I’m going to be streaming myself playing games from the jam for the entire week after the jam is finished!

Catch me live from July 21st - July 27th!


 

Development Time

Start Time: July 11th, 2 PM PDT
Submissions Close: July 20th, 10 PM PDT

Community Judging

From submissions closing on July 20th until July 27th, 10 PM PDT

Winners and Ratings Announced

Youtube Video posted on Saturday, August 2nd!

Eligibility

Open to anyone and everyone!

Teams

Teams are allowed, but the maximum team size is 4 people. One member of the team will be required to submit the game, but other members can be tagged as “contributors” to the game, which will allow them to vote on other entries during the judging phase!

Assets

You can use any art, audio, code, or tools that you have the legal right to, but you shouldn’t make assets ahead of time that would be specifically used for this game jam. If you previously made an asset that ends up being good to use for the jam, that’s totally fine. Just don’t do any “prep work”, heh.

You can use any assets available online! (Free assets, purchased asset packs, etc - if you can legally use it, it’s fair game!) I also request that you don’t use generative AI to produce art or music for your game.

Engine

There are no limitations on game engines, programming languages, or any other game production tools! As long as the end result is a game on itch.io that can be played on a Windows PC (with English language support) using a mouse and keyboard, it’s good to go! This means if it's either a Windows executable, OR playable in browser, then it's totally fine (since I can play either on my PC!) And, in fact, it's highly preferred for you to submit a game that's playable in-browser! Because that makes it much easier for everyone play and rate your game during the submissions phase!

Content Guidelines

No adult/NSFW content. (Nudity, excessive gore, or sexual content.) No hateful content. (Threats of violence, discrimination, or hateful language/imagery against other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, gender identity, or sexual orientation.)

Fun

How much did you enjoy the game?

Presentation

Visuals and Audio - the overall package of the game. Good art, good animations, good sounds?

Creativity

Did they have a super cool and interesting mechanic? Did their game perfectly fit the theme? Did playing the game make you think, “oh wow, that’s neat”?

The winner of each category will receive a prize of $100, for a total of $600 in prize money available!

Community’s Pick

The game that takes first place overall, as voted on by the community!

Shovel’s Top 3 Picks

I will pick my three favorite overall entries in the jam, and each will win a prize!

Guest Judge Insandio’s Top Pick

The game that our guest judge, Insandio, picks as her favorite overall entry in the jam!

The Number One Newbie

I will pick the best game overall from all games submitted by people who have never entered a game jam before!

Prize Logistics

The prize money will be sent via Paypal! (If a winner doesn't have a Paypal account, I'm also able to send the prize via Wise.)
If a prize is awarded to a team, the prize money will be sent to the person who submitted the game to the jam. Each team can decide how they want the prize money to be handled, but it will be the responsibility of the submitter to split the prize among members after receiving it.

If you want to make a devlog for your game (which I highly recommend), here are the logos for the jam and for the theme!
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1CuPdgIp1PQ2y-khgNevZz3cEp49Uhmx1?usp=dri...

(You can also just click the "Devlog Assets" divider and it'll take you there!)

You fully own the game you create during the jam! You can turn around and upload it directly to Steam, I claim no rights or ownership over anything made for this game jam!
Submitting a game to the jam is granting permission for that game to be featured in an InboundShovel Youtube video, as well as streamed live!
To be selected as a prize winner, you must be legally eligible to receive it. (For example, you must be 18 or older - or have a parent or guardian willing to claim the prize on your behalf. This also includes geographic restrictions.)