Game Jam Game Jam #3: Results

[Deo]

25 ENTRIES
4 JUDGE SPOTLIGHTS
1 COMMUNITY CHOICE SPOTLIGHT

Results Thread
Overview Thread - Pre-Results Discussion Thread
Be sure to check out the #game-jam-3 channel on our Discord!
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Thoughts

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Another year has come and gone! Our third game jam here at Relic Castle was our best ever with a total of 25 entries! That's very impressive! In the past, our first game jam had 11 entries, and our second had 14 entries. I think every year there's this collective worry among the judges "this'll be the year where we have below ten, won't it?". I suppose we can push those concerns back another year, and hope for the best next year as well!

This was certainly a year to behold -- not just because of the volume of entries, but the creativity of the community was at an all time high! The settings and ideas explored by this year's entries are something special, and we encourage you to check out all the entries if you have a chance! We also think this will be reflected in our spotlight choices...

Speaking of which, let's show off the Judge's Spotlights this year! In no particular order at all...

Pokémon: Attack on The Space Station by @NoodlesButt

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"You are an Astro Space Engineer, who's working on the International Space Station. When all your work seems to be coming along disaster strikes! All the Scientists have disappeared and something on the radar is heading straight for the Space Station!"

Click here to visit the thread!

Hitmon! Jam by @Rhyden

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"Have you ever thought to yourself "Man, I wish I could play as a Machamp?" Me neither, but I made a game where you do anyways. In Hitmon! Jam, you're a Machamp who takes up the Journey of Traditions on Melee Mountain. Your goal is to defeat the three Masters of Fighting, Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, and Hitmontop. That's all the plot you need for a game about a beefy man beefing it up with other beefy men (and occasionally beefy women)."

Click here to visit the thread!

Pokémon Desiderate by @Hukon

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"Your adventure takes place on Jamland Island, where you are currently relaxing on your vacation. The annual Jamabata festival is on, and things could not be more jolly. However, things take a turn for the slightly less jolly when the self-proclaimed Dark Lord Chad steals the cocoon egg thing in which Jirachi sleeps! You must chase him and stop him from fulfilling his wish for World Domination. There's also a shady hot springs manager in there somewhere, but he's probably not too important.
Hopefully."

Click here to visit the thread!

Pokémon Twilight by @Fakemon123

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"You take control of a young kid from Lakebed Village, a small town in the center of the largest island, Kelda Island. The regional Professor, Professor Camphor, has asked you to go on a quest to collect all three Ancient Relics from the altars. Professor Camphor studies the relationship between our world and the Realm of Shadows, and so it has been his goal to visit the Realm of Shadows. He gives you one of three starter Pokémon, Spoink, Riolu, or Zorua. He sends you off on your mission, and along the way you meet the sinister Team Twilight, and organization who plans to open the gateway themselves, so they can merge our world with the Realm of Shadows."

Click here to visit the thread!

Community Choice Spotlight: Banette & Guilmon by @SmokedPaprika

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"A visual novel about a Guilmon who’s been living in a modern version of the Pokemon World ever since he walked through a mysterious portal six years prior. Living at an apartment with a reclusive and distant Banette, Guilmon often feels unappreciated and unwanted.

Having a hard time making friends with many other Pokemon, he struggles to find a place in this world he’s forced to live in. However, a few days after they start to get filmed by a documentarian, the relationship between Banette and Guilmon begins to fall apart."

Click here to visit the thread!

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This year's game jam was a big success! You're also welcome to use this thread as a post-results discussion of the game jam!

 

[manta]

Congratulations to the winners! And echoing what I said on Twitter: even if you didn't get featured, it's okay to feel disappointed. I don't know if it's selfish to say this stuff in a thread about the winners, but I know that at least a few people will feel sad or that their project was underappreciated. You all did AMAZING. I can't state this enough. And not just the winners. Yes, they're definitely now going to stand out amongst the 25 games, but of those 25 games, is your game. No matter what it was, whether it was a normal adventure, or a documentary, it's fantastic to see you here. And I wish you all high hopes for future projects.

 

[Tomix9tomix]

Echoing mantager a bit here, but one of the reasons i loved this competition so much is because it isn't all that competitive. It felt so good completing my first project, and even though I didn't win i am stil extremely happy. And i know lots of other people posted their first game this jam and i hope they feel the same way.

But congratz to all the winners! Out of the winners I've only gotten around to playing twilight, but i still plan on playing all the rest, they all look very polished!

I know I've said it before, but this jam has been a blast and made me really happy, and that's because of all you cool dudes and dudettes at relic castle

 

[Shgeldz]

I said this earlier but I'll expand on it/echo it here: you all did something really amazing. It takes a lot of effort to make a project, something I've learned in my few years here, and to do it in a month no less is amazing.
Winter
It truly is about the journey, not the destination. The skills you've picked up over the past few months, not just in art, or music, or even essentials, but in project management, time management, working with others, testing, trial and error, and getting something from thoughts in your head to created, are the most valuable skills a person can have. I guarantee you you won't forget your time working on this and you'll all, win or lose, look back on it fondly as something you accomplished. It was a true joy watching you all view people playing your games, responding to criticism, and releasing your projects, especially those who's first time it was. I've said in private many times, but to say it publicly: it gives me so much happiness to see you guys happy that people play your games and enjoy them. The sting of not winning may be there, but it will surely be temporary, and the experience as a whole should show you how talented you all are.
Jam
So congratulations! You've survived another #RCGameJam and I hope to see you all next year, and throughout the year working on new projects and expanding your old ones.
When?

 

[Deleted member 561]

Congratulations to all the game jam winners! All of these games looked great and can't wait for #RCGameJam4.

 

[SmokedPaprika]

So, I'm gonna admit, at first, I really was pretty disappointed. I don't want to lie, y'know? I kind of felt really lame that my work wasn't among these despite the sleepless nights and passion I put into my project this year. So, yeah, I did get disappointed, and maybe I am still disappointed, but that doesn't mean I'm mad. You guys all did a fantastic job making your games, and you all worked exceedingly hard at them, so good job on all of you for that! I'm proud of all of you. It was nice to know what it was like to work under a deadline, and though I'm not sure I'll ever be able to do something quite like that again, I'm still glad I did it.

Getting myself to prepare for the next project is probably going to be a little bit harder, now, and I'll probably have to take some time to re-motivate myself to get back on my feet, but, well, at least I can say I completed something that a few people thought was a genuinely good game, no? That's more than I could say before.

Keep on making your projects, guys, I promise that there's at least a few people out there that genuinely enjoy it.

 

[kirlial]

I'll just echo what everyone else has said. Congrats on everyone who completed a game for the game jam!

I haven't tried all the games yet - 25 is a really impressive number, but so far I've seen lots of interesting ideas and creative choices. Congrats especially to all the spotlight games, competition was stiff but some games truly know how to impress.

These game jams are sort of... inspiring. Even though I didn't manage to finish my project, my interest in fan games has never been higher and I'm feeling more productive. I guess seeing all these ideas being executed makes me want to have my own shot, and maybe others feel similarly? The community is livelier than ever as well!

 

[OrreMIDI]

Since everyone seems to be "echoing" here, I guess I'll "echo" my discord post. Congratulations to all of the spotlights, as well as everyone who participated! In my opinion everyone earns a spotlight, because this jam produced some of the most creative, unique, innovative, and well made games I've ever seen! There were so many amazing games out there that prove how amazing each and every developer is! Don't get down on yourself if you didn't get a spotlight, because as I'm sure others have said, and will continue to say, the real reward isn't the spotlight or the badge, it's creating and releasing something that you are passionate about, and putting it out there for people to play! That's not to say you can't feel sad if you didn't get a spotlight, but don't think of it as a sign that you aren't cut out to develop a game, think of it as a challenge to make something even better next year! With the skills everyone has demonstrated in this jam I am so excited to see what everyone comes up with next jam! In the end, there are so many amazing new games for people to play, it doesn't matter who "wins" or who "loses". What matters is that this community has come together to produce something truly inspiring, and that makes everyone a winner! Again, congrats to every developer who released a game in the jam, your games are sure to inspire a TON of new projects and creativity in people. I'm looking forward to seeing more content from everyone, hopefully this jam will inspire people to get together and create more games, because with this many creative ideas in a team of four or less, think about what we could do if even more people got together! Honestly, I can't wait until next year's jam!

 

[CrimsonTy]

This year was fun but of course I got lazy and had to rush. I hope the next one I will do more! Congrats on winning you 3 (and your group if you have one)

 

[Deo]

Just a reminder: there's only 24 hours left to vote for the Community Choice Spotlight! Every vote counts!

 

[Deo]

And a big congratulations to @SmokedPaprika who won the Community Choice Spotlight! with Banette & Guilmon It was definitely a very close vote! Thank you to everyone who voted this year!

Community Choice Spotlight: Banette & Guilmon by @SmokedPaprika

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"A visual novel about a Guilmon who’s been living in a modern version of the Pokemon World ever since he walked through a mysterious portal six years prior. Living at an apartment with a reclusive and distant Banette, Guilmon often feels unappreciated and unwanted.

Having a hard time making friends with many other Pokemon, he struggles to find a place in this world he’s forced to live in. However, a few days after they start to get filmed by a documentarian, the relationship between Banette and Guilmon begins to fall apart."

Click here to visit the thread!

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And with this, Relic Castle's Game Jam #3 is wrapped up! Thank you to all participants, everyone who played the entries, everyone who made a let's play or streamed the entries, and everyone who voted. This year was phenomenal. The creativity and tenacity of this community is something special, and I'm already looking to our next game jam.

Within the week, we'll close this thread, archive the game jam threads, and move entries to the appropriate areas on the forums. Once again, congratulations to @SmokedPaprika and all the other Spotlight winners!

And of course... Game badges will be coming soon for all of the spotlight games. Stay tuned for those!