Understanding Ignite Jam

Why Ignite?

Ignite Jam has been created by [P1] to encourage community education and practical training to prepare community members for the intensity of service on high-tier projects. During the jam, participants are presented with the opportunity to strengthen their portfolio by building open source games that are good for humanity.

A Process for Making Games

Ignite Jam starts with a kickoff event that happens on Discord around the start of the month. In the first few days [P1] organizes participants by personal goals, like portfolio building or education, and groups them into teams. On subsequent days, at that same time in Discord, the team meets to brainstorm impactful game ideas and then register for the competition. 

It should be noted that during the jam, teams meet daily and participate in events that help them learn from each other, test each other's games, and share best practices.

This happens during a kickoff event in Discord usually at the start of the month. [P1] then 

Teams work to create games focused on having a positive impact on humanity in about two weeks.
 

Sprints or Jams?

Unlike traditional game jams, teams that finish are encouraged to continue developing their games in the next jam, leading to fully polished final products built in two-week sprints. Every game is eligible for every competition, as theme plays only a minor role in each competition.

Launching a Team Post-Initial Meeting

Bookmark this page IF you plan to start a team. 

If you missed the first team meeting, follow this checklist: [Day 1 Teams - Team Goal Formation Meeting]. Complete it starting at 🟦🟦🟦 Your Mission v2, then come back to this page. 

If you are starting after the pitch days, consider your game idea already approved. 

We recommend bookmarking this page and returning to it, as completing the checklist alone may take up your first day, depending on your free time.

🟦🟦🟦 Your Mission v2 Summary 

It's a live event which covers the process of brainstorming game ideas, coming up with your goals, and reading through important guidelines and contest details. If you're not planning to go through it, here are some key points that you absolutely must know:

• Read the contest Guidelines here.
• Each team needs to register as individual participants.  Then, via that same location register as a team. 
• Reading our example game idea list can be helpful.

Understanding Events

Everyday we have an event in which teams come together to share joint responsibilities of the jam and to help each other succeed by testing each other's games and sharing information.

If nothing goes wrong, the link to the daily event can be seen here: https://discord.gg/dgV2cBdAxe?event=1225292610810155078

Dates

The start date of each jam should be found here: https://discord.gg/dgV2cBdAxe?event=1225292610810155078

These links may not work forever, since any small change will break these links.

Regardless, you need to discover at what point the jam will end, and this can usually be done by visiting #news and looking for a deadline announcement.

Once you discover the deadline, you can work backwards to understand where we're at in the current competition. The process of the contest counts in business days, a total of 3 weeks for each competition.

Access

Many crucial parts of this Ignite Jam are hidden in Discord. Click on #🔄┃role-select to find them. 

Playtests

It is critical to understand that throughout the contest, we have different deadlines that you can still meet even if you register late. These deadlines include having a prototype build ready for playtesting, etc.

You can see these dates here.

Submission

Unlike submission to a traditional game jam, submitting to the Ignite Jam requires every team member's participation. Every member works together to submit every single asset they've created to the open-source repository, where all assets are stored: https://discord.gg/D9WDYPtrWu.

New teams should buy a submission form (in #bot-spam) for each teams member. Members must purchase their own forms.

Tip: Buy/Purchase here refer to Helpfulness, not real currency. 

Ensure your team is ready for a few-hour submission process.

Team members that cannot submit must be offboarded. 

Helpfulness 

Helpfulness is a currency we use to ensure talent is evenly distributed across team and to reward those who help others succeed.

We recommend reading our guide on Helpfulness. Return here once done. 

Recruiting Members

[P1] often has more talent than team leaders, so we can easily fill your roster with capable people eager to join in on your projects.

Make sure you've unlocked the jam information. Once you do, you can engage with the next step. 

Once you've unlocked jam information, you'll see the seeking team area. Click on it to find those who want to join team. 

Look for people with the skills you need who operate in your time zone.

Open the thread related to the post, then tag the person and ask them to join your team.

Use the program Hammer Time to find a time zone that works for both you and the person looking to join your team. Learn the program before reaching out as it's part of our tradition here at [P1] to use it. 

Once you've agreed on a time, follow this Integration Checklist to have them join your team.