expected that the core team members will do the majority of the work. For example, an external voice actor might record their own lines, but the core team is responsible for editing them as needed and implementing them into the game. A historical consultant might research the architecture of 1350s Vienna, but the team is responsible for reflecting that research in the game’s art and gameplay.
Anyone who contributes to a game submitted to the jam must obey the jam rules. This means no working on the game early, no paid assets, etc.
We urge people to not misuse the option to include external team members. This is a relatively new option, and may be subject to removal in future jams, and trustees may disqualify entries that handle this shadily.
If you are still unsure if your team exceeds the limit, or are facing issues related to team membership, please contact one of the trustees either on the jam forum or on the HAGJ Discord Community.
HOW DO I RATE OTHER SUBMISSIONS?
Once the submission period begins, you’ll find entry pages filling up the “Submissions” tab on the HAGJ event page. As a participant, if you’re credited on your entry page, you can rate other entries—and we encourage you to do so! Jam results are entirely based on participant ratings.
Never Played/Rated Games on Itch Before? Start Here >>
Ready to try some games? Head to the “Submissions” tab and pick an entry. Once inside, you’ll see information about the game, including any descriptions and disclaimers, as well as comments from others who may have already played it.
After reading as much of it as you think is prudent, go to the game’s page and try the game! Before you start, consider taking notes or recording yourself to capture your experience. This can help you leave constructive feedback and provide a more thoughtful rating. After you’re done playing and are ready to rate, head back to the game’s submission page. (You will get to read more about how to judge what rating to give to an entry, in an upcoming wiki article)
You’re ready to rate the entry, just don’t know where? Start Here >>
You can navigate to the page on the Submissions page for any entry using two methods:
On any entry’s Submissions page, you’ll see a section below the game’s description where you can rate it. Just click the stars to rate from 0.5 to 5 stars.
How do I know what to rate the game with? Start Here >>
Things to keep in mind while playing and rating the game:
During any ongoing rating period, you can rate a game on 5 categories.
Important Note: If someone disclaims AI/usage, or relies heavily on free assets, consider adjusting their scores to be fairer to those who make assets from scratch.
CAN I GET DISQUALIFIED/BANNED FROM PARTICIPATING IN HAGJ?
Short answer, is “Yes!” Longer answer is, “Yes, but we will be following some protocols, to keep things fair overall.”
All participants must follow our Rules and Code of Conduct, which you are reading here.
Upon failing, toxic members will be given a warning.
Warnings are logged by Trustees, along with screenshots. Failure to comply may result in future bans to the community and jam. Please note that we normally don’t do this, but will only be taking this measure for serious cases of misconduct.
If we have concerns about an entry’s relevance/credibility, we will reach out through the entry’s submission page for more information, and the team behind it will have 48 hours to respond.
If a game is removed for being in violation of these rules, screenshots will be taken prior to entry disqualification.
Non-responsive participants (read this as “spam entrants” and trolls) will be blacklisted from future jams.
We’d like to promote a positive environment for the jam, and people who disrupt it won’t be allowed to participate in the jam or our jam communities.
Any attempts to exploit or find loopholes within the rules will result in a similar warning.
Trustees (Co-hosts) may add/amend the jam page/rules at any point in time, in response to the needs of the jam/community. We’re allowing ourselves the room to fix any emerging issues, or to correct any mistakes we may make, even if it is in the middle of the jam.
Please let any of the Trustees know if you spot someone doing something that doesn’t look right, or if you are confused about your own submission. Depending on the severity of a participant’s actions, participants may face disqualification or be given a grace period to fix issues, based on the discretion of the Trustees.
Screenshots related to warnings or bans may be requested at any point, as long as are not sensitive in nature.
Is this wiki incomplete? Please feel free to suggest changes or let us know at historicallyaccurategamejam@gmail.com