In various Discord channels, there were questions about the restrictions and rules for this game jam. I'm trying to collect them here so everyone can get the answers. Feel free to ask your own questions here as well.
May I use at least a little bit of SRAM (for wram -> sram -> wram DMA tricks)?
No. the technical restrictions are set, to make the games work on the Multicarts. The Multicart has no SRAM so your game wouldnt work if you use SRAM.
If you want to continue your game after the jam, you are free to add whatever chips you like of course.
Is it correct that the games may be max. 512KB in size (last year it was 256KB)?
Yes, thats correct. You have more space for levels, music and so on this time.
Are interlaced games ok?
Interlace is used to double the vertical resolution. I read this might cause display problems with some modern TVs. However games which use interlace will run on the Multicarts, so: Yes, you are allowed to use interlace.
The Game Jam is announced in January and will start in August. What am I allowed to do before it starts?
The SNES is a difficult beast to code on. You may use the time to figure out how stuff works, set up a develoment toolchain, create a game-engine (music-player, spriteroutines, DMA-handler, whatever), write tools (gfx-converter, level-editors, whatever), build a team with other pixel-artists, musicians, coders and so on.
The game itself should be done in the Game Jam timeframe.
Will there be a theme for the Game Jam?
We thought about that. It would be a good way to make sure the games themself are developed in the given timeframe (see last question). However we didnt announce a theme, so there wont be one this time.
Are there any restrictions for the input devices?
No. Feel free to use whatever input devices you like in your games, but if you use ultrarare devices that are not supported by emulators and noone owns (XBand-keyboard, Pachinco controller etc.), it will be difficult for the jury to test your game and noone will be able play it afterwards.
So it might be best to stick with the usual stuff (joypad, multitap, mouse, maybe lightgun...).