What is VU Jam?

VU Jam is a Game Jam I'm hosting to end of the year with a fun event. It will run for 72 hours starting friday 4/7 at 9AM CEST. During this time you will be making a video game, either solo or in a team. Outside of being really fun this is a great opportunity to get into making video games! I personally made my first video game for a very similar 72 hour game jam called LudumDare, and have been hooked ever since! So don't feel intimidated if this is your first time making a game, everybody is here to learn and have a good time! Just try to finish something and no matter how big of a failure you think your project is, submit it! Then you will be able to say that you have made a video game, and possibly find a fun and rewarding new hobby (or even a interesting line of work if you're really lucky and talented)! So feel free to join at any level of experience. If you're looking for a team, try to get in touch with people on the message boards here or even better, talk to some people irl and get as many people involved as possible!

What is a Game Jam?

A game jam is an event, hosted either irl or online, where you are challenged to make a video game in a short time frame. This is something either hosted by communities of game devs, like LudumDare, but also fairly common practice in the industry to prototype ideas. Usually the short time limit is enforced by requiring games include a theme. Some typical game jam themes are: "Unstable", "Random" or "Chain Reaction". You can decide whether to use the theme literally or only include it vaguely, so long as its in there somehow!

The Theme:

You are free to implement this theme in any way you like. It could be through gameplay, like for example in Balatro where the player can find game breaking combinations causing scores to reach up to the limit of what is representable by computers, and sometimes beyond.
The theme could  be shown in the narrative as well, maybe someone or something is trying to break your game. 
And finally the theme could be shown in the art, by giving your game a broken aesthetic. 
But of course do not feel constrained at all by these examples I have given. So long as some interpretation of the theme "game breaking" is in your game in whatever way it is fine!
I wish the best of luck to everyone.
I have made a discord server for the jam, it can be found here: https://discord.gg/QMwRzEux?event=1390587742424924160

The Rules:

This game jam uses the rules for the LudumDare Jam, with three slight additions/alterations.

1. No AI "art" (just use some free art pack on itch.io instead and credit the creator according to their license).
2. Only video game entries.
3. This Jam is unranked, so there will not be any voting to opt in or out of. (Maybe for a future instalment there will be a price and ranking, I want to test the waters first though!)

With all of that being said the rules boil down to this: Make a video game that includes the theme in some way in 72 hours using any tools or previous code you have written using any non-AI art that you are legally allowed to use, but you are strongly encouraged to make your own art.

FAQ

For Who is This Jam?

As the name implies this jam is mainly meant for students at VU Amsterdam, however it is of course completely fine to team up with friends outside of VU. As long as you at least vaguely know someone at VU feel free to join :).

I am Making a Game for the First Time, What Tools Should I Use?

These are my personal recommendations for tools to use, I urge you to test if they are set up correctly at least a day before the start of the jam.

• Game engine: I recommend using a game engine that offers a lot out of the box as the time-frame for you to make a full game is only 72 hours it is a lifesaver to have built in features for things such as tile-maps, animations and physics. For this I personally recommend Godot. If you are a complete (Godot) beginner, following this video by (the amazing) Brackeys should get you up and running in no time. (about 3 hours lol)
• Art: A great free and open-source image editor that will serve you well for any 2d art is GIMP. For 3D art I recommend Blender (But probably don't do a 3D game unless you know how to 3D model already, or do and be really cool!).
• Sound effects: I recommend using audacity to record some fun sounds yourself, either with items in and around your room or just with your mouth. If that does not fit your style at all or are in a hurry to just get some sound effects going I recommend jsfxr.
• VCS/Collaboration Tools: I cannot recommend setting up git(hub) highly enough. It will save you if your sleep deprived code was so terrible you have to go back two versions. And it will allow you to relatively painlessly collaborate. Personally I use git mainly through the command line because that is what I'm used to, but if you're collaborating with people who aren't used to that CS life then definitely use GitHub desktop.

How do I Submit?

To submit I recommend following this tutorial. If you have any further questions concerning submission or need to make a late submission due to solid circumstances, try to reach out on the message boards.

Quick legal note so I don't get sued. I am not associated with VU Amsterdam. This Game Jam is not organized or endorsed in any way by VU Amsterdam.