🌈OPTIONAL THEME: COLORFUL🌈

Welcome to the ALLIES GAYME JAM

What's a Game Jam?

A Game Jam is an event where people come together to start and finish a game in a set period of time. The time period for a game jam can range from 12-72 hours and participants can work individually or together and make any kind of game.  An easy way to think about it is that it's a hackathon, but for games! It's a great way to experiment with story and mechanics, finish a small game project, and meet other people interested in games!

How does the ALLIES Game Jam work?

The ALLIES Game Jam will run for 12 hours on Saturday, October 27 from 11am-midnight with a 1-hour break in between and we will play each others games at the end. The jam will be located in Wean 5328.

Guidelines:

• General ALLIES rules apply: Be respectful, no bigotry, NSFW warnings and trigger warnings on games should be included when applicable
• Bring your own supplies! Devices, food, etc
• We mean for the jam to be individual but if people want to work in teams, they can form their own teams before the jam
•  You can make any kind of game! Video game, board game, card game, tabletop RPG module, etc. 
• The most important goal of the ALLIES Game Jam is to have fun and meet new people! Don't worry if you don't have any game design  or programming experience-- the jam will be casual and low-stakes and we hope to simply motivate you to make more games in the future!

I've never made a game before! What should I use?

• Do you want to make a browser RPG with little-to-no programming experience? Use Bitsy!
• Do you want to make a text-based game? Use Twine!
• Do you want to make a visual novel with either little programming (or some Python)? Use Ren'Py!
• Have you taken 15-112 and/or want to do something more programming-heavy? Use PyGame!
• Don't want to do programming? Make a board game, card game, or tabletop RPG module! 
  • Prompts for non-video game games can be found on the CMU Game Design class's website, if you need inspiration! (Including rules for a simple tabletop RPG system)

Tips for Game Jams!

•  Scale small! The focus of a jam is to have something playable at the end, no matter how short the game is. 
  •  To get an idea of the scale of game jam games, take a look at entries for the Bitsy Game Jam (Keep in mind these were made in a week of non-continuous work, rather than 12 hours of continuous work)
•  Function > beautiful, polished game. The priority should be finishing a game that works rather than getting every part perfect
  • If it saves you time, use free art/music assets from the internet
•  Make a playable prototype as early as possible so you can playtest it with the other people in the jam! 
  •  A good rule of thumb is to have your main mechanic be finished and playable by the halfway point
• If you're using an unfamiliar engine, play around with it/learn the basics/read a tutorial before the game jam. You only have 12 hours in the jam, so it's best if you use most of it to actually make a game rather than going through tutorials! 
• Take breaks, eat, drink! Take care of yourself!