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Esports Game Jam

Information & FAQ

Tampere University Community co-hosts a ten-day global Lv. 99 Game Jam in April. The Game Jam is a side event of the first ever Olympic Esports Week and Olympic Esports Finals, competed in Singapore’s Suntec Centre from 22 to 25 June. Three best teams of the Lv. 99 Game Jam will be invited & paid to pitch their games on-site, and compete for prize money totalling USD 100 000.

What?

In the Game Jam, teams will develop new game concepts in a given theme in a given time frame. The Game Jam is open for students, hobbyists and professionals, and kicks off globally on April 14th when the Jam theme is revealed. Participation is possible in teams of 1 to 5 students, and the submission deadline is April 24th – for teams participating through the Tampere Jam Site hosted by Tampere University Community, the hard deadline is April 24th, 23:59:59 Finnish time (UTC+3). The submission consists of a playable demo, a title and description and a list of team members.

The Game Jam is preceded by a voluntary “Master Class” online event on April 8th, with talks from Seiji Aoki (Sega Corporation), Celia Hodent (Ubisoft, Epic Games), Jordan Whitaker (George Mason University), Jeremy Lam (Pixio Limited) and Baro Hyun (Lunatone Inc.).

The Tampere Jam site opens 12:00 Finnish time at event space Paidia, Nokia Arena . Remote participation through Teams is offered from 12:15 to 13:30, and later in Discord. The Jam site offers shelter, (some) food and support, latter most importantly through Sunday’s 20% Done -Pitch and Feedback session, and the Pre-Deadline Feedback by game Experts like Toni Pippola (TAMK’s Games Academy) and Pyry Takkunen (Tampere Game Hub). However, you do not need to participate in the on-site event in order to participate in the Jam.

 

FAQ

Registering and participation

  1. How do I register? Follow the three steps on the Jam site.
  2. Who can register? Anybody – a student, a professional, a hobbyist etc.
  3. I don’t know if I’m participating yet, but I’d like to see the theme. Do I have to register? Yes. By registering you access all the Jam stuff.
  4. I’d like to see the Master Class contents, but not take part of the Jam. Do I register? Yes. By registering you access all the Jam stuff.
  5. Do I have to submit if I register? No. If you’re unsure, register and come and see what the jam is all about.
  6. When do I need to be registered? By April 13th 23:59 Finnish time.

Teaming up

  1. Do I have to have a team already? No. You can also participate by yourself.
  2. When do I have to have a team? When you submit your game concept in the itch.io platform (deadline April 24th, 23:59 Finnish time), you must enlist the members of your team.
  3. Can I participate by myself? Yes.
  4. How many members can there be in a team? Up to five.
  5. Can the team members be from different countries? Yes.
  6. How to find team members? There is a teaming-up event (see program) on 14th in Tampere. Also, there is a teaming up channel in the Jam Discord.
  7. Do all the team members have to be from the same site like Tampere? No. However, when registering you must pick one site from where you attend the jam. When submitting, the deadline is according to the host site of the submitting person.

Prizes

  1. What is the main prize? Prize pool is USD 100 000.
  2. How is the prize money divided? Between the top 3 teams. USD 50 000 for the 1st, USD 20 000 for the 2nd, USD 20 000 for the 3rd and USD 10 000 for special categories revealed later.
  3. Are there other prizes? The top 3 teams get a free trip to Singapore for the final event.
  4. Do I have to pay taxes? Yes.

Submissions (games) & IP

  1. What do we submit? A playable game concept (i.e. a working prototype) following the jam theme, with a short description of the game and list of team members.
  2. Where do we submit? In the itch.io platform, to which you sign up when you register.
  3. What is the theme? Theme is revealed April 14th. 
  4. What game engines / libraries / technologies are allowed? Any, as long as the game concept can be submitted to itch.io and it is playable.
  5. Can I use pre-existing code / art? Yes, as long as you have the rights to use it.
  6. Who owns the game concept? You (the developers of the concept) retain full rights. However, within 12 months from the conclusion of the jam, Project 99 (Singaporean company behind the main jam) shall have the first right of refusal to make an offer to publish the games.

Help and more information

  1. Where do get help? Main help channel is the jam discord, where you sign up when registering. Discord is a voice, video, and text chat app that can be used with mobile devices or computers.