/usagi/ - U.S.A.G.I. Game Jam

(Last edited on 7th June)

The Jam formally starts on June 29th, and will conclude on 23:59 August 23th GMT. To register, open a thread on this board with your proposal at any time (even before the jam starts), and post a link to the final submission before the deadline. It's okay to reserve a thread even if you have no idea what you want to make yet.

Contestants may work individually, or in teams. Team size is unlimited (you can have strangers contribute), third-party assets you can legally use are fair play, as long as the game itself is original. Using third party platforms such as itch.io to upload your game is allowed, as long as the rules are followed.

Create a thread for your (planned, completed) game here, make sure to use a tripcode and remember it. You are encouraged to engage with some or all of the boards above for discussion / organization / play-testing. You can use whatever for internal communication, including this board, which will be heavily moderated.

DO:
- Create and publish an original work, or a sequel / spinoff of your existing IP
- Pick ideas that resonate with you and your group, country, or whatever makes you you.
- Blend and combine them thoroughly
- Be as open as you are want, don't sabotage others
- Deviate from social and group norms without offending them
- Break game clichés and forms, break out of the computer
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The consequence for overeating should be explosion.

tes.,
wow, this game looks boring.

>>36
No, it's eating, please pay attention. This is not DigDug.

>>28
Basically, my idea is to take an a less well known but fairly reliable occult ritual known to summon a spirit (could be good or evil) and build it into a basic tabletop puzzle game. I don't really plan on it having any unique pieces that people would have to buy or manufacture. Ideally, everything could be sourced fairly easily, DIY'd from household items with the help of imagination, or simply printed on paper and cut out at the most. In that case, I'd probably supply some pdfs.

That sounds more than reasonable, don't let me limit your creativity then, have fun! Feel free at any time to ask here for help / playtesting / whatever, if you ever feel like getting input from other rolls.

I assume that you would want to distribute your rule book as a PDF to begin with (or a webpage, perhaps?), so perhaps bundling the required scanned / computer-designed model sheets alongside it would be extra convenient. Papercraft Was a thing in homebrew games for ages, after all.

Let's say I either have an incomplete game which I'd like to update/release a significantly different version and/or which is being developed during a jam which is currently in progress. Is it acceptable to take the USAGI jam as an opportunity to work upon a significantly updated/different/bigger release of such incomplete game, or should I hold up my metaphorical pen?

>>32
tl;dr: We would rather you not but we will support you and won't remove you if you disclose it beforehand, and are okay with not being eligible for any prices (no promises about those being a thing). Should the rules be edited to add that explicitly?

We would very much prefer games be made for the jam and the work started at the date of the jam. The time constraint is a large part of the jam experience. If it's something that is public and released before the jam starts and your submission uses that as a base, in my eyes that's equivalent to using a bunch of third party assets. And that is explicitly allowed. Same goes for more game-y game engines (eg. using Luanti - Minetest, PICO-8 / Picotron / TIC-80, etc., no roblox / minecraft through please: that would violate the rules for copyright reasons as we require certain rights to host it). The other interpretation is using the jam to polish / finish your existing project that might incidentally match the theme and rules, we would rather you not do that. Maybe in future iterations. That doesn't spark "start and make for the jam" joy. Rather give us something tiny but unique (however related) than make a large part of a huge project for the jam.

Whatever you make has to be accessible by normal people (presumably without accounts or identity verification) for free and without having to play your existing game first: sequels / spinoffs are welcome, overhauling mods and addons are at your risk, additional levels / arcs / storylines / mechanics to an unreleased game are likely not desirable.

No matter what, we are not likely to delete your submission (unless you blatantly violate the rules - especially around copyright), yet we ask of you to disclose when your project is a continuation / adaptation / modification of an existing or unpublished work, to adjust any attribution, and to not hand prices to somebody who "has not made a dedicated game," and cause fairness-related arguments. That is, if we decide to give out any.

>>33
Thank you for the answer. It was an hypothetical question, as I am not, in fact, currently working on any game, though I could have joined a certain game jam in progress. Nonetheless, I've decided to hold up the metaphorical pen, and to not do any actual work on my idea other that brainstorming until USAGI jam actually starts.
While it will not apply for me, I do think a clarification about all that would be a good addition to the rules.