Welcome to raylib NEXT gamejam!

This is a unique gamejam to get ready for the upcoming raylib 5.5 NEXT release!

To prepare for this NEXT release, I'm hosting an official raylib NEXT gamejam! :)

This gamejam also celebrates reaching the 12K Discord members and the 22K GitHub stargazers!

Continue reading to know more about this unique event!

Goal

The goal of this gamejam is making a game with raylib in 7 DAYS with some technical constraints and following proposed theme.

One of the requirements is that game must run on web, here it is a detailed documentation about configuring raylib to build for Web platform.

Also, a GitHub raylib game template for this gamejam has been created, everyone is free to use it! The most interesting part about the GitHub template is the automation of the game building using GitHub Actions, every time a commit is sent to the project, it is automatically compiled for Windows, Linux and WebAssembly, you just need to pickup the generated artifacts!

WARNING! raylib is for ADVENTURERS! raylib is a C programming library, no visual editor or high-level engine features, just coding in the most pure spartan-programmers way. It's recommended to have some previous coding experience with raylib.

Constraints

Hard constraints (mandatory requirements):

• Game MUST be limited to 8-color palette
• Game MUST be run on Web with WebAssembly technology
• Game MUST be under 32MB (full package: .wasm + .data)

Soft constraints (recommended features):

• Game should use provided raylib template
• Game should be playable with Keyboard/Mouse and Touch
• Game should be open source and available in GitHub

REMEMBER: A GitHub raylib game template for this gamejam has been created, everyone is free to use it! 

Theme

The theme has been proposed by raylib community and selected after two rounds of votes!!!

AND THE THEME IS...

Rules

• An itch.io account is required to join the jam and submit your entry.
• Team submissions are acceptable for teams of 4 members or less. (Prizes are awarded for each submission, not the individual contributors)
• About the Assets used in your game, you must own the copyright to, or be granted a license from the original copyright holder to redistribute any assets that you ship with your game (including but not limited to: Images, Sounds or Music, Fonts, Code, or any other artistic works). If you are in doubt of the copyright status of an asset, it is recommended to find and ask the original copyright holder. A list of some royalty free assets is provided in the Resources section if you are in need of them.
• Game must not contain illegal, hateful, derogatory, NSFW or bigoted content. It won't be tolerated any kind of racism, sexism, or any other form of discrimination. If there is any case, the game will be disqualified.
• Game must be created and submitted within the gamejam time frame.
• No late entries will be accepted.

Rating

Games will be rated with a 5-star system in three different categories:

• Theme: How well the theme is used?
• Fun: Is the game enjoyable to play?
• Polish: What is the overall quality of the game, and was the time well spent?

Games will be rated and awarded considering an hybrid votes model: public votes and jury votes.

• Public votes:  First round of votes, open to ANY itch.io user, not only the gamejam participants. Everybody can play and rate the web games. The games with higher rating (more overall number of stars in the 3 categories) will be evaluated on a second round by the jury.

• Jury votes: Second round of votes, depend on a panel of judges. They will privately discuss and rate the higher rated games by the public votes and decide the winners. 

NOTE: The jury will also take into account any double or unfair voting in the public voting system to balance the unfair votes.

The jury for the gamejam will be disclosed the same day the gamejam ends. All of them are experienced videogames/software developers.

The rating period will be of 1 WEEK after the gamejam ends, in that time people and jury can play and rate all the submitted games.

For everyone rating the games, it's recommended that you leave some feedback as part of the rating! It's more helpful than just a number!

Prizes

The experience itself is way more valuable than any other prize! Actually, finishing a game under the constraints of this gamejam is a BIG achievement on itself... but prizes are nice too!

Do you want to contribute to prizes with some donation or some sponsoring? Please, get in touch: ray[at]raylib.com

The prizes will be given to the 3 games that score more stars overall, one for each category:

1. Best overall
2. Most innovative
3. Most Polished

An entry can only win in one category, so there will be 3 winners. Additional prizes may be awarded for honorable mention based on the submissions.

NOTE: Prizes are subject to availability on winners countries, some countries could not support Steam gifts. 

ADDITIONALLY, ALL THE PARTICIPANTS THAT END UP **SUBMITTING A GAME FOLLOWING CONSTRAINTS** WILL RECEIVE AN itch.io KEY FOR ONE TOOL FROM raylib technologies! Tools to choose from:

NOTE: After the gamejam and project submission, tool key can be requested to Ray directly on raylib Discord.

Tips

• You can use the provided GitHub raylib game template, it includes automatic game building on every commit for Windows, Linux and WebAssembly! 
• Join raylib Discord server, for any notifications about the jam and to meet other participants and hype yourself up before the event! After the jam starts you can also share your progress in the #raylib-gamejam or #madewithraylib channel or ask the community any issue that could arise.
• Prioritize quality over quantity. It's better to have only one gameplay screen with quality gameplay than many screens with poor gameplay. Same for graphics. A polished game can really make your game stand out!
• Try to make your game easy to understand for new players, avoid complicated game schemes.
• It's recommended that you keep your game difficulty low for the players, too difficult games could frustrate the players.
• A gamejam is a great opportunity to try new game mechanics, new controls, new graphics style... consider that!
• Remember to tag raylib your itch.io game: Edit Game > Metadata > Engines & Tools > raylib
• Feel free to tweet your game progress with the hashtag #raylibgamejam or just #raylib

Resources

Essential resources (mandatory to check):

• raylib webpage - To download raylib Windows Installer for easy setup
• raylib github - To download raylib source code or release packages
• raylib game template - A preconfigured GitHub template to use as the base for your raylib game
• raylib Web Compilation Tutorial - A detailed Wiki tutorial to compile your raylib game for web
• raylib games collection - A collection of games running on web and made with raylib

Additional resources (recommended to check):

• PALETTES: Lospec palette list - Palette collection for reference
• ASSETS: Kenney Assets - An amazing collection of free game assets
• ASSETS: Kay Lousberg free Game Assets - A great collection of free game assets
• ASSETS: Open Game Art - Another collection of art assets (LICENSE)
• TOOL: Piskel - A free online editor for animated sprites & pixel art
• TOOL: Photopea - A free online photo editor
• TOOL: Paletton - A free colour scheme designer
• TOOL: Colormind - A free colour scheme generator
• TOOL: rFXGen - A simple and easy-to-use fx sounds generator
• TOOL: ChipTone - A free tool for generating sound effect
• TOOL: Bosca Ceoil - A free, easy to use tool for creating music!
• TOOL: BeepBox - An online tool for sketching and sharing instrumental music
• TOOL: JummBox - An online tool for sketching and sharing chiptune melodies

FAQ

Could my game have transparency? Does it count as a color?

Game can use transparency but only 0% or 100% tranparent. Transparency does not count as an additional color. The selected 8-color palette must be used for all the game, no palette changes allowed.

Does my game have to be a certain resolution?

Not really, but it's recommended to keep game at 800x450 pixels, resolution is 16:9 and it fits really well on itchio as a WebAssembly emebdding. You are free to also upload releases of the game for other raylib supported platforms (Windows, Linux, macOS...) but they won't be evaluated.

Can I use stuff that I already made?

You can use previous material created by you but the spirit of the jam is to make something new. Also note that game MUST follow the theme proposed for the jam that is disclosed in the moment the jam starts.

Do I have to do everything myself from scratch?

Not really, you can use free/public art/audio assets, some Resources are provided for that. Make sure the assets you use are are free for use or in the public domain. Also note that you can team up with other jammers up to 4 people if desired.

Is there any template to start working on the gamejam game?

YES! There is a GitHub raylib game template available to use as a GitHub template and start working on the gamejam game, everyone is free to use it! The template includes automatic game building for Windows, Linux, WebAssembly on every commit! 

Can I update the game during the voting period?

No, once the gamejam is finished is not possible to update it. If there was any special situation, please contact me on Discord. I will review each case individually. Please, be careful when submitting your game.

Is there a Discord I can join to meetup other jammers?

Yes, you can join raylib Discord, there is a specific #raylib-gamejam channel to talk about the gamejam.

Legal

Game creators retain all rights of the gamejam submitted game.

Have fun! :D