Rules & Guidelines
Read all about the requirements, guidelines, and best practices for making a valid Game Jam entry.
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Read all about the requirements, guidelines, and best practices for making a valid Game Jam entry.
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FOLLOW RULES CAREFULLY Game Jams are fun, but it is also a contest with high stakes. It is therefore very important that you follow the rules. Not doing so will in most cases disqualify your entry and you will be ineligible to earn any prizes, including participation rewards.
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Always check the deadlines stated in the Medium articles for respective Game Jams. The Medium article includes registration times, Game Jam start date, the deadline for submitting your entry, dates for voting, and the date that results are announced. The most important ones for you to remember is the registration deadline and the submission date. Do not forget this, and make sure to check the time for submitting your entry that day as well.
There are some overall requirements that your game must meet to constitute a valid entry. Please make sure that all of the below is in order before submitting an entry.
In order to have a valid and high quality Game Jam entry, please review the required and recommended guidelines and resources below for best practices.
Do not use copyrighted characters, names, people, logos, and other copyrighted material in your Game Jam entries.
If in doubt whether something will cause copyright issues, look it up. If you can find no clear answer, it is always best to avoid including it.
You may take inspiration from an IP's brand, work, and values.
⚠️ Some Game Jams are done in collaboration with The Sandbox's partners. Some IPs have special requirements and rules, so please read the Medium articles carefully.
Guidelines and best practices are there to help you but are not requirements for making a valid Game Jam entry.
Your logic and assets should be optimised for a high quality gameplay experience. While it is not required, it will definitely be noticable when your Experience is tested on multiple devices and may make it a less competitive entry.
Testing your game is essential to its success. It's also helpful to get feedback and have your game tested by other people who do not know the intended game flow to see how players will make different choices and how to prevent those choices from breaking your gameplay.
In order to place in Game Jams, prize winning wallets must be KYC verified. Learn more about getting on your account.
You will be asked to provide a crypto wallet in the Game Jam submission form. The wallet address you provide in the form must be connected to an account at The Sandbox. All wallets provided in connection with Game Jams will be checked for flags and KYC status. Some wallets may be flagged due to suspicious activities or other issues that go against The Sandbox's . If your wallet is flagged, you will be ineligible to earn prizes for that Game Jam and any other contest unless your flag is removed.
See our documentation. It includes how to and on your third party wallet.
See for more information.
See for more information to troubleshoot or prevent typical issues.
and include links to all resources by software.
The of the Creator Portal also links to the same content.
If you're creating your first Game Jam entry, about The Sandbox ecosystem.
Game Maker Version
Your game must be designed in our Game Maker software using the version stated in the registration email sent to you on the Game Jam Kick-Off date.
Size
Games submitted to our Game Jams must be no larger than 1x1 in size.
Creation Date & Uniqueness
Experiences entered into the Game Jam contests must be created after the starting date of the Game Jam. Submitting a copy of any existing experience does not count as a valid entry.
Playability
Your entry must have elements of gameplay that drive players towards a goal, which may include quests, missions, crowd events, etc.
Asset Requirements
Your entry must contain a minimum of 25 unique assets.
You may use "Basic Assets" from the Game Maker library.
You may use Assets that you have created yourself using VoxEdit.
You may use Assets that you own in your wallet. This could be Assets that you have purchased or won.
You may use Assets provided by us or included in official templates available in the Game Maker.
You may NOT use Assets that you have wish listed in The Sandbox Marketplace but do not own. These will appear in your Game Maker library, but are not allowed in a Game Jam entry unless you purchase them.
Gameplay Length
Your game must have enough content to be playable for at least 5 minutes, which should be reflected in your unedited gameplay video sent on the submission form. This does not include quests that send players to collect items all over the map so they spend a large amount of time travelling. ⚠️ Some games may technically not be 5 minutes from start to end, but will instead encourage competitive play that engages the player and motivates them to make several attempts at beating the game. If judges deem that the game is challenging enough to keep players trying or retrying for at least 5 minutes, this will fulfil this requirement as well.
Theme Adherence
All Game Jams will specify a theme that we expect participants to follow. We leave room for interpretations of the provided themes, however, if you stray too far off course, this could impact your final score. In cases where the game is showing no association with the theme whatsoever, this could furthermore cause the game to be disqualified.
Sensitive Content Entries containing elements of any kind of discriminative or overly sexualised nature will be disqualified from the contest. Please also refer to our other .