AmiGameJam 2021 - The Amiga game-making competition

[Cammy]

Dear Amiga friends and fellow retro enthusiasts, I would like to announce that the "AmiGameJam 2021" has begun!

AmiGameJam 2021 is the annual game development competition for the Amiga (originally the Festive Amiga Game-Making Competition).
This year the theme is "Ports", where all competitors will have six months, starting today, to port any game they like to the Amiga platform.
Each competitor will have the opportunity to win extraordinary prizes!

Competitors can use any means possible to code or build the game, that includes using game creation software kits (such as Red Pill, Scorpion Engine or GRAC).
This contest is open to two separate categories; Classic Amiga and the Next-Gen Amiga models (Aros, MorphOS and AmigaOS4).
A First Prize will be awarded to the winner of each category and, in addition, Second and Third Prizes will be awarded in the Classic category. In the case of games made specifically for the Vampire then it should be submitted be under the Next-Gen category.

To ensure the competition is fair for everyone, the work performed for the game should begin after this date.
Entries should be submitted by the 1st of February 2022 and the judging will begin after that. The winners will be announced on a very special awards show live-stream hosted by Amiga Bill, starring three celebrity judges and appearances from other special guests in the Amiga and retro community!

Introducing this years' amazing judges for the contest:
Judge #1 - The fantastic RJ Mical (creator of Amiga's Graphical User Interface)
Judge #2 - Hi7ch (an amazing variety streamer on Twitch who plays Amiga and retro games).
Judge #3 - TBA
We are all very grateful to have them onboard!

Please let me know if you are able to help out with donating prizes or money towards the prize pool!

https://itch.io/jam/amigamejam

[fxgogo]

That sounds exciting. This might be the impetus I need to start coding again on my Amiga.

[meynaf]

This is tempting. Is it possible to enter the competition with several ports (in the same category) ?
I might do one or two more ST game ports

[fxgogo]

You are just spoiling us Meynaf

[Cammy]

Originally Posted by fxgogo

That sounds exciting. This might be the impetus I need to start coding again on my Amiga.

I really hope you give it a go! Our prizes this year are going to be better than ever! And we're working on a digital participation award for all entrants who give it a shot.

Originally Posted by meynaf

This is tempting. Is it possible to enter the competition with several ports (in the same category) ?
I might do one or two more ST game ports

You most certainly may enter as many games as you like! But you can only win once, so don't get your hopes up for winning First, Second and Third prizes! We've got to share those around.

[dmacoco]

a very event to go back programming on Amiga. I'll try VBCC to do one.
I'll be happy to discover some new great portages on Amiga in 2022

[Muzza]

Are the ports expected to be complete? Or is it worth submitting say a demo of a couple of levels?
Makes a difference on whether it’s worth attempting a more ambitious port or not.

[Cammy]

Originally Posted by dmacoco

a very event to go back programming on Amiga. I'll try VBCC to do one.
I'll be happy to discover some new great portages on Amiga in 2022

It'll be great to have you onboard!

Originally Posted by Muzza

Are the ports expected to be complete? Or is it worth submitting say a demo of a couple of levels?
Makes a difference on whether it’s worth attempting a more ambitious port or not.

I think it's fair to submit whatever you have managed to complete within the six months, even if it's incomplete. Every entry will be judged by the community and our judges, and we all have our own standards. Some people may find a fully functioning single level of Sonic the Hedgehog running on an A500 more impressive than a complete, arcade-accurate port of Berzerk and vote it higher, others may be impressed but ultimately give their vote to the complete game. It's worth giving it a shot even if you can't finish a full game, I reckon!

[acidbottle]

If meynaf can convert pole position to amiga that gets my vote

It's highly unlikely I will finish a project but if a complete product is not a major issue then work will start this evening.

The talent in the community should pull together a few very good games for us to try out. I wonder if mcgeezer's Kung Fu Master announcement was just a coincidence to ..

[Havie]

Originally Posted by acidbottle

If meynaf can convert pole position to amiga that gets my vote

It's highly unlikely I will finish a project but if a complete product is not a major issue then work will start this evening.

The talent in the community should pull together a few very good games for us to try out. I wonder if mcgeezer's Kung Fu Master announcement was just a coincidence to ..

Oh no, rules discussion...did he start this too early!!!

I think some of us will have more fun debating the rules then actual coding.

I'm in - have an idea that has been sitting on the back burner for a while but will take some time to consider other options. Just need to get it complete with no game breaking bugs this time...

[Predseda]

I will for sure contribute some money to the prize budget.

[acidbottle]

Originally Posted by Havie

Oh no, rules discussion...did he start this too early!!!

I think some of us will have more fun debating the rules then actual coding.

I'm in - have an idea that has been sitting on the back burner for a while but will take some time to consider other options. Just need to get it complete with no game breaking bugs this time...

I think the rules shouldnt be too strict, as long as it all ties in largely with the brief then I sure wont grumble at anyone's work. If any development started a couple weeks ago, fine by me!

I guess the elite coders out there who are serious about winning might see things different of course.

[Havie]

Absolutely, I think it should be a fun competition and not be too serious. But as you say, others may disagree...

[Tigerskunk]

I will click something together in Scorpion engine and win.

[Tsak]

Congrats for this wonderful initiative @Cammy! This feels like a bigger and more organised event than older competitions. Good luck to everyone taking part!

[mcgeezer]

Originally Posted by acidbottle

I wonder if mcgeezer's Kung Fu Master announcement was just a coincidence to ..

It was. I started KFM about a week before Cammy turned up on my Discord and mentioned it. The week before that I was in Majorca getting some hard earned sun.

[fxgogo]

I have never coded on the Amiga apart from Are x scripts back in the day, so I suspect I may be throwing myself in the deep end.

[UltraNarwhal]

Will be interesting to see what people make, especially now Scorpion helps less programming savvy users like me make games (that don't require a gigaflop accelerator to run).

[meynaf]

Six months work isn't nothing. How to know how much the prize pool currently is ?

[Cammy]

Originally Posted by Predseda

I will for sure contribute some money to the prize budget.

Thank you so much! I would like to make all donations public (although they can be anonymous) so people can be sure I'm being honest with the money. Although we are being offered a few great prizes, there are definitely some that will need to be paid for (and there's postage costs for when we send out the prizes) so any donated money will go towards the prizes and winners. I will see if I can set up a Paypal account just for it and get back to you!

Originally Posted by Tsak

Congrats for this wonderful initiative @Cammy! This feels like a bigger and more organised event than older competitions. Good luck to everyone taking part!

No problem, I am always happy to do what I can for the Amiga community! I think this will be the most successful contest so far, it's definitely a lot more to organise than ever before as well, but it will be worth it!

Originally Posted by meynaf

Six months work isn't nothing. How to know how much the prize pool currently is ?

The thing is that most game jams are far shorter and still get results, plus all of our previous competitions were less than four months, and considering a port of a game doesn't require as much original assets as a normal game we figured six months should be generous enough, without being too long as to be forgotten about. As for the prizes, I'm still negotiating with some sponsors, but it looks like we'll have some cool hardware and software for the winners, including a brand new Checkmate cased Amiga for the grand prize! (Thanks to Stephen Jones)