Hmm, while your winter jam idea is definitely interesting, I think the main reason why there isn't a winter game jam is simply that some people are too busy in december to devote their month to that?

That's my thought, at least ^^

I shall be running the "summer" jam again this year, and every other year I hope. It will start in June instead of July this year, moved forward so there was time between for @withthelove "Fall" jam. Will still be 6 assets only, 4 weeks development, 2 weeks judging. Ranked for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place. I ran the OGA favourite last year, I may do that again, but may change it to something else, still working on that. There's going to be winners for categories this year, best story,best,graphics, best sound, and best gameplay based on the ranking results. I always wanted to do prizes, but haven't done so yet, but I may this year, possible something with humble bundle, but it is not a confirmation , I'm still thinking of stuff. May make some badges/certificates or something. I may add a new voting catagory "OGA Presentation" which I hope will involve the art challenge assets,  it this will obvouisly be dependant on what happens there, failing that they will defo be there for inspiration at the very least. Im still tinkering, but you got the gist of it I hope. :)

"one month planning"

There was never really a planning period. Everyone knows (or those that participate) that you have all year to create assets for your game jam, as it uses art from OGA that has been here for a long time. Only assets that need to be created or edited will i suppose need that time, but there is nothing stopping you from doing that now, i suppose because the 'jam page' gets advertised one month early that may be the reason for some to think that. but i did that at the beginning as the jam was only just become a thing, so i wanted to give people enough time to know about it. no doubt i will do the same again, but its the idea is to make people aware the jam is comming, not really for the prep of assets. :)

"honor system and problems"

As i have mentioned above, its not about gaining an advantage, its about being made aware the jams start date, the only real advantage is to those that are on OGA community that know about the jam and how it works.:) I don't recall any 'problems', none of major concern.:)

"My game is better than this", "he is so far ahead of me"

lol, well, this happens anyway!, regardless of any prizes, everybody gets competitive because everyone wants to win. but trust me, it shouldn't ever really be about the winning, participation is the real winner and the efforts for your game, and having a game or part there of is still an great achievement. If i bring prizes into the mix, there not going to be life changing tings, there just to drive the jam, its participants which in turn may generate more of an active OGA community, and more assets, but that again it may not. Engagement can happen on many levels through communitys, either via the jam, or the forums. It's up to the persons/people/group how they engage with each other, i only hope they do it respectively. I cant help if people turn into green eyed monsters because of their own competitive nature, or as you say 'encourage a kind of mind set', thats not a thing i can do anything about. :) Id like to offer everyone something for taking the time for participating, giving up there time etc, but i cant, so if i can offer someting for certain aspects in terms of a reward of some sort then i will, because it gives more chance of someone winning something at least. but like i mentioned in an earlier post, im still tinkering. :) If the rewards are something you see as a negative thing, then i hear what your saying, but its something i do want to try since the start and i would like to continue to do so, if it fails then its me that will end up with egg my me face. :)

I am up for running the Fall jam again.

I don't mind the different jams having different rule sets, I think he/she who runs the jam should be able to set the rules however they want.  I think that'll give us a chance to try out different ideas and variations. 

So I don't think we should have a formal 'Spring is this Jam', 'Fall is this jam with these rules' declaration.  Instead, just get someone to sign off on running each Jam and then let them tweak rules as they like.

I suppose that might get confusing for participants but so far it's been ok and I think it's best to keep ourselves flexible.

I like the schedule you've outlined.   Only concerns are how does that match up with the Art Challenge schedule?  and is that too many Jams?

Offhand, I'd say we could pair seasonal art challenges with this Game Jam schedule by running 4 week at challenges that were 3 weeks to submit, 1 week for voting.  They'd run before the Game Jams, so the schedle would be:

January - Winter Game Jam

Feburary - Winter Game Jam Judging

March - Spring Art Challnge

April - Spring Game Jam

 May - Spring Game Jam Judging

June - Summer Art Challnge

July - Summer Game Jam

August - Summer Game Jam Judging

September - Fall Art Challnge

October - Fall Game Jam

November - Fall  Game Jam Judging

December- Winter Art Challenge

I'll admit, four Jams a year does seem ambitious, but I don't suppose there's no harm in giving it a try.

A related concern is that looking at that schedue it's 2/3rds Game Jam and 1/3rd Art Challenges.  I wish there was a way to make it more equalized, but if we want to avoid overlap I don't see a way to do it.

re: prizes, I agree I am not thrilled at the idea of injecting $$ into the jams.  But going with what I was saying earlier, if someone else wants to try running a jam with a cash prize, I think that's great.  Like I said, I think it's good if we try different things. I'll say a physical 'Golden Sara' trophy for the winner would be top notch, but I don't know how we get one made and I shudder to think of what the shipping costs might be.

@chasersgaming:

To put my money where my mouth is, PM me and I'd be happy to contribute to a prize pool for the Summer Game Jam if that's something you'd like to do.

just for everyones attention, should i run any prizes on the 'Summer' jam, they will not be cash prizes. :)

@saliv my Jam will be running from 30th of March of 30th of April if everything goes according to plan.

Strictly Personally, I would prefer not to be shoved into a larger grand scheme or any sort of semi-official schedule though? 

@withthelove I think your schedule is a little ambitious and I fear that we would overcommit trying to pull all of that off, at least when compared to previous years' activity, perhaps in 2020 that plan is realistic though, however I would be up for cancelling that spring jam and just having the art challenge in spring instead if everyone thinks that is better.

Speaking of trophies, I do know an artist who can make high quality hand painted figurines, they are of course not cheap by any means though, and I think doing it just for fun is really the best idea anyway ^^

As long as we have some sort of activity in spring, it's all fine with me ^^

@Saliv:   Confused.  did I miss something?  I thought the schedule I posted was the same as yours but with the 'Planning' month replaced with Art Challenge months.

@chasersgaming:  If we shoot for seasonal jams, would you be ok running the Summer Jam in July? 

@Spring: I agree the schedule looks ambitious, but when you math it out, it's just 4 art challenges and 4 game jams a year.  I think 4 game Jams a year seems ambitious, but 4 Art Challenges doesn't seem like enough. 

Honestly, I say we just try it.  The Summer and Fall Game Jams both had really good turn out, so it seems like there is a good amount of interest in them out there.  The Art Challenges have always gotten a good response too, although it did seem like running one once a month got to be too much for participants and admins alike.  So who knows, maybe seasonal is the magic godilocks schedule that will be just right.

re: tropies:  Thanks for looking into the pricing on those.  It doesn't seem as unmanageable as I'd feared.  Another alternative to a 'golden sara', would be a plaque or crystal trophy that has sara etched into it.  That way we could just dig up a good Sara image for OGA and use that.

@Spring:  No worries about being 'locked' into anything.  If you just want to run the one jam that's totally fine, no one is asking for lifetime commitements here.  I think the idea, like I was suggesting with the Art Challenges, would be to have a thread that lays out the schedule and asks for volunteers to run the run different Jams and Challenges on an individual basis, like a sign-up sheet or sorts.  So no one is committing to anything more than one Jam or Challenge at a time. 

@withthelove if 4 jams are too ambitious what about just 3 then? then we can do just the art challenges in spring to get prepared for summer well. It's not like my jam is obligatory.

@withthelove absolutely, il be more than happy to move back to July if that's better.:) just say the word, then I can confirm it.

just to say, I couldn't commit to a 'winter' jam, November, December sort of time as I simply don't have the time during those months. I say that because I would want to support it and whoever runs it,but I couldn't enter or work on anything during those time periods.:) that's just me.

@Saliv

Ahh, don't worry I'm not upset at all, but I do think that if people think there are too many jams compared to art challenges, then mine would be the best one to cut.

@Spring:  I am also excited for the Spring jam!   I actually think Winter would be the first one to cut, the holiday season is totally brutal for just about everybody. 

@chasersgaming: If we're all agreed on the schedule I laid out then I'll start a thread asking for volunteers for the unclaimed jam/art challenge spots.  Also, if we have trouble filling the spots, I'll be happy to fill in as needed.

@withthelove, yep, looks good to me! well done everyone for their input :)