Hey everyone! Welcome to the second r/INAT game jam! The moderators of the subreddit have put together this game jam to promote networking and collaboration among the community during the holiday season as we continue to be stuck in-doors staying safe from covid19. 

For those of you who have never been apart of a game jam before; This is one of the most popular and proven ways for new developers to learn about scope in game development. Within just the span of 1 week  you and a stranger(s) will need to concept, design, code, make art, make sound, and polish a playable game. This will really put into perspective the kinds of things you can achieve in a rapid prototype development cycle, which is crucial for trying to scope your solo projects so you don't waste years on a game you probably can't achieve reasonably alone. 

But most importantly, this jam is about coming together to collaborate on doing what we all love to do, make games. A few months back I conducted a survey of the INAT subreddit and a LARGE amount of people have never even been apart of a collaboration within the community. This is the chance to change that. Who knows, perhaps the game you and a stranger from reddit make during this event will be the minimum viable product that will become your first hit Steam game?

Now on to the jam details. The jam will start on December 12th at 12AM EST (7AM CST) and end on December 20th at 11:59PM EST (6:59 CST) that gives you a minute short of a FULL week for this jam. As well you have between now and the start date to find people to collaborate with; I recommend the INAT Jam MegaThread on the subreddit (will be posted closer to the start date), our Discord channel, or here on the jam page's discussion board. Remember that it's easier to manage a small team with concentrated skillsets than a group of 20 with a lot of overlapping skills. 

The game you make may be made with Unity3D, Unreal Engine 4, Godot, GMS/2, a custom framework, or anything else you'd like to use. Feel free to use assets from any engine's asset stores, maybe Kenney's assets, or any other assets you may have. However, the game must be created specifically for this jam. You may not submit a game you've been working on for the past week, month, year, decade even if it fits with the theme. Also your entry must be free, if you'd like you can make it paid after the jam voting has ended.

Which brings us to the most important piece of information. The jam theme! The theme will be announced on December 11th at approximately 10pm EST (5AM CST), which gives you an extra hour to pitch concepts with your team. 

Theme: Retro (Before the Year 2000)

This game jam will having a week long voting period after the submission deadline has passed. There aren't any prizes, however we do encourage playing each other's games and giving feedback. It's always nice to hear from the community that everyone loves parts of your game or think you really nailed the theme. Also I'll probably play all the games and upload it to YouTube! I absolutely love seeing people play my games on YouTube, so time to pay that forward. 

Again, thank you all for being an amazing and supportive community. I've had great experiences making games with people from our subreddit and I can only imagine the games out there that might have started as a simple aspiring programmer and artist who met from a post on reddit.