Entrants rate games on the following criteria for Developers Choice, which also serve as a guideline to determine Judges Choice:
- Fun/Design: Enjoyment of the game. Are the mechanics interesting? Do I want to play more?
- Technical Implementation: Polish and complexity. Does the game push technical boundaries or have special tech to stand out? Are there few, if any, bugs and typos?
- Music/Sound: Audio presentation. How well does the music/sound fit the game? Max 4 stars if external assets used.
- Graphics/Animation: Visual presentation. How clean/consistent does it look? Are animations fluid? Is there clear understanding of color, contrast, and other visual skills? Max 4 stars if external assets used.
- Theme/Limitation: Implementation of jam theme and limitation. Is the theme prevalent? How unusual is the interpretation? How strictly does the game follow the requirement? Out-of-the-box thinking on the theme (not taking it literally) will score more points.