Welcome to Creation Jam 2023!

The Creation Jam is a collaborative multi-media art jam that aims to ignite the creative spark within digital and physical artists alike. This jam invites participants to push their boundaries, explore new mediums, and create unique and original art pieces based on a captivating theme.

Break Out of Your Comfort Zone!

Whether you're a digital artist seeking to dabble in traditional mediums, a writer inspired to experiment with music, or a hobby artist just wanting to try something new, this jam encourages you to step outside familiar boundaries, embrace creative risks, and unlock new dimensions of artistic expression!

Join The Discord !

https://discord.gg/VZWAScWrNT

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You are tasked with telling a story and/or providing your audience with an experience that embodies the theme of the jam. 

Theme: DEREALIZATION

Derealization is a dissociative symptom characterized by a subjective experience of feeling detached or disconnected from one's surroundings. It involves a sense of unreality or unfamiliarity with the environment, as if the external world has become distorted or lacking in authenticity. Individuals with derealization may perceive their surroundings as dreamlike, foggy, or artificial.

Brainstorm Starters

Reality Bender: Physically manipulate the world around you.

Fragmented Narratives: Create a narrative puzzle to solve.

Character Identity Shifts: Who are you ?

Memory Manipulation: Erase the past, rewrite the future.

Time Loops and Paradoxes: Challenge cause and effect.

Unreliable Perception: Create false assumptions.

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floating islands, labyrinth, memory keeper, scattered, mirrors, echo, amnesia, asylum, forgotten, experimental, heal, fragmented, eternal, hourglass, Chronos, masquerade, see beyond

Special Projects

**These are for anyone who wants a bit more direction, I have some cool ideas for you <3 **

MINECRAFT - Oh boy I love a good Minecraft gameplay story, and it’s easy and fun to build new structures and act out the scenes! You could even just build a structure or record yourself fighting a boss - I will literally give you a special award just for beating the ender dragon on my modded server ( details in discord )

3D MODEL - Take a stab at 3D modeling for the first time! Make a mystical tree or a new planet maybe? Give it some cool backstory and write a poem about your art piece!

BITSY GAME - omg omg plz i wanna see a cute bitsy game that tells a cute story with cute music .. and maybe a jumpscare or two?

BLACK RAINBOWS - Create a song inspired by the song Black Rainbows in Hawaii: Part II

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Inspiration Media 

Persona :: skysfalling

INSIDE :: Bo Burnham

Hawaii: Part II :: Miracle Musical

The Great Mystery of Hawaii: Part II

Labyrinth :: GameMaker RPG :: Hawaii : Part ll

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How does it work?

The Creation Jam kicks off on August 1st at 5:00 pm PST and continues until August 16th at 5:00pm PST. You can submit your project at anytime during this period to be counted during the voting process.

For one week after the jam ends, people will be able to rate your project against the following criteria:

• Creativity - How interesting, original, creative, and inventive the underlying idea is
• Theme - How well the submission aligns to the theme
• Emotional Impact - How well the project captivates and connects with the audience

These three criteria will add to your Overall rating for your game. Everyone is eligible to rate games - and will be able to find them on the itch.io page for the jam, after it ends. At the end of the voting period, the overall rank for the games will not be immediately shown.

Once the voting round is over, the judges will sort through all submissions and determine the winners of the Awards. The Award ceremony will be both virtual and in-person for local participants. Date and time TBD.

What can I make?

Make an original game, song, story, film, painting, or any other art piece that fits the given theme in two weeks! This jam’s length is meant to encourage participants to try something new and allow time for ideation and, of course, creating!

This jam is a bit different than typical game jams, since not all entries must be games. This means that there are different requirements for each category, but every single entry must follow the General Rules to be accepted. See both the General Rules and Submission Requirements for more information.

Who can join?

Anyone! You can participate individually or as part of a team, and there are no limitations on the number of people per team. You can find people to team-up with in the discord server! (( https://discord.gg/VZWAScWrNT ))

Only one person needs to join itch.io and submit your project. However, if others on the team also join itch.io, they can be tagged as contributors. ( On your game's itch page, pick "Edit", "More", "Admins", and follow the instructions ).

Sharing and Showcasing

Once your project is complete, you must submit it on our dedicated itch.io page, where it will be showcased alongside the works of other talented artists.

This platform allows participants to connect, exchange feedback, and inspire one another. We encourage early submissions to maximize the opportunity for collaboration and engagement.

General Rules =============== // >>

• Your project cannot contain hateful, derogatory, or bigoted content.
• Your project must be created and submitted within the game jam time frame.
• Your project is not required to be finished – we accept demos and unfinished projects alike! You are also free to update your project after you submit it, even after the jam.
  

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• We accept games with adult content, but they must be tagged +18 in the title and adult content must not be visible in the game thumbnail.
• While mature themes are allowed in your project, please label your work accordingly for explicit/disturbing content. While heavy content and themes are allowed, we ask that you handle traumatizing subjects sensitively. You may be asked to revise your project, but in a failure to fit this guideline we reserve the right to remove your submission.
• We have the right to remove any game or jammer for violating conduct or submission rules.

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• All projects must have an itch.io page for their project, whether it is a game or not. If you are concerned about how you should present your project on itch.io please join the Discord for help and troubleshooting.
• Each project must have some documentation of the creation process included in the itch.io page. This can be screenshots, videos or even a written “captains log” detailing the process from beginning to end. This can be included by using a link to a document, a webpage or by embedding the documentation in the itch.io page submission.

Submission Requirements

All submissions must be viewable or downloadable from your project’s itch.io submission page.

Each project must have some documentation of the creation process included in the same itch.io page.

Awards

• Best Interpretation of the Theme
  • Recognizes the submission that showcases the most creative and compelling interpretation of the given theme.
• Best Emotional Impact
  • Acknowledges the submission that evokes the strongest emotional response and connects deeply with the audience.
• Best Overall Storytelling
  • Celebrates the submission that exhibits exceptional storytelling, captivating the audience with its narrative and plot development.
• Best Visual Design
  • Highlights the submission that demonstrates outstanding visual aesthetics, including composition, color palette, and overall artistic design.
• Best Sound Design
  • Recognizes the submission that excels in sound design, utilizing audio elements effectively to enhance the overall experience.
• Best Game Design
  • Honors the submission that showcases exceptional game design, including mechanics, gameplay flow, and overall player experience.
• Best Cinematography/Photography
  • Celebrates the submission that exhibits outstanding cinematography or photography skills, demonstrating mastery in capturing visually striking and compelling images.
• Most Impressive New Skill
  • Acknowledges the submission that demonstrates the most impressive acquisition and utilization of a new skill during the Creation Jam.
• Most Innovative Use of Medium
  • Recognizes the submission that showcases the most inventive and creative use of the chosen artistic medium(s).
• Best Project Documentation
  • Highlights the submission that provides the most comprehensive, organized, and informative documentation showcasing the artistic process and development.
• Best Cultural Representation
  • Celebrates the submission that effectively represents and celebrates a particular culture, demonstrating respect, authenticity, and inclusivity.
• Best Queer Representation
  • Acknowledges the submission that promotes positive, authentic, and inclusive representation of queer identities and experiences.
• Audience Choice Award
  • Represents the submission that receives the highest overall rating from the audience through public voting, reflecting the artwork that resonates most strongly with the broader community.

Special Achievements

Special Achievements are optional challenges that you can apply to your project for special recognition in the Award Ceremony!

• 1-bit - Only use two colors for your whole project!
• Pairs of Two - Incorporate a pairing of to objects or entities in your project
• Touch some grass - Go Outside!
• I miss the good ‘ol days - Incorporate any Classical piece of your choosing
• Falling from the Sky - Incorporate any work by skysfalling into your project
• Botos Binted? - Take a picture of a picture
• Blublublub - Go Underwater!
• The Lorax - Climb a Tree!
• Be Gay - Incorporate the colors of a Queer flag
• Mom look! - Include a parent or guardian as a collaborator
• Pink Monster - Pink Monster
• I’m not crying, you are! - Make one of the judges cry.
• Busy Bee - Submit a incomplete project
• Avocado - Avocado
• I like rocks :) - Incorporate a rock into your project.

Asset and crediting rules

• You may use third party resources in your game if you have the rights to use them, although you should be making most of your project from scratch.
• To credit resources in either the game credits or the project’s itch.io page, state the resource and the creator’s name and link. (i.e., Art by cool_artist)
• You can use pre-existing code and libraries you have the rights to use, including your own. However, anything specific to this jam game should be created within the jam timeframe.
• You are allowed to use AI art, writing, audio, or code in your projects, as long as you only use it ethically and minimally. This jam is meant to foster original content, so if your project is mostly AI generated your project may be disqualified from receiving any awards.

Legal and payment rules

• You retain all rights to your project and are free to sell it even after the jam has ended. We recommend “pay what you want” as a payment model to make your game accessible but allow people to tip you if they want!