09 March / / gamedev / game jam / voting / themes

Game Jam Theme Voting and Selection

Themes, Polls, and Voting

We will be conducting a series of polls on stream at over the coming weeks to determine the final theme for the Game Jam. There will be three rounds of polling, with the first two rounds containing multiple polls.

Before polls commence we invite stream followers to submit theme ideas via chat on our Twitch channel, or via the form on our site. A theme can be broad, or specific, but should avoid being a description of a particular function or mechanic. Ideally a theme will be simple in expresssion but leave plenty of room for interpretation. Some examples of themes are:

  • Cooking
  • Decaying orbit
  • Tiny universe

We will consider all submitted theme ideas but not all suggested themes will be added to the list as we reserve the right to rule out themes that we deem unsuitable for any reason (e.g. are a game mechanic, not a theme; or are racist/homophobic/sexist/etc.). Final submissions must be received no later than midnight AEST Wednesday 17 March 2021.

Voting will be open to all viewers of the stream. The use of channel points to vote will be allowed in the first two rounds of polls, but the final round voting will be limited to ensure the most fair and accurate result possible.

Round 1 - Friday 19 March 2021

This round will contain the most polls in one night to cull our theme submissions down to a longlist for subsequent voting. The voting options in each poll will be selected randomly to present the options fairly. Each poll will be available for the maximum time available on Twitch (ten minutes). There will be a break between the end of one poll and the beginning of the next.

The winning theme of each poll will be added to the longlist that will form the basis of Round 2 polling.

(We do reserve the right to conduct additional voting off-stream if we deem it necessary in order to get the number of themes down to a suitable number)

Round 1 of voting has concluded

Results are in! There were some great tactics employed by various voters making use of channel points and bits to ensure favourite themes made it through to the next round. Join us next week to vote on the following theme options:

  1. Two Worlds
  2. Jased
  3. Under Pressure
  4. Stellar journey
  5. Dragons without wings
  6. Unbridled Darkness
  7. Unknown Language
  8. Shaved Apes
  9. “Unskilled” Labour
  10. Unicorns

Round 2 - Friday 26 March 2021

This round will contain multiple polls (the exact number to be determined by how many themes are carried over from Round 1) following the same format as Round 1.

Again, depending on the exact number of themes included in this round we will either take the winning theme, or the top two themes from each poll to include on our final shortlist. The goal of this round is to end up with a maximum of five themes to include in our final round of polling.

Round 3 - Friday 2 April 2021 - AKA the Final Round and the Beginning of the Rusty Mothertruckers Game Jam!

This round will contain the one poll run multiple times through the evening with the results of each time being collated to produce the final result.

Once the result has been determined, the theme for the Rusty Mothertruckers Game Jam will be announced and the team will get started on brainstorming ideas and jamming the game.

Submissions for Theme Ideas now Closed

Our longlist of themes has been set and we will commence voting this Friday 19 March 2021! There will be a series of polls run on Twitch during the night with viewers having the opportunity to vote in each poll. The top result from each poll will make it through to the next round. Here is the list of themes, which will be grouped randomly for voting:

  1. Corruption
  2. It’s Spreading
  3. Two Worlds
  4. Strength in Numbers
  5. Generation
  6. Moving Fortress
  7. Shapeshift
  8. Momentum
  9. Unknown Language
  10. Tiny World
  11. Swarms
  12. Stellar journey
  13. How to destroy the internet
  14. Companion
  15. Horror of the early 2000’s
  16. Jased
  17. Transportation
  18. Under Pressure
  19. I want to live forever
  20. Shaved Apes
  21. Cannibalism
  22. Delusions of Adequacy
  23. Feet
  24. Crunch
  25. SETI
  26. Restoration
  27. Stolen Artifacts
  28. ______ Architect
  29. Pyramid Scheme
  30. Vault
  31. “Unskilled” Labour
  32. Dreams
  33. Nemesis
  34. Trickle Down Effect
  35. ADHD
  36. Raised
  37. Pickled
  38. Unbridled Darkness
  39. Time travel
  40. Focus
  41. Impulse
  42. Memory
  43. Against all odds
  44. Dragons with wings
  45. Dragons without wings
  46. Unicorns

Categories gamedev game jam voting themes

Tags

Dan Wright Written by:

Dan is a digital strategy and project manager for money, and a smartarse as a hobby. He engages in Game Development in moments of poor decision making.