Welcome to the Hitpoints & History Game Jam! Hitpoints & History is a virtual archaeogaming conference held March 9-10. The Hitpoints & History game jam presents a unique opportunity for developers and designers to work alongside historians and academics and impact game design in real time. 

What in the world is archaeogaming? Archaeogaming, short for video game archaeology, explores history through digital and non-digital gaming but also explores the game as a historical artifact itself! 

If you like ancient world history, this is the jam for you! By creating a game, you are making something that is a part of history!  

We are kicking our game jam off with a virtual get together Friday, February 2, 2024, at 6pm US Central Time held in Discord. The kick off will be a place for teams to meet each other for the first time, network with other teams, and get excited about the next several days.

If you want to find out more about Hitpoints & History, check out our website at hitpointscon.com!

Rules:

• One entry per team/person
• All games MUST have an ancient world element 
  
• General guidelines:
  • No bigoted content. No hate speech. 
  • No game file size larger than 10gb
  • We reserve the right to reject any submission for discriminatory content. Teams submitting games will be notified and offered a chance to resubmit an edited build. 

Planning to make a video game?

• Submissions via itch.io 
• Just a level or proof of concept are fine. Keep it small, keep it manageable, you have 48 hours. You will probably have to cut 75% of your ideas, that is okay! Know your limits. 
• Any form of game is fine. i.e. visual novel, RPG, etc.

Planning to make a tabletop game?

• Submissions via itch.io 
• Something that can be played in one session. We are not looking for multi week campaigns. 
• Any form of tabletop game is fine. This means you can make: an entire game, a module, an adventure, a weird dungeon, an NPC generator, art asset packs, setting guide, or anything that can be used to play a tabletop roleplaying game. You can also make a board game, card game, or anything broadly considered a non-digital game. As long as it fits within the time played variable.
• If you would like to have this game played at Hitpoints & History 2024 (March 9-10), please keep playtime under 2 hours.
• Keep it small, keep it manageable, you only have 48 hours. If you are wanting to make a whole game, you might want to consider limiting the page count to something doable in that period of time. Proof of concept/ashcan is fine.
• Some example systems that are open license/have SRDs if you do wish to make content for a game/hack a game yourself: Lasers & Feelings, Honey Heist, Firelights Creator Kit, and check out Dicebreaker’s article for some other ideas!

Planning another type of game?

• Go for it! It must be able to be reviewed digitally, so digital or create a digital form.

Who owns the rights to game?

• You do! If you would like to run this game at Hitpoints & History (March 9-10, 2024), please fill out this form.

Do you want to run this game at Hitpoints & History?

• 48 hour submission: Basic, proof of concept for mechanics, very limited, has bugs/typos. 
• Conference version: 
  • For video games: Fleshed out mini-demo, 5-10 mins of coherent-ish gameplay, bugs are limited. 
  • For tabletop games: Something that can be played in one two-hour session max.
• Feel free to keep working on your game, but if you are participating in the Hitpoints & History people’s choice  judging, we will be judging the 48 hour product, not what you bring to Hitpoints & History to keep things fair. 

Prizes and judging 

• Judging at the game jam: participant's choice. 
  • One for tabletop, one for video game. 
  • Submitter votes only due to different team sizes 
• Judging (people’s choice) will also take place at Hitpoints & History (March 9-10, 2024). There will be multiple categories that people vote on throughout the conference. (Best experience, most historically accurate, etc.). At the end of the conference, winners will be announced. If you want your game to be judged at Hitpoints & History, it must be made free/pay what you can/Community Copies available for the duration of the judging process. 
  • Judging will be based on your 48 hour submission, not what you bring to Hitpoints & History. 
• Prizes at both events will consist of Hitpoints & History game jam stickers