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A game jam is a lot like a hackathon for games. People develop games using any tools that they have,
then submit them by a due date. As with hackathons, people are free to use any resources that are
available to them to develop their game: their game engine of choice, their digital art program of
choice, youtube coding tutorials, books on art, anything. You can even use human resources—you can team
up with others to make your game better.
Most game jams, as does MelonJam, also have a theme. Some jams prefer or require that you stick to the
theme; others don’t, and only intend for the theme to be a tool to kickstart your brainstorming. To make
the jam more challenging and to enforce creativity via restriction, MelonJam requires that you connect
your game to the theme in some way.
In general, anyone who does not have much experience in game jams or game-making can participate in the
Novice
category; those who are moderately experienced participate in Intermediate; those who are more skilled
in terms of
years of experience or completed projects/jams participate in Advanced. We have more detailed guidelines
for determining
your division, please use the tier selector above.
We encourage participants who are more skilled to participate in any category above the one they qualify
for, as these
categories often have less competition (especially Advanced). Teams may also be disqualified
if their submission is unreasonably skilled, especially in Novice.
No category is limited to age or grade, and we welcome everyone to participate.
Yes; to be eligible for a prize, your game must have some aspect that fits the theme in some way. This
is because we want to make the jam more challenging as well as enforce creativity through restriction.
Yes; we do not intend to restrict anyone from participating in MelonJam. While we do target
pre-collegiate students in particular, we believe that there is much to gain from having people from all
sorts of backgrounds share their games and ideas with others.
That said, we sometimes have a few prizes that strictly benefit high schoolers, but if you win them, you
can choose to pass them on.
Yes, you may work in teams of up to 4 people. If you are set on having a team larger than that, contact
the hosts. However, depending on the exact numbers, having team members who are experienced in
game-making
will require you to enter in higher divisions.