Questions regarding game jam

[BaneTrapper]

Hello.
I have just few questions so am gonna trow them ASAP:
1. What is the rule set for "Game jam".
    Do you make a theme (Ghosts, 2d) and you are supposed to make game using these 3 things to apply?
2. How much time is given for the game to be done? or how long "Game jam" lasts
3. Is it required to apply before to enter game jam? (As in, i am gonna make a game that is about banishing ghosts from mortal plane in 2d view...)

[Lo-X]

1. Here are the first jam rules, please keep in mind that they're gonna evolve :

Rules:
1. You can work on a team of two, or by yourself. Must be stated when submitting.
2. You only have 72 hours to create both the code and the audio/graphic assets of your project. Pre-made fonts are allowed.
3. Game must be based on the theme ,but how the theme is interpreted is up to you!
4. Any programming language may be used, as long as SFML(or one of its bindings) is used.
5. External libraries are allowed, but not SFML's competitors, such as GLFW, SDL, Allegro, etc. The use of OpenGL is allowed, however.
6. We encourage the use any of the code posted in https://github.com/SFML/SFML/wiki/Sources, you may bind it to your language of choice, as long as you give credit to the original author.
7. Porting to other OS's after the 72 hour mark is allowed and encouraged!

2. The Game Jam lasts 72h, the first hour must be dedicated to theme reflexion and only after that you can start to code

3. It's nice to say you gonna participate (and you can do so several days before), but you don't have to say what you're going to do

[Atani]

2. The Game Jam lasts 72h, the first hour must be dedicated to theme reflexion and only after that you can start to code

From the last jam, it was 1hr planning then 72hr coding.

[Jebbs]

And I am going to post a sticky thread soon that will always have the most up to date rules and information.

[BaneTrapper]

Good to know!

[FRex]

What is the rule about personal codebases and engines that are made public before jam?
Do they fall under 'external libraries but not SFML competitors'?

[Jebbs]

What is the rule about personal codebases and engines that are made public before jam?
Do they fall under 'external libraries but not SFML competitors'?

Assuming they aren't built on top of SFML's competitors, you are free to use your own codebase/engines as much as you like.

[Raincode]

Just a little thought/proposal:

I remember reading the question about a prize somewhere. How about an e-book copy of the SFML Game Development Book for the winner? As I said, just an idea that crossed my mind, no big request or something

[Nexus]

I also offered that last time, however the general opinion was that prizes might lead to a focus on competition rather than fun, as well as create more controversies about the judging. And to some extent I have to agree...

Here is the original discussion.

[Raincode]

Oh yeah, thanks, I didn't think of that perspective before...

P.S.: This may be a little awkward, but I must say: I really like your logo and the website design!

[Lo-X]

As a "competitor" of the first jam, I liked the fact that it wasn't really a competition. We were some participant to live stream and comment other's game, advising them and everything. The climate was more "we help each other having a great game/concept" than "I keep everything secret because I want to be the Jam Master Jedi".

Having a price may change that spirit. That said, I would participate either way.

[Jebbs]

I agree. I really liked the spirit of the first jam, and I think introducing prizes would create a bunch of problems and ruin what made the first one so great.

[Joshua Flynn]

What is the rule about personal codebases and engines that are made public before jam?
Do they fall under 'external libraries but not SFML competitors'?

Assuming they aren't built on top of SFML's competitors, you are free to use your own codebase/engines as much as you like.

If you operate a slightly modified version of SFML (minor code changes), would it be pertinent to just note the few changes, or is the entire codebase of the slightly modified SFML binding to be expected?

Is using your own personal codebase permitted so long as you release the relevant code used when submitting?

[Jebbs]

Hmm. That's a interesting question. I'd like the games themselves to be open source, but your own code base doesn't need to be released. We would just need some way to confirm that you are using SFML if it is hidden.

Modifications might be fine as long as they are started, depending on what they are I suppose. Either that, or they shouldn't be allowed at all. We're trying to showcase vanilla SFML after all.

May I ask what parts of SFML you are modifying?

[Joshua Flynn]

Hmm. That's a interesting question. I'd like the games themselves to be open source, but your own code base doesn't need to be released. We would just need some way to confirm that you are using SFML if it is hidden.

Modifications might be fine as long as they are started, depending on what they are I suppose. Either that, or they shouldn't be allowed at all. We're trying to showcase vanilla SFML after all.

May I ask what parts of SFML you are modifying?

Minor tweaks to stability in networking code regarding sockets in SFML 1.6.

My solution isn't appropriate to SFML (I spoke with Laurent before so he knows the score) but it's mandatory to ensure stability when connecting and polling websites, more specifically, non-blocking sockets don't connect, and blocking sockets freeze if there's no connection in 1.6.

I don't know what Laurent has done for 2.0 or 2.1, but I had to work in a solution that gives the non-blocking sockets a poll-delay so they can connect, so my version of SFML is slightly modified. It's not fundamentally different from SFML overall but it wouldn't function stably on default 1.6 DLLs.