Welcome to Tazmen Jam #5

This is the fifth monthly Tazmen Jam. Every month there is a minimum $5 CAD prize that goes to the person or team that places first overall in the jam. There is a donation link in the discord so we have larger prize pools whenever we receive donations. Our biggest prize pool so far was $20 CAD which was split between first, second, and third place overall. This month the prize pool is currently at $10 CAD with the possibility of becoming larger with donations. If you are interested in learning a little more about what Tazmen Jams are you can find some more information in the community discord server.

Join the community discord server here: https://discord.gg/SbR2zce

Rules:

- All assets must be created from scratch during the allotted dev time. You may also use free publicly available assets from places such as OpenGameArt or the asset store but you may not use paid assets.

- You must start your game once the jam has started. No games from previous jams or premade games/assets will be accepted.

- You can compete solo or with a team but please disclose this information to be judged accordingly. There is no size limit for your team and you may join the discord if you're in need of a partner.

- Any game engine can be used. You may want to use something that takes no coding such as RPG Maker or you may want something less restricting such as Unity, Godot, or Unreal. Either way, you can use whatever engine you want. (Even custom engines).

Prizes:

There is a minimum $5 CAD prize pool for every monthly Tazmen Jam. There is a donate room in the discord where people can donate in order to make the prize pool bigger for these jams and the prize pool for this jam is currently up to $10 CAD with the possibility of getting bigger. The winner(s) of the Jam will also receive the 'Tazmen Jam Winner' role in the discord which gives them access to an exclusive text chatroom and voice chatroom which is strictly for jam winners.

Theme:

The theme for the jam is voted on by you guys, the participants! The voting will end and the theme will be announced when the jam starts. If you would like to suggest a theme for the jam and vote on the themes suggested then please join the discord. You can also just avoid the discord all together and wait until the theme is announced here but that's no fun. The theme does not need to be taken at face value and can usually be interpreted in many ways but you must try to incorporate the theme in some way.

The theme chosen by the community is: Start Small!

Submissions:

The theme will be announced and the jam will start Friday September 25th 2020 at 12:00am AST. The submissions close and the jam ends Sunday September 27th 2020 at 11:59pm AST. The voting period will begin as soon as the jam ends and you all are responsible for playing and rating the submitted games. Please try to play and rate as many as possible and give constructive feedback as that's the best part of game jams. Voting will end Wednesday September 30th 2020 at 11:59pm AST.

Criteria:

The games will be rated on:

Mechanic(s) (Are your game mechanic(s) interesting? Are they fun? Are they well implemented?)

Story (How good is your story? Is it intriguing? Is it emotional?)

Graphics (How does your game look? Is the art style interesting? Is the art style unique?)

Music (Does your game have good music? Does it fit the game? Is it unique?)

Sounds Effects (How good are your sound effects? Are they satisfying? Do they fulfill their purpose?)

Atmosphere (How is the atmosphere of your game? Is it noticeable? Is it immersive?)

Theme (How well does your game implement the theme? Does it fit? Is it noticeable?)

Feedback (Does your game have good feedback for the player? Can the player understand what is happening? Do enemies flash when damaged?)

and finally,

Overall (How good is the game overall? Is the game fun? Is it well made?)

The prizes will be distributed based on the overall rankings and the other categories are mostly for bragging rights.

Conclusion:

If you are not familiar with Tazmen Jams, I do these every month along with some occasional little side jams sprinkled in between. I try to participate when I am not working but continue to host them regardless. You must be a member of the discord to accept your prize and there is lots of information over there so please don't hesitate to join. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me via Discord or Itch.io. (Discord will likely get a much faster reply). Thanks for reading this far and for hopefully deciding to participate and have fun. If you are unavailable for this jam make sure to join the discord and catch the next one. Now let's make some games!