Hi 0xNil! Thank you for taking the time to do research for this - we have had a lot of questions regarding the US only rule and we would like to make some clarifications.
To win the prizes for the game jam, developers must be a US-residents. However, non US-residents are allowed to participate in the jam, but they will not be eligible to win the prize. This is due to each country having different laws regarding contests.
Hi 0xNil - Yes, we mean the cash prize.
When the submission period is open, there will be a question that asks the developer for their country of residence. If the game is very polished and something we would be interested in having on the site, we will speak with the developer to offer a potential license that is not part of the contest.
We have worked with international developers before when licensing games for our site, as these are one time payments we make for licensing. The reason why this contest only allows US-residents to win is due to contest rules being different in each country which can cause complexity.
Hey, I'm a US citizen, but I live abroad (Japan). From what I understand, this is a tax based issue? If so, I should be eligible since my tax filing is identical to any other US citizen, right? I also have a US address, but am not sure if that qualifies me as a "resident" since I'm currently studying abroad, so not actually "living there". I plan on entering either way, but figured it was better to clarify earlier rather than later.
