Start: 03. October End: 03. November

REGISTER HERE!

THEME

This years theme is 'leave something behind'.

Wildcards

Wildcards are optional challenges. They're an additional idea to be implemented in whatever way you interpret that wildcard in conjunction with the announced theme.

This years wildcards are the following:

• Color is everything
• Tutorial betrayal
• "You're doing that genre wrong (and that's okay)
  

Welcome Traveller

If you love making games or dream of making a game, this is your chance. Create a fun and exciting game with like-minded enthusiastic students across all of switzerland and win some sweet prizes. This is your moment.

About the Jam

Though the Game Jam is a standalone challenge, it's part of HackSTAIR's larger event, featuring programming and hacking competitions. For the submission to be eligible, submitters and contributors need to verify and apply for participation for this gamejam on the HackSTAIR page.⬇️

 ALL TEAM MEMBERS NEED TO REGISTER HERE

(Dont forget to join the jam as well)

The Challenge

Create a game based on the announced theme within the given time frame. Fun, creativity and originality are key!

You can work solo or with a team of any size. There are no restrictions on group size.

Description (How the Game Jam Plays Out)

The jam runs for one full month and ends shortly before HackSTAIR.

• Start: 3rd October
• End: 3rd November

The theme will be revealed on the 3rd of October, right at the start of the jam. From then on, you and/or your team have one month to create and submit a game.

Careful, we cannot accept any submissions after 6pm on the 3rd of November, so make sure you have a working build at least a day beforehand.

Location (Online)

This game jam takes place fully online. Technically, you can participate from anywhere in the world. No physical location required.

Prizes

The teams which created the best rated games for this game jam win prizes worth up to 1000 CHF.

Submission Rules / Game Rules

These are the rules for the submissions. Any breach will immediately disqualify the submitters & contributors and the submission.

• Submitted games must be created during the jam timeframe.
• The theme, which will be announced at the start must be incorporated.
• NSFW content is not allowed.
• Submissions must be uploaded via itch.io by the end of the deadline.
• Games must be created exclusively by students of swiss universities.
• You must upload a WebGL build.
• Add all inputs for the game on the description on the itchio game page. Add a short description of your game as well.
• You must support keyboard input methods.
• Games must be fully in english.

Need help in making games?

Whether you've never written a line of code or are unable to draw anything that requires more proficiency than a literal stick figure, rest assured as STAIR provides a discord server, open to students, where you can connect with others, make teams and perhaps create something that is one of a kind.

A Link to the discord server is available at HackSTAIR.

Categories

Games must be judged and celebrated across the four main criteria:

• Gamefeel - Is the game fun? Does it feel fun to play?
• Playable - Is the game playable? Are interactions predictable and not simply arbitrary?
• Innovation - Does the game have innovative ideas and concepts? Does it have unique elements?
• Balancing - Are challenges and rewards adequately balanced? Is it fair? 

Please keep these categories in mind, when creating games.

How can i join the Game Jam?

It's not enough to simply "Join the jam". You must apply for the game jam, on this page as well. Every Team Member must apply through that page. That is STAIR's page for the HackSTAIR Event.

For your itch account and submission to be verified, you must provide in the HackSTAIR page your itch profile and verify your student status through a form. You will not receive a mail that confirms the verification. Rather, the verification process, will happen after the game jam ends.

We might contact the submitter of the game, for various purposes. This may happen during and after the game jam period, to ensure that any issues that might arise will be solved.

Contributors have to verify their student status through the form on HackSTAIR as well. If any submission has a contributor, that has not verified their student status, the game is disqualified.

How Voting Works

The games will be played by and voted on by the guests of HackSTAIR in person. Each participant will receive a select amount of stickers. Guests may apply their stickers on the games they liked. Guests may also apply multiple stickers on the same game if they liked a particular submission a lot.

Additionally, submissions will be evaluated by a select jury. They will score games based on the four criteria.

The Jury

A selected jury will help review all submissions. They will evaluate fairly according to the listed criteria.

Jury members have first hand experience with commercial game development and the games industry. Your game will be subject to careful analysis, based on tangible and invaluable experience. An opportunity you shouldn't miss out on.

Commonly Asked Questions

• Who can join? Students enrolled in any swiss university are eligible to join.
• How do you verify student status? On the HackSTAIR page you can apply via a form for the gamejam and have your student status be verified
• Do i need to be at a certain place? No, the jam is fully online. Create however and wherever you like.
• Can I join with friends? Yes! Teams of any size are allowed!
  
• Do i need to be able to program? You don't need any programming skills. In the STAIR discord server there exist channels, which are specifically made for making teams for the gamejam.
• Where can i get help if i need it? On the STAIR discord server, we prepared channels specifically for help in making games and the gamejam.
• How can i get invited to the STAIR Discord Server? here