Welcome to IGDA's eJam! This completely virtual game jam pairs students with professional game developers to jam out awesome game projects in just 48 hours!
This game jam is for students and aspiring game developers to provide them with game development skills, practice, mentorship, and networks that will benefit their career development.
This jam is being generously sponsored by Obsidian Entertainment, Core Games, Riot Forge Games, and Unity.
Sponsored By:
Event Summary
Students everywhere have experienced severe disruption to their study and their lives as schools and universities have had to move online. With the approaching summer, this disruption is not only relegated to campuses, but there has also been a wide-spread cancellation of internship opportunities and other summer activities.
The IGDA is hosting its first ever eJam completely virtually to help high school and college students learn more about game development while expanding their portfolios.
The eJam will run for 48 hours from 3pm PDT June 26 to 3pm PDT June 28, 2020. A keynote and introductory talks will be presented on June 26th at 12pm PDT on: https://www.twitch.tv/igda and a closing ceremony announcing the winners will be at 4pm PDT on: https://www.twitch.tv/twitchgaming
Teams will consist of up to 5 student members and at least one professional game developer mentor. You can find team members on the #ejam IGDA Discord channel or on this jam's itch.io forums. Mentors can be requested/proposed or they will be assigned by the IGDA from available IGDA mentor volunteers.
Mentors
Apply to be paired with a professional game developer mentor or to mentor a team. To guarantee a mentor, please sign up by 11:59pm PDT on June 22nd: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/IGDA_eJam2020
If you are unable to get an assigned mentor, don't fear! The IGDA's Discord has over 1500 professional game developers that will help answer your questions!
Note: If you haven't
Theme: Celebration
Streamers, fireworks, parties, friends, and fun-- It's time to celebrate! Whether your ideal celebrate is a silly birthday bash or a fantastical fantasy parade, we want to see your most fun, thrilling, and friendly celebration themed games!
Bonus Theme: Core
Core Games is offering additional benefits to contestants who submit a game made in Core! Two weeks after the eJam ends, the top three Core-created games will be awarded with featuring and promotion by Core Games on the Core homepage, social media, Discord, and emails!
Prizes
Students of all levels of experience are welcome and celebrated in this game jam. To acknowledge that each team will be facing unique challenges on their path, we will be giving special awards to the three teams for outstanding accomplishments as:
Most Creative: We are looking for the team that shows the most creativity in approaching the theme and their game. We want to celebrate the unique, creative, and thoughtful approaches in the mechanics, art, and theme of your game!
Best Teamwork: We are all coming together to make these games and we want to recognize those who do the most to support each other. If you are a solo team, don't fear! We will be keeping a close eye on our Discord and forums to look for those who are most willing to lend a hand and words of support to others.
Best Growth: The journey is the most important part of any game jam, not the result. We will be recognizing the team who shows the most personal growth over the coarse of this game jam, so don't shy away from asking for help-- Acknowledging the challenges you are facing will you get the resources, support, and recognition for overcoming them.
These three teams will win:
- A live interview with the IGDA about your game and efforts at the closing ceremony, featured on the front page of Twitch!
- An article about your team and game on the IGDA website, IGDA Insider, and social media
- VIP recognition by the IGDA, granting first opportunity at free industry event passes and other opportunities
Also: Every team who submits a game will be sent a participation certificate and granted a free year of IGDA Membership-- providing access to exclusive IGDA resources, such as the IGDA Resource Library, IGDA Chapters and SIG, more mentorship opportunities, and thousands of dollars in discounts on hardware and events!
Core Games is offering additional benefits to contestants who submit their game made in Core! Two weeks after the eJam ends, the top three Core-created games will be awarded with featuring and promotion by Core Games on the Core homepage, social media, Discord, and emails!
Communities
Game development can be a challenging process, so look to both your mentors and the IGDA's awesome communities to receive additional help:
- IGDA's Discord Server - Has over 1,800 game developers who can help answers your questions or concerns
- eJam's Community Forums- Allows you to post your progress and connect with other jammers
Core
Core is the new free game creation platform that lets you build, publish, and play games. Your game does NOT have to be created in Core, but it is a recommended option for teams that are new to game development.
Core makes prototyping and iteration fast, so it’s a great platform for Game Jams, especially if you want to quickly set up a 3D multiplayer experience. You can get started making games right away using thousands of free, high quality music, sound, and art assets, with no coding required.
Core is backed by the power of the Unreal engine, and it lets you create and customize your game as you see fit, from custom game logic in Lua to unique models you can combine from kitbashed primitives to a fully featured terrain editor.
Check out the following video of how to create and publish a multiplayer-ready game in 10 minutes!
Unity
Unity is a powerful game engine that can support the creation of 2D and 3D games using JavaScript or C#. Unity also offers an extensive asset library that can be used to help build out your game.
Unity is providing two specialists to answer questions in the IGDA #ejam and #unity channels from:
June 27th, 2020: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (PDT)
June 28th, 2020: 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM (PDT)
So you are welcome to ask questions there as you work on your eJam game!
eJam Goals
The core goals for eJam are:
- Promote the academic and social benefits of game development
- Teach students about tools and technology to advance their game development and general skills
- Provide students with important game development practice and knowledge
- Connect students with a valuable network of mentors and peers for a career in game development
- Help students build their portfolio for game development careers
- Alleviate stress and social isolation fatigue by providing students with an interesting and socially interactive experience
Rules
To apply for a team mentor and to qualify your game to win prizes as part of the eJam, you and your team must follow these rules:
- Teams
- Work alone or with a team of up to 5 members (excluding mentors)
- All team members should be current high school or college students or recent graduates. Additionally, we are welcoming aspiring game developers who are currently engaged in studying game development and do not have any published titles
- All team members must be 13 years old or older
- Teams must submit their mentor application by June 22nd to be guaranteed a mentor
- Game submissions
- Submissions must be playable on Windows or Mac OS X
- The game project must be started and fully completed within the eJam's designated period, from 3pm PDT June 26 to 3pm PDT June 28, 2020
- Submission must NOT contain sexually explicit, racist, sexist, or otherwise disturbing content
- Code of conduct
- Treat each other with respect
- Be mindful of your speech and behavior towards others, especially when disagreeing
- Harassment or abuse of any form will not be tolerated
- Use appropriate profile images and names
- Do not send unsolicited private messages to anyone
- Do not share sexually explicit, racist, sexist, or otherwise disturbing content
- Do not disclose personal information about anyone other than yourself
- Do not advertise services, software, or other products
IGDA
The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) is the world’s largest nonprofit membership organization serving all individuals who create games. Their mission is to support and empower game developers in achieving fulfilling and sustainable careers.
The IGDA brings together developers at key industry events and in over 150 chapters and special interest groups (SIGs) to improve their lives and their craft. Whether you’re a student aspiring to become a game developer or a seasoned veteran—you are welcome in the IGDA!
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