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FAQ & Other Questions! Sticky

A topic by Ben K Rosenbloom created Oct 18, 2019 Views: 579 Replies: 13
Viewing posts 1 to 7
Host

I'm so excited to see so many people!! Welcome!! This is my first game jam, and it's kind of a complicated one to boot, so I thought I should put a space where people can ask questions/I can answer some that are starting to come in!

Can I submit my entry early?

Yes! Remember that your submissions to Rounds 1 & 2 are emailed to me (preferably as .txt files!) at benkr.threeforge@gmail.com! I have in fact already received the first submission!

Should the first submission include mechanics/anything else in particular?

I won't say "should"! I definitely think "could" applies though - there are no requirements to any submissions beyond that the final submission should be a playable game (whatever that means to you). The first round of submissions doesn't have to be much more than a core kernel of a game idea, or a theme, or an incitement! Be aware however that mechanics, just like everything else else included in your submissions,  are all entirely open to editing and revision by your collaborators!


Please post any other questions you might have below!

(+1)

Just wondering what the process is for round 3. Does the final contributor post the game to Itch? And is there any guidance around pricing (e.g. would all games be free, is there a recommended price, or would it be up to the final dev to decide)? Thanks!

Host

Awesome questions, thank you!! My thinking was to have the final contributors post the games to itch and add the other contributors as admins to the game, but as Luke pointed out, I think it's likely that many people will be posting their .txts. I'll be making all .txt or other text files available to everyone after the jam is over (and as final submissions come in), so individual collaborators can post their contributions or final submissions to their own itch pages if they'd like (and format/edit/change to their liking). 

I'm nervous to suggest any recommended pricing - I think I'd prefer to have collaborators discuss amongst themselves. The .txts will be made available to readers for free so that they can judge them, though!

Submitted(+1)

Is the final contributor also supposed to submit in .txt?  Or does layout fall to them?

If the final contributor is submitting a fully formatted document (such as PDF) are there guidelines for making sure that fonts and art are appropriately licensed?

Host

Thank you for asking this!! I've changed my mind, and am now gonna require that 3rd round submissions are .txt files, so that 1. it's easy for me to provide the .txts for everyone to access (especially the other collaborators, who likely have an interest in taking those files for their own purposes) and 2. so that the final collaborators don't have an expectation of a different kind of labor (i.e. layout and etc).

Submitted(+1)

How are collaborators being selected?

Host

semi-randomly! "semi" just to ensure that no one works on the same game twice.

Submitted(+1)

which contributor decides titles? i typically choose those very early in the design process as a guidepost for the project. would i be allowed to do that as first contributor? (of course i assume the next contributors can change it how they see fit)

Host

great question!! Title/s can absolutely be a part of your first (or second, or third) round submissions (but as you've pointed out, future contributors can change it if they want!)

Submitted

thanks!

Submitted

I'm putting together my seed of a game idea for the first round, excited to see how other people run with it. Some questions that came to mind today:

What happens to games that are not completed? Say a game makes it through round two but the third person fails to submit something on time. Will the other two participants be notified at the end? What about if the second person in the chain fails to submit something by the deadline?

Host

This is actually one I've been thinking a lot about. Certainly at the very least, I'll notify everyone involved at the end. If the second step doesn't come through, I'll send off the game-seed from round 1 to someone for the third round, too (and tell the original collaborator what happened). I'm also hoping to be able to reassign stuff if I learn in time that a collaborator drops out (and ask if early finishers have the time/energy to work on the dropped game) but of course that depends on hearing from the person who's dropping out!! Which I know won't always happen. Hopefully with timely reminders and posts though we'll get most of them. 

Submitted

Will we find out who we collaborated with at the end?

Host

absolutely!!