Welcome to Tazmen Side Jam #2
This is the second ever Tazmen Side Jam. For those of you who don't already know, on the last weekend of every month I host the monthly Tazmen Jams which have cash prizes and special discord roles for winners. These Tazmen Jams are always open to all engines and always have the same ruleset. The only thing that changes each month is the prize pool and the theme which is voted on by jam participants. Tazmen Side Jams on the other hand are extra jams that take place in between these monthly Tazmen Jams. They are sometimes planned in advance and sometimes held on a whim. These jams are usually more restrictive and will always have different rulesets. Sometimes they will be engine exclusive to encourage devs to try out new engines and other times they will be open to all engines but have other restrictive rules. If you are interested in learning a little more about what Tazmen Jams and Tazmen Side Jams are you can find some more information in the community discord server.
Join the community discord server here: https://discord.gg/SbR2zce
Since this jam starts on Easter day I wanted it to be Easter themed but I also wanted to add a little more restriction by incorporating a second theme. The second theme will be announced here and on the community discord server when the jam starts.
Themes:
The two themes are 'Easter' and 'Retro'!
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).
- Usually the themes for these jams are just one category that is voted on by the participants so you could still technically win without following the theme. With this side jam however following the themes is MANDATORY! If your game places first but you did not incorporate both themes then you will not win the prize.
Prizes:
Unlike the monthly jams, these side jams will only occasionally have prizes and they will not always be cash prizes. The prizes could be a game, an engine, assets, or anything else that seems reasonable for the jam. For this jam the prize will be a random steam key which can be redeemed on the steam store for a random steam game. The winner will also receive the 'Jam Winner' role in the community discord server. This role will give you access to an exclusive text chat and voice chat channel strictly for winners of Tazmen Jams and Tazmen Side Jams.
Submissions:
The second theme will be announced and the jam will start Sunday April 4th 2021 at 12:00am AST. The submissions close and the jam ends Sunday April 11th 2021 at 12am 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 April 14th 2021 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?)
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?)
Sound 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?)
Themes (How well does your game implement the themes? 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. (Again, not following the themes will result in disqualification.)
Conclusion:
In conclusion, make sure to join the discord and follow both of the themes for the jam. If you win the jam and don't know how to redeem your steam key then please contact me and I will be happy to help you out. If you have any questions at all please don't hesitate to contact me via Discord or Itch.io (You will likely get a faster reply via Discord). Lastly, if you're unavailable for this jam please make sure to join the discord so you can participate in the next one. The jam at the end of this month actually already has a prize pool of $20 CAD and I am matching all donations up to $100 CAD this month so the prize pool could get much bigger. Thanks for reading everything and considering joining the jam :)