Hi! I’m planning to enter the Unreal Engine track solo and would like to clarify a few points in the Official Rules. Thanks in advance for any official guidance.
Judging and submission
-
Section 12: The rules say: “Sponsor and the information contained on Sponsor’s servers relating to dates, times, and gameplay statistics shall be the sole determiner of the Winning Entrant(s).” For Unreal Engine submissions judged under the seven criteria, do player or gameplay statistics affect the result, or does this only refer to records such as submission timestamps?
-
itch.io page visibility: Does the game’s itch project page have to be Public for judging, or can it stay Draft or Restricted while still being a valid jam submission?
-
Build configuration: The jam page says “(development build)”, but I could not find this requirement in the Official Rules. Is a Windows Shipping build accepted, or must the submission use the Development configuration?
Work done before the jam
-
Self-made assets: Section 7(h) says “All other game content, including gameplay, levels, and art assets (other than noted sourced assets), must be created during the Contest Period.” The FAQ also asks entrants to declare anything made before the jam. May I use individual assets I made myself before the jam if I declare them as sourced assets, knowing they will not be scored? Or should all self-made content be created during the jam?
-
Scripts: Section 7(h) allows preparing “AI tools, agent configurations, Model Context Protocol (“MCP”) settings, prompt libraries, and scripts” before the Contest Period. Does “scripts” mean only tooling and pipeline scripts, such as build and packaging automation, or can it also include gameplay code used in the final game?
Dev log
- Glass Box format: The rules say the dev log “must be submitted together with the Submission during the Contest Period”, but I could not find a required format. Is an itch devlog post linked from the submission acceptable? Can the dev log be a video, or a written post with embedded video? Is there a length limit, and does it have to be in English?
After the jam
-
Selling an expanded version: May I sell an expanded version of my game on Steam, either before or after the winners are announced? The submitted jam build itself would stay unchanged.
-
Keeping the jam build online: If my itch page has to be public during the contest and my game is not selected, may I remove the page and build from itch after the winners are announced? If it is selected, how long must the jam build stay available?
Thank you!