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FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions Sticky

A topic by Lee Reilly created Nov 01, 2019 Views: 2,653 Replies: 37
Viewing posts 1 to 18
Jam Host (1 edit) (+3)

Hi there!

In no particular order, here some answers to some frequently asked on Twitter, Discord, and this forum. Please let me know if anything's unclear or you have more questions and I'll keep this updated :)

Can we use Unity or Unreal Engine?

Yes!

Can we use pre-made assets?

Absolutely, although many people will create their own. I'd recommend adding some attribution in your GitHub repository's README.

> Can we use pre-made code?

The use of game engines, libraries, templates for new games, etc. is fine. In fact, it's highly encouraged! Taking a game you've been working on for months, or forking a game and changing some pixels is probably not in the spirit of the jam :)

> Can we sell the games (for the jam or post jam)?

Absolutely!

> Is there a twitter hashtag?

The official hashtag is #GitHubGameOff. We 馃挏 seeing work-in-progress screenshots throughout the month! <3

> Are games allowed if they contain 18+ content?

No restrictions on content, but if it's something I wouldn't show my kids or grandparents... then it may be less likely that it'll appear on our blog :) Please also see itch.io's note on adult content.

> What are the voting categories?

Similar to last year, games will be rated on the following: Overall, Gameplay, Graphics, Audio, Innovation and Theme Interpretation.

> What kinds of licenses are required/accepted for the public GitHub repo?

You're welcome to use whatever kind of license you wish! See this documentation for tips on choosing / applying a license.

> Can I edit the game after the submission period?

Please don't change the game on the itch.io page until after the voting period ends. If there's a bug that seriously affects/prevents playability that's a "quick fix", please feel free to address it. Just leave a note on the itch.io page saying what you changed and why. Since the code is not being judged, you can update the GitHub repository any time.

can you use rpgmaker? just before I make up my mind as to entering.

Jam Host(+2)

Hi - absolutely. A good rule of the thumb is that if you can fit the source code or game file in a repository, it's perfectly fine. We've had people submit board games and Powerpoint presentations in the past!

Cheers,
  Lee

(+1)

May I request that you add community forums like this to the 2020 Game Off so we may ask questions and form teams?
Thank you.

(+1)

can I use construct 2 or 3 ? 

Jam Host

Hi - yes. See my reply above :)

Cheers,
  Lee

What if we included the theme in some not obvious ways? Like, the whole game is actually something wicked, but we never let the players know it's actually this(You know, like pokemon would be about Ash being in a Coma or Link in Majora's Mask was actually dead throughout the entire series etc..). You know, we hint it's there but we let the players guess if it's like this or not.. Is there a way to let the judge know what the underlying thought of the game is, without informing the playerbase what the game actually is about?
Sorry if I don't make sense, English isn't my native language!

Submitted (1 edit)

I don't think any game will be disqualified for not fitting the theme. You'll just risk getting lower scores in Theme and Overall cathegories. But that's just my guess.

Jam Host

That's perfectly fine. Maybe you can add a sentence in the game description suggesting that the tie-in to the theme will only be obvious once you complete it?

Cheers,
  Lee

please tell me how to participate in team

Jam Host (2 edits)

You might have some luck finding or forming a team with the Crowdforge page. Failing that, I'd recommend introducing yourself in the Discord server's #team channel (or in a thread here) - mentioning your skills, experience level, time commitments, etc. Good luck!

can you please explain me topic and also a example game link 

Jam Host

There are some great definitions of the LEAPS AND BOUNDS in this thread.

There are also some great interpretations / explorations of game ideas in the Discord's server's #game-ideas channel.

Submitted

Who gets to vote? Participants or everyone?

Jam Host

It'll be participants only again this year.

Submitted

Great! Thanks!

If you have an idea for a game and you're also working on another jam but it fits both can you add the game into both the jams

Jam Host

Absolutely.

Submitted

Was the last year's Game Off this big? This jam is turning out to be one of the biggest on itch ever.

Submitted

Right now it's 5th largest jam of itch in terms of number of people who have joined. 2018's Game Off is the 3rd largest.
https://itch.io/jams/past

(+1)

Hi, it says on the Game Jam page to push your game's source code and assets to GitHub. How do I do that from Godot? I've no idea how to push the code on Godot onto a GitHub repo.

Submitted

Initiate a new git repository in you project folder. Commit files/changes as you work. Push those changes to a remote repo you鈥檝e created on github.

Godot works really well with git since all of the project files are mostly plain text.

Check out githubs tutorials on using git if you don鈥檛 know what any of that means yet. Learning git can be a bit daunting, but using it is really easy when you have the basics down.

Hi, 

How many winners will be there? Will there be separate winners from each voting category?

Jam Host

Hi - similar to previous years, we'll have winners across all of the categories - Overall, Gameplay, Graphics, Audio, Innovation, and Theme Interpretation. See the 2018 results for example.

Cheers,
  Lee

(2 edits) (+1)

Quick clarification about this Q/A:  Can we sell the games (for the jam or post jam)?

Do we have to make it free for voting? Won't making it paid hurt our chances as some people might not want to buy a game and therefore we would lose their vote?

Jam Host(+2)

Absolutely - a few folks have made their game available for sale post-jam e.g. Bad Vibes from 2017. I'd strongly recommend making it free to play during voting to maximize the number of people playing, rating, giving feedback, etc.

OK  Thanks! That's probably what I'll do.

(1 edit) (+1)

Just wanted to clarify two items. The main page for the jame instructs participants to "Create a new public GitHub repository." Is it acceptable to work in a private repository, only making it public at submission?

And licensing. As far as I understand, the game need only be source available. Does it need to be genuinely open source? Or does the source really need to be available at all?

Jam Host(+1)

Adding it to a private repository and making it public at submission time is perfectly fine. To follow with the spirit of the jam, the source code should be in a public repository, but there's no obligation to use any or a particular license. HTH!

(1 edit)

I started github repo 27 october and didnt do major features of game till the start of the jam. After jam start i see that my idea feets perfectly for jam theme. Can i participate? Link to the repo:https://github.com/Norrowind/Shoot-n-Fall

Assets i took from mixamo and UE4 marketplace

Jam Host (2 edits)

Hi - I'd love to see you participate! I had a quick look the commits/history and it looks like it's just a little bit more than setting up a starter template, which wouldn't have been an issue. Perhaps you can join, but make your personal submission deadline November 27th... and make a note of that on the project page? Just to be fair to everyone else making a game in that period of time :)

(1 edit)

Thank you for allowing me to take part. I have already made a note about this on github readme. Will make the same on project page on itch.io , as soon as i submit it.

Do people with the most votes win something?

Jam Host(+1)

No - there are no prizes for the Game Off.

Submitted

How do I change git link for project?

I have decided to change the game I'm submitting. I have changed the contents of game's itch page to match, but I don't see how to change git link

Submitted

Found how to do it: click on "Submitted" at the top of your post, then there will be option to edit submission, specifically changing git url

Can we work in teams and what is the limit per member?

Also how do we register our team?