MelonJam 5 has now begun! The theme is FLOW.
Here’s some definitions:
- move along or out steadily and continuously in a current or stream; a steady, continuous stream of something
- proceed or be produced smoothly, continuously, and effortlessly
More definitions can be found here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow. Warning: some of these are just names of things
Tips, to get your creative juices *flowing*:
- Use multiple/uncommon definitions if it makes sense for your game
- Check that the game can’t be easily reskinned to fit a different theme (that is, the game was clearly made with the theme in mind)
- There are no genre limitations. Perhaps considering things from a different genre's perspective could give you an idea.
- Questions to ask yourself and your teammates: will “flow” be helpful to the player or in opposition to their goals? What are some things that can flow (besides, like, water)? Could you make use of expressions that contain “flow” - go with/against the flow, etc.? What happens when the “flow” stops?
REMINDER: you must keep a document of all outside/pre-made assets used.
What is a game jam, you might ask? It's just a hackathon dedicated to games specifically, and they're loads of fun! You don't need any experience at all-- even just following a few tutorials, with your own twists, is okay! MelonJam 5 will take place July 18th 4:00 PM PST (July 19th 12:00 AM UTC), and the game jam will end on July 21st 3:59 PM PST (July 21st 11:59 PM UTC) for a total of 72 hours, with a short grace period.
Our core mission is to transform game development from a niche topic into something everything can learn to appreciate. As such, we HIGHLY encourage high schoolers and other novices to join this game jam! We will be offering dedicated prizes for these contestants.
Check out our website for more details!
Important -- PLEASE READ!
Our game jam is being hosted on Itch, and we will not accept submissions from Devpost.
Benefits
Everyone who submits a project will be given access to benefits worth thousands of dollars. We also provide many different prizes to the winners of this game jam, so be sure to sign up!
Questions
If you have any other questions, please feel free to ask on our Discord server! Otherwise, we cannot wait to see all of the exciting ideas you have to offer! Good luck!
Prizes
Advanced 1st Place
* $100 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x PyxelEdit key (worth $9)
* 1x 1-year subscription of Axure RP Team Edition (worth $504)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 3x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x Construct 3 Personal Edition for one year (worth $130)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
* 1x Cartoon Coffee VFX Megapack (worth $200)
Advanced 2nd Place
* $90 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x PyxelEdit key (worth $9)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Advanced 3rd Place
* $75 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $106)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Intermediate 1st Place
* $90 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x PyxelEdit key (worth $9)
* 1x 1-year subscription of Axure RP Team Edition (worth $504)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 3x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x Construct 3 Personal Edition for one year (worth $130)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
* 1x Cartoon Coffee VFX Megapack (worth $200)
Intermediate 2nd Place
* $80 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x PyxelEdit key (worth $9)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Intermediate 3rd Place
* $65 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $106)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Novice 1st Place
* $80 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x PyxelEdit key (worth $9)
* 1x 1-year subscription of Axure RP Team Edition (worth $504)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x Construct 3 Personal Edition for one year (worth $130)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
* 1x Cartoon Coffee VFX Megapack (worth $200)
Novice 2nd Place
* $70 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $214)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* 1x Art of Problem Solving coupon (worth $25)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Novice 3rd Place
* $55 cash/gift card
* 1x Asset Forge key or Kenney Game Assets All-in-1 (worth $20)
* 1x Aseprite key (worth $20)
* 2x Wolfram One Professional Edition for one year (worth $1660 each)
* 1x WeLoveIndies sound pack (worth $106)
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
* One year of 1Password Families per team member (worth $60 each)
Community's Favorite
* $15 cash/gift card
* 1x license to any Wes Bos course (worth $139)
Best Visuals Using Cartoon Coffee VFX
* $15 cash/gift card
* Cartoon Coffee Sword Slash VFX pack (worth $20)
Devpost Achievements
Submitting to this hackathon could earn you:
Judges
Anooj Vadodkar
M.S. in CS (Games) at USC
Ethan Soo
Co-founder and former president of CHS Game Dev Club & Co-founder at techToy Studio
Gabriella Martinez
USC Graduate
Haocheng (Hao) Liu
Game Designer, Interactive Media MFA at USC
Jared Skold
Independent game designer & project lead
Manu Bhat
Former Cupertino Game Development Club president and mobile game developer
Mirek Stolee
Texts and Technology PhD student at the University of Central Florida
Nathan Huynh
Game Designer and recent Games & Playable Media M.S. graduate from UCSC
Patrick Wang
Co-founder & former president of CHS Game Dev Club, MSCS student at CMU
Saahil Gupta
Game Developer at University of Pennsylvania
Vaishak Renjith
Aspiring Software Engineer, former GDC Treasurer and MelonJam Host
Jihong "Yuuki" Min
M.S. Games & Playable Media, Design for Additive Manufacturing
Xiwen Jin
Product manager at Blizzard, Diablo team
Alex Zapalac
Game Developer
Ji Xia
UCI Game Design & Interactive Media Graduate
Dexter Delandro
M.S. in Game Science and Design @ Northeastern University
Judging Criteria
-
Gameplay
How well the game squeezes out value from its mechanics/how appropriate and appealing the controls feel (snappy platforming, impactful heavy attacks, or the like). This may differ depending on the genre of game. -
Graphics
How impressive the project looks, sounds, etc. Objects of importance should be easily differentiable from other objects, and in general the game should be visually appealing. -
Innovation
How “new” a concept in the game is (new graphics, new gameplay, new interpretations of old concepts, etc.) -
Theme
How well the game interprets the theme. The more creative and interesting the interpretation that still reasonably matches the theme, the higher your game's score in this category. -
Polish
Overall polish and how complete the game feels.
Questions? Email the hackathon manager
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