MARCH GAME JAM: Theme: SET IT FREE

**Your March Winners!
**
**Freedom Code by Niemiec&Szwed
**](https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?62456-MARCH-GAME-JAM-Theme-SET-IT-FREE&p=254447&viewfull=1#post254447)**Mazed by Daelus
**](https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?62456-MARCH-GAME-JAM-Theme-SET-IT-FREE&p=253912&viewfull=1#post253912)**CryptoCow by GotBeef
**](https://forums.unrealengine/showthread.php?62456-MARCH-GAME-JAM-Theme-SET-IT-FREE&p=254361&viewfull=1#post254361)

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**Highlight Video
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**THE RULES
**

  • Make the most amazing game by yourself or with a team (up to 5) around the given theme in Unreal Engine 4.

  • Submit a download link to this thread before **midnight on the night of March 22nd / morning of March 23rd **including the following:

  • Team Name

  • List of Team Members

  • Name of submission (Please format it with your team’s name attached ex. TeamName_GameName)
    After you post your submission, PM me with the email addresses of your team members (up to 5), the name of your team and the name of your project. That makes it easier to get in contact with , so make sure to send that info over!

  • We will announce the theme on the March** 19th stream**, when the jam will officially kick-off.

  • A small panel at Epic will judge entries on the following criteria:

  • Unique use of theme

  • Fun factor

  • Overall Visuals

  • Detailed Rules Available Here

All submissions will be featured in a highlight reel posted to our youtube and shown on Twitch.

The top 3 submissions will receive an Epic swag bag with all sorts of goodies, a “Game Jam Finalist” forum badge, a featured playthrough on the March 26th Twitch stream, as well as a highlight on Unreal Engine blog!

Happy developing, and good luck!

Theme Announce Countdown](://www.timeanddate/countdown/to?iso=20150319T14&p0=207&msg=March+Game+Jam+Announce)
**Submission Deadline **Countdown](://www.timeanddate/countdown/to?iso=20150323T00&p0=207&msg=March+Game+Jam+Deadline+Countdown)

Streaming your work on Twitch? Let us know so we can follow along!
Are you on Twitter? Show off your work using the #ue4jam](https://twitter/hashtag/ue4jam?src=hash) hashtag!

Huzzah. I’ll probably be streaming mine again.

Sounds fun!

Awwww yeah!

I wonder if is gonna do the long-night-of-streaming-all-the-games thing he does each time :cool:

I’ll be streaming my work on Twitch for the game jam.

ROCK. Thanks JV :smiley:
:cool:

The better question is will he find a working mic this time. :stuck_out_tongue:

Haha! That was great…

We should start a patreon for .
#AllarNeedsAMic

Wicked. I’ll only have had 17 days with the tools by then, but I know from experience that jams are one of the best ways to get a vast number of very difficult-to-juggle balls rolling :slight_smile:

No streaming for me, though. I’ve personally found that the fewer distractions the better.

Looking forward to the theme announcement, & best of luck to all participants :cool:

Welcome to the jam! Can’t wait to see what you end up building :smiley:

Last time I utterly failed to finish my AI in time. Lets see if I can do better.

The problem isn’t that I need a mic, the problem is that I misplaced my XLR cable the day before. xD

I’ll be set up proper though.

#UnrealDevGrantsForBetterProductionValue?

Awesome templates out there to boost gamejam speeds! :smiley:

I’ve been working through the Content Example levels, & I’m guessing we’re also free to use any of the stuff we can grab from the Learn tab of the Launcher? If so there’s more than enough content, it’s just a matter of putting it together & making it all work in a (hopefully) enjoyable way before time runs out… :eek:

Boo - yeah! have learned so much since the last jam. Looking at forward to putting new skills to work and testing thy self.

Always…

I am so glad to see the Game Jams will continue, you never let us down Epic n thanks for keeping us going.

Great to hear ! your stream is about the same level of fun as the Game Jam itself imo. nothing like watching you struggle with some abomination I created. :stuck_out_tongue:

Since the great news by Epic of dropping the subscriptions, and the publicity from GDC, I believe there will be many more that will be joining us now. (or in the near future)
I do have some suggestions or hints for anyone planning on joining in the Game Jam:

Hints & Suggestions for Game Jam:
Start now, don’t wait! Although you can’t work directly on the game itself until it’s announced, you can get setup for it.

—Think! I dumped more ideas than I’ve ever used. You might have a super great idea but do you have the Time & resources to pull it off. Be realistic! Think about it!
(*** Planning & being realistic is just common sense, you’ll thank me later. :slight_smile: - Keep it Simple! You can always add stuff as time permits, get that gameplay working!)( BTW Don’t throw away those great ideas you came up with just because you don’t have time for them now, write them down! In another scenario that idea may be the great game you were looking for. You’ll Thank Me Later! lol ***)

—Don’t use the Starter Content ‘option’ when creating your project! This doesn’t mean not to use the actual Content (UE4 has great stuff you can use) but unless it’s changed recently (engine doesn’t recognize or removes unused resources at this time) it will bloat your projects size, at times making it several GBs instead of MBs which will take longer to build, package, zip up (compress) & for someone else to download.
(*** Best thing to do is to create a dummy project with Starter Content option. Then merge materials, effects, sounds, etc. that you might want to use from other projects or create yourself. Then you can just ‘Merge’ them straight into your project or any other future project as far as that goes. The Content Example Project (as well as the Features Tour) from Epic is a great source to get ideas and even resources from as well, it can be found on the Learn Tab of the Engine Launcher, download etc. Use it! All good stuff! ***)

—Create a Menu of some kind. Even if it’s not an elaborate 3d AAA game menu, it will help a lot to have at least a start & quit already made for your game. A Pause would be nice too btw. lol :wink:
(*** You can always add other options etc. to it if time permits later.)( & Use UMG silly that’s what it’s there for***)

—Build & Package a game, any game, even use the template games if you have to. This can take a while to get right, so just do it! And after you package it then Run It!
(*** This gets you used to the workflow of packaging the game and being ready to submit it, I would also make sure I could zip it up real fast too! Thank Me Later! lol***)

—Create a Google account or any other that you can upload your ‘Zipped’ game to so others can download it and make sure it works!
(*** Individual websites work for this, just make sure you have the bandwidth & can create it fast!***)

—Give your Packaged Project a unique name, as much as I like watching struggle with 4-5 WindowsNoEditor packages (Fun Stuff) you will be surprised how many projects wind up with the same name. Even if you think you’ve come up with some super unique name no one would ever name their game, trust me you haven’t! ie: AyretekSuperNewNameGame

—Make Plans! If you are serious about making a game submission tell others you’ll be busy, if you are worried about work or some other event just tell them you’ll have a horrible disease and won’t be available that weekend, the Bubonic Plague should do nicely. Although the name ‘Black Death’ always appealed to me as well.
(*** The only time people really notice that I am alive is when I am trying to do something, especially Game Jams! Throw your phone out the window & tell to send messages by Carrier Pigeon if they need to contact you! ***)

Remember Don’t Wait! Do It NOW! and see you all in 's Stream!
(hopefully & if I can make it)

Good Luck to All !
( if you make too good of a game, i’ll be over to your house and delete it for you! gwahahaha! )

Dat Swag Bag though, can we get a sneak peak? ;D

Also if you’re working in a team and this is your first game jam /team project you should totally get an SVN sorted out ahead of time. Having the project on a memory stick was a terrible idea as we found out last month haha.

This is some great advice Ayretek!