SA GAME JAM is an annual competition proudly sponsored by Free Lives with the aim of encouraging more South Africans to make games!  The jam will run here on Itch.io from 24-27 November 2023.  We invite game devs of all levels to enter this exciting competition and stand a chance to win a share of over R70 000 cash!

You can enter as an individual or team.  You are allowed to use whatever tools you like and use pre-existing code/sounds/art/assets where it helps you but if you use assets you are required to disclose them.

Whether you're a pro game developer or just starting out, SA GAME JAM is for you. The competition is open to South Africans at any level of experience so enter NOW!

Please indicate in your submission what level you're participating in (student, hobbyist or professional), and whether you would like to be considered for the diversity prize.

Overall Winner: R20 000

Student (currently studying in any field): R10 000

Hobbyist (not working in the game development industry): R10 000

*Diversity: R10 000

Best Art: R5 000

Best Audio: R5 000

Technical Excellence: R5 000

Best Narrative: R5 000

Best Humour: R5 000

WINNERS WILL BE ANNOUNCED AT 12:00PM ON FRIDAY 15 DECEMBER.

1. Competition starts on 24 November 2023.

2. Deadline for entries:

26 November 2023, 18:00 SAST for 48 hour entries. 

27 November  2023, 18:00 SAST for 72 hour entries.

(Please note in your entry whether it is a 48 or 72 hour project)

3. You can enter as an individual or as a team.

4. To be eligible to win any of the prizes, your team has to play and give feedback to five other entries by Monday, 4 December 2023.

5. Use whichever language, tool or development system you are comfortable in.

6. Your game must contain all files needed for it to run and should not require other bulky systems to be downloaded or installed, exceptions are browser plugins like Flash and self-contained DLLs distributed with the game.

7. While any fixes post-jam will be taken into account, the version submitted at the time of the deadline will be played and judged, so make sure it is PLAYABLE WITHOUT ADDITIONAL INFORMATION NOT CONTAINED IN THE GAME.

8. Competition is only open to entry for South African residents. You must be living in South Africa and have an active SA bank account.

9. You retain all copyright to your work.

10. The illegal use of copyrighted material will not be tolerated. Do not steal!

11. All risk or liability in case of copyright infringement or other legal issue resides with the entrant, Free Lives and Maker's Massive take no responsibility for entered games.

12. The judges’ decision is final and no negotiation will be entered into.

*This prize aims to reward devs from marginalised groups (women, people with disabilities, people of colour, LGBTQ+ folks, Indigenous people, etc). At least one member of your team must belong to such a group in order to qualify for the Diversity prize.

To Make A Place Your Home

Explanation: Humans are driven to make places their homes. If the place is cold, they build a fire. If the place is unsafe, they build walls. If there is no food there, they will plant crops. If the place is dirty, they will clean it up. If the place is lonely, they will invite friends. If the place is uncomfortable, they will buy a couch. etc.

The theme is about improving a place in order to fulfill human needs.
The game doesn't need to track every human need, the game doesn't even need to track the vital ones. The game can be about interior decorating, just to take pride in the aesthetics, or about constructing spiked barricades to hold zombies out and stay alive. The theme is about tapping into that universal human drive to make a place feel more like your home.

OVERALL WINNER : Terrafrontier

This game stood out for us as having an interesting puzzle to solve, with a good amount of challenge to overcome. The game fits the theme, as you attempt to balance the human needs of colonists aboard a colony ship whose arrival serves as your deadline. Each playthrough of the game is a little different due to your AI collaborator (which sometimes seems to be in the thrall of solar panel companies).

BEST STUDENT : Make Mars Home

Make Mars Home is a fun, and kind of funny minimalist simulation that cheakily references the theme of the jam - sofa's and popcorn being vital ingredients of this Mars mission.

BEST HOBBYIST : We, The Guardians Three

We, the Guardians Three is a sublime journey, post shipwreck, that subtly subverts the Cast Away genre. The shifting color palette, like a soundtrack, conveys the evolving mood of the narrator. There's an economy to the production, and it leaves us feeling that each element is carefully chosen, each element existing to progress or embellish the gently unfolding narrative.

DIVERSITY : Ikeelya

We feel that Ikeelya is easily the best concept of the jam. The interlocking challenge of both being an assassin and interior decorating, sounds like a joke, but quickly becomes entirely believable.

BEST ART : Astrostead & Cape Town Rental Simulator

Astrostead looks good, and has easily the best itch.io page of this jam. There's parts of Astrostead that cause us to guess that the team's ambitions were greater than the time they had to polish, it doesn't all come together perfectly. But for the most part the art serves the game well, the art explains the gameplay and in addition looks pretty well realized.

Cape Town Rental Simulator has a simple, but cheery, confidently stylized art style and applies it consistently throughout. The art style elegantly supports the tone of the game, bright colors and hopeful-renter optimism. And the art sells the mundane setting, at an old computer, reading emails. In places the art choices are novel and genuinely entertaining (such as all the illegible squiggledy-goop of the rental contract, it feels relatable).

BEST AUDIO : Astrostead

The theme tune kicks ass.

TECHNICAL EXCELLENCE : NOT AWARDED THIS YEAR.

BEST NARRATIVE : We, The Guardians Three

The excellence of this game's narrative is already described within the text for the Hobbyist prize

BEST HUMOUR : Ikeelya

Beyond the conceptual juxtaposition of assassin meets interior decorator (which is an hilarious premise), the sounds and interactions brilliantly support the humour. The assassin section is ludicrously brief and violent, while the interior decorating section is languid, Sims-like, with near-elevator music playing, serving to soothe the player and produce maximum jarring impact as the next headshot instantly produces screams and sirens.

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