Welcome to Marlin's first ever hosted game jam! I am your host, Marlin.

In honor of the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, I am challenging you to make a game themed around the Olympic games. Don't worry, if you're not in to sports or the Olympics, it's no big deal. Use your creative mind to draw inspiration from the Olympic games and come up with your own idea or even invent a sport. It's all up to you! However, there are a few guidelines that we'll all need to follow. But first, let's discuss the theme:

Theme

As for the theme: Well, it’s the Olympics! That means it can be anything related to the summer or winter games. You can use any event as inspiration, from the very first Olympic games in Athens Greece to the Tokyo 2021 games. You can even invent your own sport if you like.

Not in to sports??? No problem! Your game doesn’t have to be a sports game if you don’t want it to be. It just needs to be themed around an Olympic event (or made up event) of any kind.

Q:  So, like, the opening ceremonies?

A:  Sure, if it resembles a playable game, it works for this jam.

Q:  What if my game idea doesn’t take place in the Olympics at all?

A:  As long as the Olympics theme is tied in to your finished project in some way, you’re good to go. Don’t over think this. The theme is required but VERY flexible.

Now that you know the theme, you can start brainstorming ideas. However, there will be an additional restriction announced at the start of the jam. So keep your ideas simple until we get to the starting day. The restriction will be announced on my YouTube channel and also in my Discord channel as well. The restriction will affect the theme, so no working ahead.

Restriction: NO BALLS (interpret that how you wish). 

Guidelines

• Pre-made art IS allowed as long as you have permission or rights to it. Please credit the artists on your submission page or in your game.
• Pre-made music IS allowed. Same as with the art; permission or rights are required and please credit them.
• NO pre-made code! No starting early! You must start all code after the jam starts.
• Solo devs and teams are allowed. There is NO limit to amount of team members.
• All entries must be submitted by the deadline. Any issues should be brought up and handled before submission deadline.
• You can use ANY game engine to make your game.
• If you think it’s offensive or you think someone else will find it offensive… don’t do it!
• If it’s against the rules or TOS for Itch, YouTube, Twitch, Twitter, or Facebook… Your project will be disqualified. This is a “use your own judgement and common sense” rule. So, act accordingly.
• I highly encourage anyone to make dev logs and/or stream their process. This is definitely NOT required, but sure is a great way to share your experience!
• Use #MOGjam on Twitter and I'll retweet your progress and jam updates.

Who is this jam for?

It is literally for anyone who wants to take part in an Olympics themed game jam.

First time jammers are more than welcome! I will be running a very positive and encouraging environment before, during and after the jam. So let’s rip that band-aid off and dive in head first!

As for the more experienced, I welcome you to take part in a flexible yet somewhat restricted jam.

I set it up this way to mimic a more structured game development environment. While your creativity will have full reign, there is some direction. This is meant to inspire your imagination while giving you the opportunity to discipline yourself in the world of game development. My future jams will get more creative and restrictive to help focus on different aspects of the development process. But for now, this jam will definitely be open for interpretation. So, no pressure... this time ;)

I strongly encourage everyone to visit the community tabs for this jam as well as join my new Discord to keep up with all the details related to this jam. My YouTube channel and Twitter are other places to find me and get more info on the jam.

Details

There’s a few other jams scheduled around this time and I really wanted to avoid that, but the theme is specific and I want the jam to conclude before the opening ceremonies of the actual Tokyo Olympics On Friday July 23rd. Therefore the start date and time will be Thursday July 15th at 12pm noon CST (my time) and end on Friday July 23rd at noon CST (my time). This will give everyone a chance to get some work done while having other things going on in their life like work, school or another jam.

Speaking of... if you’re one of those people that like to enter 3 jams at the same time and use your one game to meet all the themes… I have no problem with that. As long as the game you submit to this jam meets the theme, you can use your game in 100 more jams for all I care.

Jam Results

So, what about the results of Marlin’s Olympics game jam?

I’m glad you asked. I will be streaming a playthrough of every game submitted live on Twitch, (possibly on YouTube & Facebook too) simultaneously. I will give my thoughts and offer any advice I have for help and improvement on any of your future developments. And the community can join in on the discussion as well. I assure you this part will be constructed in a very positive manner.

Once the games have been played and rated, I will choose my choice of winner and announce the community’s choice of winner. Those winners will get a full shout out to there socials and channels from my socials and channels. And of course, your name will be etched into the Marlin Game Jam wall of fame!

Future jams are planned to have physical and/or digital prizes offered. But for now, this jam will be for all the bragging rights the internet has to offer.

So there it is! The inaugural Marlin’s Olympics Game Jam. Sign up is available now and you can also join my new Discord for updates, discussions, questions and other stuff. I will be revealing the restriction at 12pm noon my time on Thursday, July 15. You will then have 8 days to create a game and submit it. If you have any questions, use the community tabs at the top of this page or join the discord.

#MOGjam