Hello, glad you’re joining us!
There is only one round of voting here on itch. Once the jam ends and all submissions are in, there will be a week-long rating period. During that we’ll play, discuss, and rate all of them in four categories. Your overall score and placement is based on the average ratings over all categories.
There isn’t a perfect answer to how much code you can start with beforehand. This is allowed because we want everyone to succeed without any stress. Some folks will want to complete everything during the jam period. This is ideal; however, we understand that others wouldn’t be able to enter without working ahead by finding a team, planning their game, collecting assets, writing a story, etc. If you need to do any of this, we ask you to use your discretion, and please be mindful of those who complete everything during the jam period.
For example, I personally will begin with an engine and a starting template that I use for all jams. Before this jam I may write a game design document. I might add features to my engine to make the jam easier. But I won’t implement any of my game’s ideas with code until the jam starts.