HELLO!

And welcome to the page of the Winter 2023 Oxford CompSoc game jam! For the uninitiated, a game jam is a competition where the task is to develop a game in a limited timeframe - here, we've given you 10 days, from the 29th of December to the 8th of January. This gives you 2 weekends to complete your game in - the same amount of time as the last jam - and it's recommended you only work on the game for one of them! The best games are made quickly.

No worries if your game takes a little more time to cook than you expected, though, submissions will be open all throughout the jam's voting period!

Once again, we have a prize! - again it's a CompSoc t-shirt of your choice! Miss out on one at the last game jam? Always wanted one but never got round to buying? Here's your golden opportunity.

The jam also will have a required theme, which your game will have to adhere to in some way, and that theme is:

BALANCE

What can you glean from this? Well, here are some ideas:

• Maybe you're keeping some variables or resources in balance, at the head of some hellish corporate middle management job that just keeps getting more difficult as time goes on,
• Perhaps you're actually balancing a physical object, against outside environmental hazards (or perhaps deliberate intervention by some malicious actor?),
• You could make a game about finding inner balance - you might be a monk, trying to find true spiritual enlightenment,
• Maybe you're keeping the world in balance, against malevolent otherworldly forces (or just some evil critters)

And those are just some ideas! Do let your creativity run as wild as you want here.

RULES

1. Behave honourably.
2. Have fun! That's really all there is to it.

RATING

The games will be rated on four categories, like last time:

1. Aesthetics (so that's artwork, sounds, music etc)
2. Enjoyment (is it fun?)
3. Idea (is the concept original, interesting or novel?)
4. Theme (how well, and how creatively, does it fit the theme?)
5. The Experience (overall, then, how did you feel about the experience given to you?)

At the end of the development period (8th Jan), you'll be able to rate each others' games in these categories! An average will then be taken at the end of the voting period (15th Jan), and a winner decided from that.

FAQ

• Who can join? Anyone!
• Can I work in a team? You certainly can! Feel free to work in a group as large as you'd like, and we'll try get as many shirts to your group as we can.
• Can I submit multiple games? Sure, if you want, but note that that's a very ambitious goal!
• Can I submit games I've worked on before the jam? No, sorry - even if they (somehow) fit the theme. Do all your work during the development time!
• How will the prize get to me? If you're currently an Oxford student (or just in Oxford), we'll be able to hand over the shirt in person at one of our socials in HT - we'll give more details closer to the date! Otherwise, we can ship one to you.