Hello, and welcome. I'm Ash and it is once again time FOR...

A jam hosted by me!

Please read the following sections to learn more about this huge event.

This is the MAY Edition!
For those that joined last month: you may re-join this month, making sure you submit your updated project by following the FOCUSES below (and hopefully incorporating any feedback given in your Let's Play)!

For those that DID NOT join last month: sorry, THIS MONTH is for RETURNING SUBMISSIONS ONLY.

The purpose of this event is many-fold:
To motivate developers to just MAKE SOMETHING;
To offer constructive feedback for developers seeking it;
To boost project visibility so others can share their impressions;
To build a community for participating developers;
To provide continuous improvement through each iteration of the jam;
To inspire developers to continue or finish their projects!

At the end of the year-long event, participants who join will ideally be able to look back at the challenges the year had to offer, and be proud of the project they created.

This jam is a first of its kind -- a year-long event that is actually TWELVE separate jam events, one for each month of the year.  The jam will be open to all developers and allow any engine to be used.  The flow of the jam will roughly follow as such, with minor tweaks and refinements over the early months as we get into a flow:

-Developers will review the information below (FOCUSES, RULES, and SCHEDULE) and create their project (or update the project they were working on in a previous month) accordingly.
-When the submission period ends, the judgement period will begin and I will begin playing your games on the channel.
However, unlike past jams, this jam will be much more focused on giving guidance and direction to the developers for their projects.  This is because...
-At the end of the judgement period, the next month's jam will be published with new FOCUS(ES), and developers can join by improving their current projects!

In other words, the FIRST month you join, YOU will create your project following the RULES and FOCUSES;
Each month after, or any month you wish to re-join, YOU will UPDATE your project and RE-SUBMIT it with the feedback you had, and the new FOCUSES of the month you join!

You can repeat this every month from January to December for a project that YOU updated TWELVE TIMES, ending up with a game that is much more highly polished and worked on than previous works -- you might learn a LOT about development in your chosen engine, your WORKFLOW, or perhaps even YOURSELF!

You can also pick and choose when to join -- after a month of developing, maybe you'd like to REST or perhaps the challenge of the current month doesn't suit you, or you don't have time -- you can wait it out and join the month after, or after that!

As long as the improvements are made (to a degree that YOU find most suitable) and the re-submission follows the NEW Focuses, your project will be taken in and played again, given new feedback and judged again!

(Yes, this means devs can do just one of any month, or multiple, or all months; or leave in May and re-join in August, then leave again and come back November, ETC!...)

This jam is open to all participants, developing any kind of game in any engine, and there are only six requirements to submit, listed in the RULES section!

This Jam is judged and therefor entries will be ranked, so there will technically be "lowest" and "highest" ranked games; however, there will NOT be ELIMINATIONS -- this is not a tournament or traditional competition!

The goal is FEEDBACK, Challenge and Reward of development!

Every month, the Jam will have one or more special Focuses.  A Focus may be a Theme, Limitation or Challenge.
The Focus will always be an ADDITIVE, ITERATIVE element that will not BREAK your project or HURT your current development.
The Focuses will always be scored as part of the judgement phase.

All the Focuses for this month are as follows!

CHALLENGE: UI / UX

This is the month of User Interface and User Experience!
Now that your game  mechanics are solid and sound design is implemented, let's make sure the UI has a consistent feel.  Working with barebones system?  Now is the month to improve UI / UX.  Working in a templated engine?  Now is the time to add some flair to your UI that separates it from the default assets.  Make sure your UI is navigable, themed, tidy, or minimalistic if it wasn't before!

LIMITATION: NO NEW GAMES!?

For this month, only submit a returning project!  It doesn't matter if you've submitted multiple projects or only submitted once in the past -- the projects this time must be established as returning to the jam.  Don't worry -- this limitation only lasts this month!

RETURNING PARTICIPANTS: 

If you did not submit a project in any former month,
or you have missed one or more months,
you must complete the following list of requisites before your project can be judged on equal footing to the others this month -- and you MUST include the Focuses above as well!

THEME(S):

Create your first entry using any theme you wish -- any kind of game applies, and any genre.  The universe is the limit, and the choice is yours.

CHALLENGES:

Ensure your entry has at least two characters.

Ensure your project's mechanics make sense and feel consistent.  The Genre of game should be clear.

Ensure that some automation is used in your game - NPC behavior, moving platforms, crops grow etc.

LIMITATION(S):

Ensure your project includes a SAVE or PASSWORD system, or is either short enough that it does not need one.

There are the rules your submission must follow to participate!

1. Your submission may use any engine, but must be made for PC (playable in itch.io browser is fine).

2. Your work is original for the jam and has not been published elsewhere before (except a previous month of the Year Long Jam).

3. Your submission to the jam must remain free and accessible.  No charging at any point!

4. You must either own or have permission to use all of the assets that are contained within your game.
Default engine assets, official DLC, and your own customized assets are acceptable.
Any third party asset pack that you have the permission, license or ownership to use is also acceptable.  Music assets MUST NOT require CC-BY attribution.

5. Agree to allow the game to be played on any video platforms!
I (and possibly others) will play your game for a video platform such as YouTube, Twitch, etc... by submitting, you agree to allow the gameplay footage to be published! Please look forward to a playing of your submission on the AmalgamAsh channel!

6. Pledge to not use AI.
You as a participant must pledge to have not used AI assets in your submission, and all assets used are, to the best of your knowledge, not generated by generative AI.

In addition, please observe the following!

A.  If you have participated in a past month of The Year Long Jam, you must apply the feedback given in some way to your submission upon re-entry to this month's jam, as well as follow whatever new Focuses are present!

B.   ANYONE found guilty of harrassing ANY participant of the jam and compromising my mission to provide a safe, engaging and fun event will be barred from participation in ANY future event that I host, associated Discords, and won't have their content played on my channel.   Please be awesome!

The host (me) is a human, not a robot -- so DON'T skirt or test the rules, but feel free to ask questions!

The Jam has three periods - Join, Submission, and Judgement. All times and dates are listed above at the top of this page. A timer will assist in counting down how much time is left for each period.  The timer is based on my local time zone but it is accurately shown to you, so if it says FOR EXAMPLE 2 days and five hours, that means that's how much time you have!

Please note, that if the jam gets a very large amount of submissions, more time may be granted for the judgement phase. This decision will be at the host's discretion and will be announced if applicable!

If you want to JOIN and SUBMIT on the same day, it's OK!

To determine ranking at the end of the judgement period, each work will be judged according to one or more criteria which is presented in the jam.

Judgement is provided completely through video "Let's Play" feedback -- there is NO COMMUNITY nor JUDGE VOTING for this jam.

ALL qualifying participants of this jam will receive:

-Feedback in video form and a ranking based on the judgement criteria.

-Every participant will be allowed to re-join a future month's jam, and will be able to re-submit their project again, so long as the project follows the Focus of the month of their re-submission.  Entries will be judged on the level of improvements or changes they made based on the feedback received during the gameplay video section of the judgement phase!

Please join the Official Year Long Jam Discord to ask any questions (even if you haven't joined yet)! 
 https://discord.gg/dVkGHHfvbu

Feel absolutely free to use the Community tab of the jam to start / join threads, or the Discord!

Q. Can I start working on my game now?

A. Yes!

Q. Are Non-English Games OK to submit?

A. Please submit games in English. (DeepL, machine or other translation method is fine!)

Q. Can I collaborate with someone else to make my game? Can we submit as a group?

A. Collaborations, teams and group projects are fine! Each separate participant is also allowed to submit their own project, even if they helped with someone else's!

Q. Are NSFW games OK to submit?

A. Games with NSFW themes may be submitted, however I will reserve the right to edit, limit or restrict the gameplay video for the submission in any way I deem appropriate!

Q. Is there a Discord?

A. The Official Year Long Jam Discord is here (it's new, please forgive the construction): https://discord.gg/dVkGHHfvbu

Q. I bought (or got for free) third-party assets, such as plugins, characters, tools, animations, models, or music. Can I use them in my game?

A. Please be sure that the seller has authorized the use of their assets in your project. There should be explicit permission from them to use it, on the page where you buy the assets, or it will be included with them. Works with a CC0, CC-BY or MIT license are best. If you are not certain, you can ask AmalgamAsh!

Q. Can I show my progress or otherwise show off my work on my game in other servers / pages etc?

A. You can show off your work anywhere at any time!

Q. Can I submit a game that I've already made and published elsewhere?

A. See rule 2 - if it is your first time submitting a project for the jam, it has to be a new project that has not been published elsewhere before (specifically made for the jam). If you submitted a project to the Year Long Jam previously, you are allowed to submit an updated version as long as it meets the Focus of thr current month and is updated per feedback.

Q.  Why can't I use CC-BY music?

A.  This music commonly requires attribution in the project where it is used, but sometimes also requires attribution in the description of a video where it is played.  This isn't always the case, but I don't want to spend time giving / checking attribution text and I don't want my videos claimed, so CC-BY is not allowed for submissions to this jam.

Q.  Can I use Text-To-Speech or TTS solutions like SAM for sounds or voice in my game?

A.  Yes and No; here is a list of "definitely allowed" TTS systems you can use in your submission; please reach out to ask about others for consideration to be added to the list:
TTSTool (this is technically ML, AI, NN but existed before GPT)
SAM
Microsoft Speech Platform (older, non-AI versions only)
Festival Speech Synthesis System
MBROLA
The following tools are not allowed:
Amazon Polly
Any tools that feature voices trained to impersonate celebrities

Q.  I missed the jam deadline by 0.0001 seconds; please let me submit my game.

A.  The deadline is posted well in advance; you cannot submit after this phase.

Q.  Can I e-mail you questions?

A.  Use the Discord or the Community tab of this jam only.

Q.  Is the jam logo font based on Batman Forever?

A. SHHHHHHHH.

An AmalgamAsh Studios, LLC event.