GameJam
Judging Criteria
Below are the criteria used for judging the submitted games. These criteria are based off of an Gamasutra article by Ernest Adams.
There are four categories: graphics, audio, gameplay, programming, and each category will be judged in terms of innovation, completeness, quality. Each metric will be scored on a 0–3 scale, where 0 means "not at all" and 3 means "impressive!".
Programming:
- Innovation is difficult to judge. But if there are obvious features of the game that would require some innovation (ex: AI, interesting mechanics, multiplayer, etc), this metric will be ranked higher.
- Quality usually means that the code appears bug- or crash-free.
- Completeness means that the intended features are fully implemented (ex: health status; scoring; intro, game over, and winning pages).
- Teams that write their own gaming engine or create clever gaming mechanics will generally score high in this category.
Graphics:
- Innovation in this category answers the question: "Have we seen this art/effect before?".
- Quality is also straightforward.
- Completeness means that graphical elements and UI is visible.
- Teams that create their own graphics assets (including models) will generally score high in this category.
Audio:
- Innovation implies that the game includes creative sound and music. Games that include new effects and music will be judged higher in this category.
- Quality in audio refers to the recording quality as well as the appropriateness of the audio.
- Completeness here is similar to completeness of graphics: are all audios included that should be included?
- Teams that create their own audio assets (including background music) will generally score high in this category.
Gameplay:
- Innovation holds a high priority, overall. A re-created game will not compete well in innovation against a new, fresh game.
- Quality of gameplay refers to the game's fun factor, how easy is it to control, how satisfying is the play, etc.
- Completeness answers: "Does this game have a clear beginning and a clear ending, and does it progress between those points well?". Taking on a larger scale and scope can damage the score here if the ambitious features are not finished.