Presenting the Thoughtful Jam, from Serious Gamers.

What is the Thoughtful Jam?

The Thoughtful Jam is a three-week (24 days, to be exact) game jam open to all developers.

What makes it "thoughtful?"

1. Your game should be thought-provoking to your players
2. A long, 24-day development cycle means that you can be thoughtful in creating your game

There will be a secondary theme announced at the start of the jam.

Other than that, games are not limited by genre, theme or engine.

The secondary theme of the jam is "Set Up".

Prizes

Over $300 worth of prizes and category specific trophies will be given to the winners of each voting category, as well as the overall winner. Trophies will not be shipped outside of the United States.

Schedule

All times are in Mountain Time (Utah)

Friday, April 12 6:00pm: Constraint announced, jam begins

~ 24 days of game development ~

Sunday, May 5 12:00pm: Jam ending

~ Voting period ~

Special submission playthrough stream by Syafire!

Sunday, May 19: 5:00pm: Voting ends, winners announced

Who can participate?

Everybody! Solo developers and teams. First-timers and seasoned vets.

Although Serious Gamers does local events in the Salt Lake City area, this jam is welcome to creators from all over the world. Join our Discord server to stay in the loop. Everything you need to know will be shared digitally on Discord and itch.io.

Click here to join the Serious Gamers Discord server!

Rules

Don't work on your game until the jam starts. The constraint announcement is meant to prevent work from being done early, so that everyone has the same time frame to work on their game. 

The use of publicly-available asset packs from Asset Stores and other suppliers is welcome. The golden rule here is that you should be making your entire game during the 24 days of the jam. We won't be policing and disqualifying games and instead ask each participant to understand the spirit of the jam and use their best judgment. If you have any specific questions, please reach out and we'll try to weigh in.

All games must follow the theme (thought-provoking) AND the secondary theme (announced when the jam starts).

Teams are welcome, but we discourage teams larger than six members. If you have more, consider breaking up into multiple teams.

Games must be submitted before 12:00pm on May 5, 2024 to be eligible for voting.

Your game should be playable on PC, either through a downloadable executable or embedded in the browser.

Voting Criteria

The voting criteria is created in order to encourage the type of games we'd like to see. Some categories are common, some might be a little surprising.

Criterion: Thought-Provoking

Submissions to the Thoughtful Game Jam should make the players think. Does this seem vague? It's supposed to be! A thought-provoking game could require the player to consider their moves carefully. It could contain a deep and meaningful story. Any interpretation of "thought-provoking" is valid, except...

Criterion: User Experience

...when a player has to rack their brains to figure out what the heck to do in your game or how to control it! User Experience is an important aspect of a polished game, and one which helps your players know what they're doing and how to do it. Include onboarding to help your players get up and running. Make your controls discoverable. Be clear about your players' objectives. 

Criterion: Fun

It's hard to put your finger on what "fun" is, but you know it when you experience it. This category rates how enjoyable your game is to players. One key aspect of fun is an appropriate challenge level.  Another is creating systems your players can gradually feel mastery over. You probably have your own ideas about what makes a game fun and, whatever they are, you are correct!

Criterion: Visual Presentation

This is about the graphics. But it's not just about "good graphics" vs "bad graphics". It's about visual cohesion. Unless you're trying something avant-garde, the visual style should be consistent throughout. A 1-bit game can be just as beautiful as a photorealistic game.

Criterion: Audio Presentation

This is the audio version of the visual presentation category. It's about music and sound effects, and also the way they come together to create a responsive soundscape that supports the game being played.

Voting will be limited to those who submit for the jam. Prizes will be awarded for the winner in each category, as well as the overall winner with the highest combined average in each category.

What is Serious Gamers?

Serious Gamers is a community established in May 2022 for anybody who takes gaming seriously: not just as an idle diversion, but as an activity worthy of pursuit and an art form worthy of analysis.

We are game developers, game designers, game analyzers, and most of all, game players.

Through gaming, we find an intellectual and physical challenge that stretches us to the limits of our abilities. Gaming can help us experience a flow state, in which people feel an adequate amount of challenge and competency to feel as if time melts away. We believe in the power of gaming to improve reality, provide a consistent mental challenge, and to empower community.

The group meets on Discord and has local events in the Salt Lake City area, such as Video Game Book Clubs and Game Dev Coworking.

Click here to join the Serious Gamers Discord server!