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Submissions open from 2024-04-26 09:00:00 to 2024-05-06 09:00:00

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Join the 11th GoedWare Game Jam, a 10-day coding challenge open to all, where you can learn, enjoy, and share game development experiences. Create a game using any framework, keep a devlog for insights, and submit it on itch.io. Games are rated in categories like gameplay, art style, audio, theme, and more, by both participants and a special jury panel. Prizes include gift cards and some sponsored items for the winners. Enjoy the Easter Egg challenge for some extra fun. Share your creations, learn something new, and who knows, you might just win! Theme is announced at start.

This is the 11th Game Jam organized by GoedWare ( LinkedIn | Website | Discord ). Our goal is to let you practice coding, create and finish a game in around 10 days and also learn from the experience, expand your skills and above all have fun and enjoy making your own game and playing other participants' games.

*(Link to previous Jams #1 #2 #3 #4 #5 #6 #7 #8 #9 #10 )

It is always challenging to find an engaging theme. It should provide a solid foundation for game ideas while remaining versatile enough to accommodate diverse concepts. We believe we've discovered that with our theme:

"ISOLATION"

Some inspiration: the theme ISOLATION challenges you to delve into the nuances of solitude and separation, both as a narrative theme and as a physical element within your game mechanics. Envision a world where isolation is not only a state of being but also an isolation material that shapes environments, challenges, and interactions.

Consider creating a survival game where isolation is a critical resource, shaping a character's experience as they survive cut off from society. Or, explore a psychological thriller that delves into the mental toll of solitude. Imagine an adventure game navigating isolated spaces, or a strategy game where isolation materials are crucial for building and exploration. Alternatively, design a puzzle game focused on connecting isolated elements, or a narrative-driven game exploring the effects of physical and emotional isolation. Simulation games could also use isolation as a foundation for scenarios that mirror real-life solitude.

We're excited to see how your creativity and technical skills transform these ideas into engaging and thought-provoking games. Embrace the depth and complexity of isolation, both as a theme and a tangible element in your game design 🤔😊!

You can always discuss, brainstorm and exchange ideas with your fellow participants @ our Discord Server.

Best of luck to everyone and enjoy this Game Jam!!

PS: here you can find a mindmap that could be of help. Feel free to use it as a starting point, reference, or simply for inspiration as you work on your game concepts. It's just to help get your creative juices flowing.

Anyone, regardless of experience, is welcome to participate!
An itch.io account to be able to join the jam and submit your entry.
You can use any engine or framework you like! For example: Unity, Godot, Unreal, Gamemaker etc. You can even make your own if you want. But some of our prizes are Assets for the Unity Engine (you can choose a gift card instead).
You can not edit your submission after the deadline! So be wise and submit your game a few hours before the deadline to be able to tackle any last minute issues.
Teams are allowed, but we recommend keeping the teams up to 4 members, after that it becomes hard to manage a team in 8 days for a game. (Prizes are only for the whole team, not the individual members)
If you have the time and can manage it, multiple entries for the Game Jam are allowed.
Music must be royalty / copyright free and properly credited.
You can use fonts from the internet, as long as you have the correct license for it.
You can use assets you own. For example assets from the Unity Asset Store or Unreal Marketplace.
Please only use assets you have permission to use, and avoid infringing upon any copyright or trademark.
No NSFW games. Games must not contain nudity, or hateful language or visuals.
Participants who try to manipulate voting will be removed.
You have the option to create a Devlog (optional) where you can give an insight into your game development process, or tell others how you solved a particular game problem or implemented a game mechanic. This way we can all learn from each other's experiences.
- This can be a blog, a video, your daily schedule of the jam, some text or a short story telling us how you made the game, what difficulties you had during the jam and how you solved them. Or an explanation of some of your key game mechanics. How did you come up with them or how did you implement them. Or what you think are important learning milestones for us. It does not have to be much. Every information you can share will be helpful for us to learn to make better games that are more fun for the players.
- You can easily add your log to your Itch.io Game Project page or provide a link in the submission where we can read your log.
- This is optional, but if you do create one, you stand a chance of winning a nice prize (see Prizes).

All entries will be judged by other participants of the jam, so that includes you (hopefully)!

The categories the games are rated in are:

Gameplay / Fun: Basically, how easy and how much fun it is to play the game.
Art Style / Visuals: How cool, beautiful, or eye-catching the game looks.
Audio / Sound Design: How good the music and sound effects are, and if they make the game feel even better. Do they enhance the theme.
Innovation: Unique mechanics, original concepts, or unexpected twists that set the game apart and offer a fresh experience.
Theme: Does the game fit into the theme.
Devlog: How insightful and educational was the log of the developer(s).

There will also be a Judge/Jury Ranking: a rating by our own panel of judges. They will make a separate ranking from the participating games based on their own tastes, preferences and gaming enjoyment as to who will receive a prize. They will take into account any double or unfair voting in the normal rating. To balance uneven or unfair votes.

The theme will be announced when the jam starts.

After the jam ends, a 1 week rating period starts, in which people can play and rate all of the submitted games.

Don't forget to leave feedback on any game you rate! It's more helpful than just a number, and it helps them find your game 😊.

Note: You need at least 10 ratings to be considered for winning in any of the categories. So make sure you play a lot of games so your game will have a higher chance of getting rated!

*The voting is open, but we reserve the right to take any submissions down that are clearly vote brigaded.

** The number of needed ratings to be considered a winning will be adjusted according to the number of participants.

Yes, this Game Jam will have prizes for the winners 😊. These prizes are made available by our sponsor and organizer GoedWare.

Let's start by saying that if you press that join button and upload a game before the deadline, you are already a winner! Having fun while creating and finishing your game project is an achievement in itself! That experience is more valuable than money, but we do have some real prizes for the winners also 😉.

We have a public vote with prizes and we also have a jury ranking (see these prizes under the public vote) with prizes.

#Overall winner

The overall winner will receive a $100 gift card!* + Eternal Glory of winning the Game Jam😁!

* Participants will receive an Amazon gift card for the Amazon website that applies to their country.

** Bundles may have expired when the game jam starts, but the gift codes will still be valid. You can still get the bundle and its content with the gift code.

*** For the record for Brazilians. Unfortunately, no gift cards are possible for amazon.com.br and we will give out gift cards for amazon.com online shop.