The judging of the Gain Jam entries will involve two rounds: A preliminary round will determine the finalists and a second round to determine the Overall Winners and "Best Of" Category Winners.
¶ Disqualifications
In addition to the violations mentioned within the Rules section, entries can risk Disqualification under the follow two conditions:
- If the game fails to run
- If the game has been judged as not adhering to the set theme
If an entry was Disqualifed in this manner, a partipant may still be applicable to receiving feedback from the judges if and where possible.
¶ Judging Categories
The judges will be judging the games based off the following categories.
While the judges will be ranking their choices in a more generalised view of the game experience as a whole, the following aspects will weigh into their deliberations (the below list is presented in no particular order):
- Game Concept / Use of Theme
- Mechanics
- Use Of Fetish
- Writing
- Presentation
¶ "Best Of" Nominations
Each of the judges will nominate an entry for Best Art, Best Writing, and Best Sound Design during the preliminary round. These nominations are independent from an entry's ranking. These nominations will move onto the second round to determine the winners after the Overall Winners have been determined.
Due to the precluding of Overall Winners from the "Best Of" Category deliberations (see Rules), there are a few edge cases that should be noted:
- Winning by Default - If a submission is the last remaining nomination that is eligible for a "Best Of" category they win by default.
- No Eligible Winner - If no nomination is eligible to win a "Best Of" category, the judges will re-nominate for that category.
¶ Feedback
We know that many of our developers value feedback, so all judges will provide written feedback and comments for each entry that they are able to judge.