#crystalgameschallenge

It's 10:00am PST, And the jam is officially over! All participants will begin submitting their entries by emailing them to the Gaming Colts email ([email protected]) with the subject line "CRYSTAL GAMES CHALLENGE: " and the title of your game!

Judging of the games will begin on monday and the results will be announced at Everfree Northwest!

We're glad you all had a great time and we hope to see you again next year.

We'd like to take a second and apologize for the lack of information this year once more. Things inside the gaming colts have been busy as we rapidly work to prepare a project that we want to show at Everfree Northwest! Next year we promise that we will be more specific about our start and end times as well as our submission guidelines and rules!

Good afternoon Jammers! We're in the second and final full day of the game jam. We're excited to see and hear so much activity! With the day progressing rapidly, it might be the best time to reiterate some of the questions that we've been asked.

So when does this thing end?

The game jam will officially end on the 15th of june (tomorrow) at 10:00am PST.

Where do we send our finished stuff?

This is important! When you are ready to send your entries in. You must email them to [email protected]. In the subject line, start your title with "CRYSTAL GAMES CHALLENGE ENTRY:" before the title of your game.

We get a lot of emails so without that subject line it's actually possible for us to miss it without that subject title!

We'll be checking our email relentlessly hunting for your entries.

Another tidbit we'd like to talk about it the games archive.

One should note that even though this is deemed as a ‘challenge’ it really is nothing more than a game jam with the premise that all made games (that abide by the rules) will be shown at this year’s Everfree Northwest.

Last year’s Judging criteria was a bit strange, especially since it was the first time we were doing a game jam. This year we refined it a bit and have decided to share it with you—our participants. This way there’s no secret between the jam holders and the jammers.

Like last year we’re splitting up the criteria into 3 categories. Unlike last year, we’re going to have a points system. Each category has a possible 20 points that can be earned, resulting in a total score out of 60! The winners will be split up as such

Winner overall

This is the game that earns the highest score. This score is an amalgamation of all of the categories put together. 

Within the three of the following categories, we’ll include the types of questions that we’ll be asking ourselves as we play your games.

Game play winner

Does this gameplay feel smooth? (Can I go from one state to another seamlessly? How seamlessly?)

Are the rules consistent?

Audio winner

Does the chosen audio match the game play style and the art aesthetic? how?

What feeling does this audio give me as a player? Is this feeling complimented by the art and the game play?

Art winner

What does the art suggest about this game?

Is this art style immersive? is it suggestive?

Does the accompanying game play and audio fir this style?

Keep in mind that the nature of these questions are very opinionated and from our experience last year will ultimately lead to heated discussions about the submitted game.

Questions like these may make one want to try and get the best art, the best audio and the best game play. Please don’t strain yourselves too much for the best type of content.

Seriously, use basic geometric shapes if you have to! We’re not going to react any differently than if someone manages to create assassins creed style art in 48 hours(<- huge time sink by the way not recommended). To that effect, we’re going to show your game at our panel regardless and you’ll hopefully be able to view the video afterwards.

Hopefully this will help give a picture just into how we’re going to judge these games (kind of like a cheat sheet really).

We received some requests from participants about the rules being set in stone so that there is an easy reference. Ludric had completely forgotten that this is a new site and not the old one (which had the rules posted on it somewhere). Without further ado, here are the rules of the Crystal Games challenge. The challenge, like most jams isn't about what you can do, it's about what you can't. You are free to use what ever you have at your disposal to complete your projects. There are a few things you have to adhere to though:

1. All Projects must have child friendly content

Please no adult content (dialogue, pictures, music etc.). Everfree Northwest is a child/ family friendly convention and we want to follow their rules as closely as possible so that we can continue this. If the game has adult content of any time it will be added to the games archive, but we will not show it at Everfree as to avoid trouble.

2.Any Pre-made Libraries, assets and media must be made available to all contestants.

This is to keep the field even between all participants. speaking of pre-made assets.

3. Give credit where credit is due!

Give credit to any artists or developers whose pre-made assets you use. If the assets you use are licensed, please make sure you credit the original creator and/or have consent to use the asset in question within your project.

With the challenge around the corner we should take some time to clear some things up. There have been rumors floating around that we haven't had the time to address due to the project we've been working on as a team. As such lets take the time now to get our facts straight!

When does the Crystal Games Challenge take place?

The challenge begins on the 13th with the announcement of the theme and continues all the way until the 15th. After the 15th Ludric and time along with some other "judges" will begin playing the games. After about a week or two we'll make our calls and like last year tall who the winners of each category are at the Everfree Panel!

Will it be streamed?

A number of News sites have reported that this challenge will be streamed. We're sorry to report that we won't be streaming anything from our end. But all of our participants are more than welcome to stream their efforts. We believe it brings more immersion to those watching~!

If it's a game jam then why are there judges?

This has been a question that we've been asked a bit as well. Traditionally, Game Jams don't really have "judges" per say but there are usually rating systems. The reason why we chose to have judges has to do with the available time slot we have at Everfree Northwest. It only allows us to show three games at the end (Like 2013) This year May be different, but we're unsure as of now.

Any more burning questions?

Welcome one Welcome all to the new Crystal Games Challenge Tumblr!

As we begin forming the challenge we wanted to create a central space for all jam participants and observers to interact and play!

During the jam participants will be able to communicate with each other via the provided chatroom on the Chat page(Link), while others who want to observe or learn more can browse the site, learn about the challenge, and even play some of the games that were developed! Our Games Archive lists the games that were developed as apart of this challenge by year, the developers who created them and links to their pages where you might be able to *download and play them for your self!

Continue to check back to this site as more content and updates about current, past and future game jams will be made available!