The first ever May Jam!
THEME:
VOYAGE
THEME:
VOYAGE
What, where, when?
GMC Jam is a quarterly community event held on GameMaker Community. It is entirely a community event; neither YoYo Games nor Playtech are officially involved in this competition, aside from providing forum space to carry it out. It dates back to the times of old forum, where 21 editions were held (plus one bonus), and now it's a 4th edition here! You can check the GMC Jam records in the GMC Jam Hall of Fame & Archive.
The Jam has three phases:
- discussion, held in discussion topic; started about 2 weeks before the Jam (the discussion remains open during and after the Jam, too, until the next Jam discussion starts)
- development, the core of the Jam, the 72 hours when entries are made and posted in games topic
- decision, when community members vote for their favourite games and provide feedback to specific entries; it lasts roughly 2 weeks after the Jam, before the results are announced
This GMC Jam will run for 72 hours in the following timeframe:
May 26th (Friday), noon UTC - May 29th (Monday), noon UTC
Countdown clock
May 26th (Friday), noon UTC - May 29th (Monday), noon UTC
Countdown clock
GMC Jam rules
The following rules will be used during this GMC Jam. Also, general Community Guidelines apply. Compared to the GMC Jam #3 theme voting was removed (now there's only one theme picked by the winner); aside from that, rules remain the same.
PARTICIPATION:
- any GMC member is welcome to participate in GMC Jam and submit their entry
- each entry must be made by a single GMC member or a team of up to 3 people; people outside GMC can be in the team, as long as at least one GMC member is in that team
- each participant can make or contribute to as many entries as they want, but they can only claim rewards for one of them (unless the reward is given specifically for the entry)
- each entry must have a single post in this Jam's games topic (opened once the Jam officially starts), and no two entries can share the same post
- the Games topic post can be used to present the entry progress; it can also contain a devlog
- by the time the Jam ends, each Games topic post must contain a valid link to the entry downloadable file
ENTRY:
- the entry must be an original creation made in GameMaker specifically for the Jam, within the Jam timeframe
- the entry might use assets (graphics, audio, scripts, extensions, Marketplace resources etc.) created before the Jam, whether by team members or someone else; however, the credits should make clear where the assets come from and which were made before the Jam
- the creators of the entry must have rights to all of the assets; unlicensed use of resources is not allowed
- the entry must be available as a Windows executable file, exported as a stand-alone file or as a ZIP; installers are not allowed
- the entry might be exported to other platforms as well (such as HTML5 or Android), but the Windows executable must be available
THEME:
- the Jam has a theme picked by the previous winner - a general idea around which the entry can be built
- while incorporating the theme in the entry is not mandatory, participants are strongly encouraged to do so
- the entry that uses the theme in the most interesting way can win best use of theme award; if the Jam has two themes, there is one award for each theme
BEST-OF AWARDS:
- aside from the Jam-specific theme, the games can be rated on the concept, the presentation and the story
- the concept is related to the core gameplay mechanics idea - whether the game rules themselves are creative and entertaing or not
- the presentation is related to the overall polish - whether the entry provides the right experience through audiovisuals, and whether it's not disrupted by bugs and errors
- the story is related to the events or motivation present throughout the entry; it can be told through dialogue and narrative, as well as implied through game design
- the entries excelling at these categories can win best concept, best presentation and best story awards
- furthermore, aside from entries themselves, their devlogs can be rated; the entry with the most interesting devlog can win best devlog awards
VOTING:
- after the Jam ends, all entries are gathered in a single ZIP with all entries for everyone to download
- once the ZIP is available, the voting begins, and it lasts approximately 2 weeks; a longer voting period may be chosen when more than 70-80 entries are submitted
- the voting period may be extended upon request by at most one additional week; however, not every such request must be granted, and one should show a reasonable progress with reviewing/playing the Jam entries
- the voting is carried out in the Jam's voting topic, where each voter makes a single post for their scores and reviews
- any GMC member may vote, whether they participated or not, but participants cannot rank or award their own entries
- each voter must rank and post a brief comment on at least top 3 games; also, they can rank more games
- each voter can vote for best use of theme, concept, presentation, story and devlog
- each voter can vote for best reviewer, but in this case their opinion is entirely non-binding - the best reviewer is eventually chosen by the Jam host after the voting ends
- if some voters or participants are found to be cheating, their entries may be disqualified and they might be excluded from future community events
- shortly after the voting period closes (preferably within 24 hours), the votes are summed up, and the final results announced; after that, all prizes should be distributed where applicable
PRIZES:
- top 3 entries, as well as best-of award winners, get special banners and are featured in the Hall of Fame
- creator of the highest ranking themed entry gets the right to choose the next Jam's theme
- aside from regular GMC Jam prizes, other GMC members can contribute the community prizes by messaging the Jam host
- the community prizes can be given to any range of places, best-of winners, reviewers, personal favourites etc.
- the community prizes can be nearly anything - custom graphics, soundtracks, gameplay videos, software keys etc.; as long as they are not monetary prizes and they don't break community rules
- it is community prize contributor's responsibility to give the prize; they should make sure they can deliver their promise
Community prizes
Want to add your community prize? Send a message to the Jam host the details!
(note that you will need to handle prizes distribution after the Jam, please don't pass keys through me or anything)
- @Alexx offers a paperback book with 100 Programming Challenges to 10 random entries
- @Cloaked Games offers an easter-egg reference to entry with best use of theme, in the currently developed project
- @dadio offers:
- commercial use licenses for all of his ~150 fonts to all participants
- early access to his top secret project (as soon as EA is ready) to top 3 winners
- Cosmochoria and Skullgirls Steam keys to the overall winner
- @K-BitCRUSH offers a GameMaker game key (possible choices here) for 1st and 2nd place
- @Mocgames998 offers Owlboy Steam key to 11th place winner (if he gets the place, the prize will be given to 12th place instead)
- @theonewhoisodd offers Steam keys for games from this list to places 1-10
Spread the word!
If you would like to promote the Jam, please paste the following code in your signature. Also, please remember that your signature is effective only when you are posting around forums. You might want to go ahead and give feedback in Made with GameMaker and Work in Progress forums, or maybe participate in Programming and Community Tech Support discussions.
Code:
[center][url=https://forum.yoyogames.com/index.php?threads/the-stellar-gmc-jam-4-discussion-thread.26589/][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/TldmCqc.png[/IMG][/url][/center]
Let's get the discussion started!
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