This page was created to help raise awareness and serve as a reminder for some great things to practice during and after game development. While written with our game jam in mind, most of the things mentioned here can be applied outside of Adventure Jam. We hope that you find it useful.
We may add more to this list as time goes on.
Game Design
- When designing game characters after living people, please ask for that person’s consent. For example, you should seek permission if you want to design a character after one of Adventure Jam’s community members. In addition to any possible legal issues, most people are going to be uncomfortable if they discover that a character in their game shares their name and other defining characteristics without their permission.
Contributors
- Please be mindful of the time that contributors (e.g. voice actors) put into your game, and have your estimates up front. Try to refrain from adding more work on their plate after you have reached an agreement. Making minor adjustments is okay, but the contributor reserves the right to refuse additional work if the scope is significantly larger than what was originally agreed upon.
Payment & Pay-What-You-Want
- Keep in mind that game jams are often used as learning experiences or to build your portfolio, and that contributors on your project are likely working for free. If you decide to implement a Pay-What-You-Want model or later sell your game on external platforms, you should reach out to all contributors and reach an agreement on how to compensate everyone for their time and the work they provided.
- If you decide that you’d like to host your game on external platforms (such as Game Jolt, Steam, etc.), whether you choose to sell the game or not, you should alert all contributors on your game, and get consent from each of them before moving forward.
What Do You Mean By… ?
Contributors: Contributors consist of anyone who has provided assets to your game. This includes, but is not limited to: artists, programmers, writers, musicians, sound designers, voice actors, etc.