Rules

A mini game jam is similar to a mini hackathon, except the end goal is a playable game prototype. See below for more details!

Basics

The basic idea is simple: join a team of friends and compete to build the best game prototype based on a theme in two hours. The top two teams, selected by a panel of judges, will win prizes!

Any CS Night attendee, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni may participate. All submissions must be related in some way to the theme announced in the kickoff meeting. See below for additional details!

Location  

The CS Night Game Jam will be held in room G12 in the new John Lo Schiavo, S.J. Center for Science Innovation (LCSI).

We will be in room LCSI G12, which is on the garden level. This is where many computer sciences classes are now held. If you are unable to make it in person, we still encourage you to take part remotely! However, you must be physically present to win one of the prizes.

Teams  

Any CS Night attendee, including students, faculty, staff, and alumni, may participate in the CS Night Game Jam.

You may participate solo or form teams of up to 4 people maximum. You do not need to come with a pre-formed team. We will help form teams during the kick-off meeting for anyone interested.

Each participant may only be part of one team, and each team may submit only one game prototype.

Registration is not required. However, we ask that you fill out the registration form if you are interested in participating. This will help us order enough food and drinks for the event.

Theme  

Each game must incorporate a theme that will be announced during the kickoff meeting.

Themes are common for any game jam. Some example themes include underwater, cooperation, and time travel. Last year the theme was space.

We use the theme to limit how much preparation any team may do before the game jam kickoff. The idea behind a game jam is to see what you can create within the time frame given. You should not attempt to pre-build a game for this competition!

Planning  

You will be given approximately 15 minutes to plan your game prototype after the theme is announced.

It will be key that your team quickly decides on a concept, which language you will use, and who will be responsible for which part. We suggest you choose a team leader that is responsible for dividing up tasks and making final decisions.

When deciding on your game concept, make sure you choose something you can quickly prototype. Focus on creating only a single level, or just enough game play that demonstrates your concept.

Coding  

We encourage everyone to use App Inventor for this game jam, to give everyone an even playing field.

If you are not familiar with App Inventor, we will give a quick introduction during the kickoff meeting. Most computer science majors will be able to pick up App Inventor very quickly!

We already have App Inventor installed on the lab computers in LCSI G12. See the Setup MIT App Inventor guide for how to install it on your own laptop.

Judging  

The top two submissions will be selected by a panel of judges, and all those team members will receive a prize!

See the Prizes page for additional details on judging and the prizes.

Submission  

Entries will only be accepted between 6:15pm and 6:45pm on Thursday, December 5, 2013.

Prototypes must function to be eligible to win. See the Submit page for details on how to submit your game jam entry.