The Jam:

Hello there and welcome to the Build in Progress Game Jam of 2023. I’m hopeful that this jam serves as a motivational kick to hammer out and refine your current build in progress project, or as an opportunity to flesh out that one idea you wrote down three years ago, but never had an excuse to pursue.

You, the developer, will be allotted two months, and some change, to work on your build. To be clear, you may work on a current project or create a new one from scratch. It, of course, must be made in the SRPG Studio engine.

In addition, as the developer, it would be in your best interest to provide an effective feedback scale-based survey.

For example:

SRPG Studio Project Title Feedback Survey

      Gameplay (Mechanic)

I wanted to create an easy to understand, but hard to master gameplay loop involving Combat arts.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how well did I do?

1: Combat Arts were too situational, difficult to understand mechanically, underwhelming.

5: Some Combat Arts were difficult to use well, but others really shined.

10: I was able to use Combat Arts to their fullest almost every time and I felt rewarded for doing so.

I believe I scored at about a 7.

      Gameplay (Difficulty)

I wanted to create a steady difficulty curve that grows alongside the combat arts as they unlock.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how well did I do?

1: The difficulty was all over the place.

5: Early chapters tended to be more difficult, later chapters were too easy.

10: There was a consistent difficulty throughout.

I think I could do better, optimistically; I think it was about a 6.

      Technical (Unique Draw)

When I set out, I wanted to be different from a vanilla SRPG Studio experience.

On a scale of 1 to 10, how well did I do?

1: With exception to the Combat Arts, it felt pretty tame.

5: The Combat Arts were refreshing, but the dev could have done more with map design.

10: I’m surprised and impressed (Project Name) was made in SRPG Studio.

To tell the truth, I would score myself at a 6. I wasn’t satisfied with my final map.

** The survey may sound like a daunting idea, but don’t intimidated, brainstorm in Discord if you need the help. Here are some category types to consider:

• Presentation (How well did I use… ?)
  • Audio
  • Visual
  • Pacing
• Gameplay
  • Difficulty
  • Skill Acquisition
  • Map Design
• Technical
  • Successful/Unsuccessful Events
  • Features that feel like Bugs, Bugs that feel like Features
  • Limitations Overcome

It’s important to note that you are not expected to have this right at the get-go of development. Consider tuning it as you work on your submission. Please try to provide this type of survey alongside your submission. Remember, the above is just an example piece. Your goal is to craft a survey that targets the points in your project that you find important. 

** In the event that some volunteer judges are assembled, they will develop their own generalized scale-list to evaluate your project. This may tackle parts of your project that your own survey did not. **

It’s important to remember that feedback is feedback, it can be good or bad and you must be able to sort out what you need and what is you do not, but ultimately be willing to at least hear it all out.

After the two month development process, submissions will enter the Judgement Round. This is where players (and volunteer judges), will play, and respond to your feedback survey. In addition, there will be an Overall Category to determine the winner. There are no prizes involved, but Most Popular is still a pretty cool badge to win. 

Finally, there are no hard limitations in regard to assets outside of the engine. But please try to stick to original, free use and/or non-copyrighted material. 

Rules:

1. Must be made in the SRPG Studio Engine.
2. Keep your entry between the ESRB Age Ratings of E and M. Inform potential players in your entry’s description.
3. No shock content or otherwise genuinely harmful material.
4. Be tactful and respectful. This includes both developers and players.
5. Updating your submission during the Judgement Round is permissible, however, do not abuse it. Save it for game-breaking bugs and other similar issues. 
6. Updated submissions must clearly be represented as such with a version number. 
   For example: (Insert Title) Ver .25 becomes  (Insert Title) Ver .3. 

Recommendations:

1. Strongly consider keeping your entry shorter rather than longer, about 5-6 hours or less for example. The goal of this jam is to gain important feedback on your gameplay, writing, visuals, etc. Everyone would like for their own entry to be played, so let’s try to help players have more time to try out everyone’s work. *5-6 hours can be considered a soft rule. You will not be eliminated for something longer, but let's be mindful of other people's time.*
2. Try to provide an estimated playtime.
3. Ensure your game is completable. In particular, broken events or impossible bosses that prevent further play is going to hurt you more than it will the players.
4. If you want to keep your main project out of the public view, consider a vertical slice of its mechanics placed into a neat little package under a different name, to get an understanding of how the public might handle it.
5. When making your Feedback Survey, be honest about your efforts and be clear about what issues you faced.
   For example: A tile specific command save feature that could bug out sometimes. “I was aware that my save feature had problems. However, I want to know if their placements were strategically impactful. On a scale of 1 to 10…” etc.

Important Dates!

Submission Start Date: March 3rd

FINAL Submission Date: March 10th, 11:59pm

Judgement and Voting Begins: March 10th, 11:59pm

Voting End Date: April 10th, 11:59pm

*As I am new to hosting, expect to see some game jam growing pains, check back for future updates.*