All About Our Game Jam

What Is A Game Jam?

Over the course of 48 hours, teams and individuals will create games pertaining to the ancient world. Game jams provide a safe space for developers and designers of all stripes and experience to jam out game ideas in a condensed time frame. The Hitpoints & History game jam presents a unique opportunity for developers and designers to work alongside historians and academics and impact game design in real time.

How Does It Work?

Teams and individuals will come together to create a game (video/table top) in a 48 hour period. We will be making a discord for people to find teams or to use as a workspace. Bring your own team (up to 5), or volunteer to join a team. When the clock starts, you and your team (if you have one) will break out to make a game over the 48 hour period. Hitpoints & History team members will be on call for any questions. At the end of the 48 hour period, submit whatever you’ve completed. At Hitpoints & History (March 9-10), we will be showcasing your work (if you have consented to this). If you want to run people through your game at the conference, you can run them through a more polished game, however, for judging purposes, we will judge based on what is submitted at the end of the 48 hour period. 

Who Should Participate?

Everyone! (that means you!) Even if you’ve never made a game, this is the perfect place for you! Historians: please participate. This is a place for exploration and learning.

Planning To Make A Video Game?

All games MUST have an ancient world element. Just a level or proof of concept are fine. Keep it small, keep it manageable, you have 48 hours. You will probably have to cut 75% of your ideas, that is okay! Know your limits. Any form of game is fine. i.e. visual novel, RPG, etc.

Planning To Make A Tabletop Game?

All games MUST have an ancient world element. Planned playtime should be something that can be played in one session. We are not looking for multi week campaigns. Any form of tabletop game is fine. This means you can make: an entire game, a module, an adventure, a weird dungeon, an NPC generator, art asset packs, setting guide, or anything that can be used to play a tabletop roleplaying game. You can also make a board game, card game, or anything broadly considered a non-digital game. 

Keep it small, keep it manageable, you only have 48 hours. If you are wanting to make a whole game, you might want to consider limiting the page count to something doable in that period of time. Some example systems that are open license/have SRDs if you do wish to make content for a game/hack a game yourself: Lasers & Feelings, Honey Heist, Firelights Creator Kit, and check out Dicebreaker’s article for some other ideas!  

Will There Be Judging?

One round of judging will take place at the game jam. This will be developer’s choice. One category for tabletop and one for video games. 

The other will take place at Hitpoints & History on March 9-10, 2024. There will be multiple categories that people vote on throughout the conference. Categories to be announced closer to time. At the end of the conference, winners will be announced. 

Is There A Kickoff Event?

Yes! We are kicking our game jam off with a virtual event Friday, February 2, 2024, at 6pm US Central Time in our discord. The kick off will be a place for teams to meet each other for the first time, network with other teams, and get excited about the next several days.