The Evaluation Rubric

All videos submitted will be evaluated according to the rubric below:

1. (20%): Business background presented in the pitch
2. (15%): Originality and creativity of the script
3. (15%): Originality and creativity of the characters
4. (15%): Originality and creativity of the scenarios
5. (15%): Level structure and game balance
6. (20%): Business solution presented in the pitch, including audience, pricing, platforms, marketing and profitability data

Videos that exceed the duration of 3:00 will not be evaluated.

Certificates

All participants that register and finish all tasks assigned in the GameJam, including the submission of a valid project will be given a Certificate of Attendance.

The Judges

This year’s edition will count with the support of Full Sail graduates that currently work in the game industry:

Chance Glasco

2001 Computer Animation Graduate/Hall of Fame Inductee Creative Director | Good Dog Studios; Co-Founder | Infinity Ward Sr Fellow for The Atlantic Council

Credits: Medal of Honor: Allied Assault, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Martial Arts Tycoon

Grant Shonkwiler

Grant first started making games when he was 12 years old, starting with modding and programming. He went to Full Sail University for Game Design & Development. Since then he has filled many different roles in the game industry: programmer, lead designer, technical producer and currently is a leadership coach and production consultant.

Credits: Megatouch Games, AAA shooters at id Software and to Epic Games (Fortnite).

Elbert Perez

Elbert currently works as a Senior Partner Engineer at Unity, providing technical expertise and guidance for Unity's customers.

Credits: HTC Vive, Stageverse, rumii, Xbox One, Halo 4, Ryse: Son of Rome, Ascend: Hand of Kul, SmartGlass, and various Xbox Live Arcade titles.

Bruno Motta

Bruno Motta, Xbox Senior Manager in Brazil since April 2017, is a Marketing and Sales leader with experience in developing business models and go-to-market initiatives for brands, products and services in the consumer goods industry.

Credits: Under his leadership in the country, Xbox has launched Xbox Series X|S, launched and established Xbox Game Pass as the benchmark for gaming subscriptions and landed Xbox Cloud Gaming (Microsoft’s cloud gaming service) in Brazil.

Tamir Nadav

Tamir Nadav is a product director with nearly 20 years of experience spanning production, project management, game design, and programming, as well as graduating valedictorian baccalaureate graduate of Full Sail University in 2005. He has been involved in the industry with his enthusiastic networking abilities, and can be seen at many different events and schools, assisting current students in preparing to enter the industry.

Credits: Super Evil MegaCorp: Catalyst Black - Ops Manager, Gazeus Games: Buraco, Spades, Euchre - Director of Product Management, Telltale Games: Guardians of the Galaxy, Batman, Minecraft Story Mode, The Walking Dead S3/Michonne - Director of Product Management - Online, Visual Concepts: NBA 2K19 - Ops Director, Disney Interactive: Words of Wonder - Senior Producer, Vigil Games: Darksiders - Game Designer/Localization Support.

Calendar

• Registration: April 3rd to April 28th
• Opening Announcement, live through Zoom: May 3rd - Wed, 5:30 to 6:30 pm São Paulo time
• Project Submission Deadline: May 13th - Saturday, 11:59pm São Paulo time
• Award Ceremony: May 17th, Wed, 5:30 to 6:30 pm São Paulo time

Mentoring Lessons

After the Opening Announcement happens, participants will be given access to recorded mentoring lessons, which aim to help increase the quality of the projects. Mentoring lessons will be available to students until the date of the project submission deadline.

Check here the list of mentoring lessons that participants will have access to:

Script writing: in this lesson participants will understand what makes a good script. From the hero’s journey to basic writing tools, participants will be able to access an easy method to write their own game script. This session will directly help participants in the item #2 of the project evaluation rubric.

Character composition: in this lesson participants will review what is relevant about the characters in their game. From super powers to visual and sound effects, in this session participants will see how to create consistent characters. This session will directly help participants in the item #3 of the project evaluation rubric.

TinkerCad as a character and scenario development tool: in this hands-on mentoring lesson participants will have the opportunity to explore TinkerCad as a free of charge software to develop a first visual draft of their characters and backgrounds. This session will directly help participants in the items #3 and 4 of the project evaluation rubric.

Balancing your game: in this lesson participants will see how to structure the levels of their games, balancing the challenges offered to the players. This session will directly help participants in the item #5 of the project evaluation rubric.

Types of games, platforms and its audiences: in this lesson participants will understand the different types of digital games that are available in the market today, who their players are, and where they play. This session will directly help participants in the item #6 of the project evaluation rubric.

Pitching: in this lesson participants will have access to tips on how to create the perfect pitching. This session will directly help participants in organizing ideas and a create the perfect presentation rhythm for their pitching video.

The Project Submission

All projects must be delivered in the format of a pitching video with the maximum duration of 3 minutes. Only videos using the .mov or .mp4 format will be accepted.

Videos must be uploaded on YouTube or GoogleDrive on public mode and then a link to the video must be posted by each participant of the group in the appropriate space in our digital platform.

A paragraph with up to 500 characters counting spaces must be uploaded to our digital platform. The objective of this paragraph is to help judges better understand the concept of the project.

If you work on a group, each one of the participants must upload the project, using the same URL in our digital platform, and the same 500 characters paragraph. Participants that fail to upload the project will not be able to receive a certificate and/or prizes, in case the group wins this edition. Only participants who have correctly submitted the project will be awarded with prizes and a certificate.

FAQs

When and how do I create my group?
You can work individually or in groups with up to 5 participants. You must register individually to the GameJam. Groups will be identified through the project submissions, as students that submit the same link and 500 character paragraph will be configured a group.

Will I have to develop a full game?
No, the objective of this competition is to get participants to create a pitch for a digital game. Of course, the more you can illustrate your ideas, the better, but you don’t need to develop and program a game.

Do I need to record myself in the pitching video?
You don’t need to record yourself in the vídeo, but it is important that your pitch has a clear explanation of your digital game idea.

How will I access my Attendance Certificate?
If you register and do all tasks assigned to participants in the GameJam within the deadlines of the GameJam you will receive an Attendance Certificate, which you will be able to download straight from our digital platform.

Can I participate if my school is not a partner of Full Sail University?
All activities Full Sail University performs in Brazil are exclusive for schools that are partners of the university. If your school is not a partner yet, please ask your teacher or principal to get in contact with Carol Olival through the email colival@fullsail.com.