SUGGESTION: Monthly Game Jam

Hello, this is just a suggestion, but I find that I work better when I'm doing it in the name of a Game Jam. Problem is, there aren't always game jams aplenty going on at any given time. To help alleviate some of this issue, I propose that either Scirra or a team of devoted fans (I'd be willing to be a founding member of the team if no one with more qualifications steps up) should consider hosting a monthly game jam blog.

For example, get a blog hosted, it can be blogger or wordpress for all I care, and create a Game Jam that repeats with a new theme or topic every month. Players then submit their games via Scirra Arcade link to the webmaster of the blog, who'll send them to the judges which'll grade the games and post a short writeup and review of each game.

Here are the categories that could be used for judging:

Creativity,

Sexiness (music, graphics, effects),

Transparency (clean, commented, grouped code),

Fun,

Theme (How well does it fit the theme of the jam)

Post a "Final Results" page which has summarized scores and a list of all the games with their icons and a short 40 word description for each game, and done. Meet back at the same place next month and start over. Post an alert on the forums, have a twitter account to make announcements and feature the winners, whatever.

We could also perhaps make it a rule to share your .capx file and make some comments so that in the end, we can all learn from each other's creative mechanics.

What do you all think?

I really like this idea. The folks over at GameMaker do something similar, i think maybe they use Reddit and google forms to set it up? I like their categories for rating games too.

I think Construct 2 has a big enough community that this could be a lot of fun. Maybe we could get some prizes set up (if not by Scirra maybe some of us could chip in).

A few ideas I've had with this:

• Don't require sharing capx files. I think that requirement would reduce the number of people entering the contest because some people want to retain rights to their hard worked projects for their own commercial projects.

• Some people don't like to host their games on the Scirra Arcade, so I think this should be optional as well and people should be able to host it where they want

• I don't really like 48 hours game jams that destroy your weekend, I'd rather have maybe one week, two week, or maybe even month long windows for people to work on their projects. But some people will probably disagree with me there.

1. Don't Share Capx Files:

Fine with me! It was just an idea. Those who are so inclined would be more than welcome to submit theirs if they wanted to, and we could host them with their consent.

2. Don't Host on Scirra Arcade:

Once again, no problem. That was really just an example because it's so easy to publish there, just a few clicks. Any link should be enough.

3. No 48 hour game jams:

Personally, I think it should be announced on the first of the month, and the deadline is the final day of the month. That'd get people to really have all the time in the world to polish their entry, but for those of us that like to just make a game in two days as quickly as they can, that's still an option.

Searching through the forums it looks like a Construct 2 game jam has been attempted before, I'm not sure how it went, click here to see the thread

My suggestion is that there is a random theme that is thought of. I think those makes the creative works (read: games) more exciting.

Well for whatever reason, it looks like that jam fell through and faded into obscurity. We have to host it outside in a blog and put someone in charge of managing that stuff.

There is another thread proposing for another type of game jam, possibly it might be worth contacting this person and coordinating with him/her : Group up jam.

It could be another good idea to also contact the persons from the previous C2 game jam you mentioned to see if they are still around and would be interested in taking part/organising this one.

As for your original assessment, there are jams every week end !

You can check out this jam thread about jams that are regular. For example, this very week end is the Global Game Jam.

There is also the CandyJam that was launched a few days ago and that run up to the start of February and is kind of "a good cause".

If you're looking for a jam every week/week-end, you'll find one.

Now if you're really motivated in organising one, by all means, go ahead.

Prices are not required. Look at the Ludum Dare, the biggest game jam of them all, there is no price except a bit of promotion.

I wouldn't talk in the name of Scirra, but I'm pretty sure something could be worked out in that sense (like on twitter/featuring on their blog or whatever).

At worst, just the fact of having done a complete game in the given time is rewarding in itself you know, along the personal experience you get from making it.

Well in any case, the site is live: c2gjam.blogspot.tw/p/contest-rules.html

I even made a fancy rubric for the judges.

Russpuppy, I'm drafting you. Kyatric, you seem like an obvious choice too. Help me find at least one more judge if you can!

A monthly jam is way too hard to handle. It takes some time to make good games and people are very busy these days. I would just start one and see the response:)

Maybe you could make it like a spring/summer/autumn/winter-Jam. :-P

teacherpeter Maybe we should not have judges. I kind of like the way the GameMaker contest is run, I think each entrant has to judge like 5 other entries (or be disqualified), and you could also open up judging to anyone on the scirra forums to get people involved and interested. Google forms are good and easy to set up for voting. Plus I'd probably want to enter myself :)

I think what you have on your website is a good start. It might be good to rethink categories and rating system a bit, the GameMaker contest gets a lot of people into it and they have a good example to look at (read http://www.reddit.com/r/gamemaker/comments/1hamju/announcement_gm48_rules_and_theme_suggestion/)

also another little suggestion with the rules on the site--maybe it would be good to simplify and remove the requirement to post "proof" video or screenshots (it's just another barrier to entry for lazy people like myself ;)). It's easy enough to look at html/javascript source code to tell if a project is Construct 2 or not

teacherpeter Maybe we should not have judges. I kind of like the way the GameMaker contest is run, I think each entrant has to judge like 5 other entries (or be disqualified), and you could also open up judging to anyone on the scirra forums to get people involved and interested. Google forms are good and easy to set up for voting. Plus I'd probably want to enter myself :)

I think what you have on your website is a good start. It might be good to rethink categories and rating system a bit, the GameMaker contest gets a lot of people into it and they have a good example to look at

OK , I'll look into it. I need to figure out how the voting will work, though. I'm thinking polls on the blog's page for each game.

Would you care to say which categories that I've suggested that you don't like? I'm pretty happy with that selection. I think it covers all the bases, but if there is something specific you think should be included/scrapped, please let me know ASAP because this thing is starting in like a few days.

also another little suggestion with the rules on the site--maybe it would be good to simplify and remove the requirement to post "proof" video or screenshots (it's just another barrier to entry for lazy people like myself ;)). It's easy enough to look at html/javascript source code to tell if a project is Construct 2 or not

Well, I suppose, since it is monthly. Making it less complicated might be better for getting more participants.

Now how do we publicize this thing in time?