Rules & Conditions

What is a game jam?

It’s a chance to make games! Game jams are all about coming together to design and build board and digital games based on a central idea or sometimes a theme in a super short amount of time. In this one, you’ll have about two whole days (including sleep) to go all the way from idea to whatever you can hack together in time.

Who should come to Power Up!?

Power Up! is meant for anyone with an interest in making positive social change through making games and playful things. Even if you’ve never made a game before or don’t have any game dev skills. You could join a group and find out you’re good at something and never knew it. Or maybe you just want to keep an eye on what people are doing and come back next year after doing a few game dev tutorials.

We hope that Power Up! is a way for new gamedevs or people who are interested in starting their gamedev journey to get inspired and feel like they are a part of a bigger community. For this reason Power Up! will always be free.

How it works

Power Up! is online only so once you register the majority of your communications and information will come through the Power Up! Discord channel.

Then when the event starts, we'll all have one weekend to make a game. You don't have to start from scratch if you don't want to. Besides a, "just-for-fun" voting system, there are no prizes, so feel free to work on that pet project you've been dying to work on in a communal setting - as long as you are working on something in the spirit of the Power Up! values.

You can sign up to the jam with a team of friends you already know, or sign up by yourself and join up with people through the Discord channel before the event starts. You can even go solo if you want. You can even do a little bit of everything - there's no reason you can't work on more than one project.

Game Jam Rules

Applicants may be individuals, or teams, with no size limit.
Game Jam participation is R18 this year, all participants must be at least 18 years old
Games must be submitted by end-of-day (midnight) Monday 28th September 2024, in the timezone in which the game jam team is submitting their game..
All games submitted will be share with the public and the game designers behind them promoted as participants in the event. Games may receive feedback by the organisers on what they liked / didn't like about the games, and exceptionally impressive games will receive more spotlight and exposure. But Power Up! is not a cash prize competition, it intentionally promotes game design for the sake of creativity, professional development, and trying out new ideas in the interests of improving our local communities.

Code of Conduct

Power Up! is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, age or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of anyone in the game dev community in any form. Participants violating these rules may be sanctioned or expelled from our spaces at the discretion of the organizers.

The Power Up! Code of Conduct is inherited from the New Zealand Game Developers Association policy framework attributable here:

https://nzgda.com/about-us/code-of-conduct/

Purpose

The NZGDA hosts a variety of events, conversations, and social spaces for the purpose of collaborating and advancing the game development industry. Our community is made of creators who come from diverse backgrounds and bring with them a range of priorities and interests. This policy has been created to ensure that all of our spaces, events, and forums are a safe space for all. This means welcoming a range of opinions and perspectives, and ensuring that all behaviour and content within these spaces is respectful and constructive.

Our Principles

We respect and value our diverse community

The NZGDA has created events and forums for the community to collaborate, share ideas, ask questions, and provide feedback. The skills, backgrounds, and experiences of our community are our strength, and we empower one another to share information. When we disagree, we see it as an opportunity to learn and grow, and we understand that we disagree with people’s ideas, not them as people. We do not criticise each other’s personal attributes, affiliations, or beliefs and refrain from discussing them.

We value our professionalism and our empathy

Game development in New Zealand is a growing industry dependent on the skills of talented individuals. We value opportunities to share skills and ideas, and through this, take responsibility for sharing access to opportunities, resources, and information. We ensure that our conduct and our content is ethical and beneficial to our profession, the industry, and society at large. We make it a point to raise the voices of those who are underrepresented in our community.

We are all governors of this space

The NZGDA and everyone within its spaces are individually responsible for their behaviour and the way it may be perceived by others. We are all, by virtue of gathering together, dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience. We are all accountable, we collaborate in good faith, and we all take responsibility for maintaining the principles of these guidelines in our discussions, events, and forums.

The NZGDA Code of Conduct policy that follows is guided by these principles for the purpose of creating a safe space for all participants.

Code of conduct

Purpose – What is the Code of Conduct?

This Code of Conduct outlines the expectations we hold for anyone participating in NZGDA events or communicating in NZGDA spaces.

Scope – Where does it apply?

This code of conduct applies to everyone participating with or within the NZGDA Sphere of Influence, either online or off – either as a participant or as a representative of the NZGDA (including board members, volunteers, speakers, event facilitators, and award nominees).

The NZGDA Sphere of Influence includes all official NZGDA spaces such as the mailing list, official communication channels such as info@nzgda.com, the NZGDA website(s), social media spaces, the NZGDC conference, and all other NZGDA managed spaces both online and off.

This Code of Conduct does not apply to employees of our event venues, however we do expect our event partners to treat conference attendees in a respectful manner. Any venue-specific rules or Code of Conduct should be followed in addition to this one.

Some NZGDA spaces may have additional rules in place, which will be made clearly available to participants. Participants are responsible for knowing and abiding by these rules.

The NZGDA reserves the right to expel any participant from any NZGDA event or space.

The Code of Conduct – What are the unacceptable behaviours?

The NZGDA recognises that harassment can have far-reaching consequences on emotional and physical health and is dedicated to providing a harassment-free experience

The NZGDA does not tolerate harassment in any form.

Harassment includes, but is not limited to:

Discriminatory actions or offensive/unwelcome comments, including those relating to: gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, mental illness, neuro(a)typicality, physical appearance, body size, age, race, or religion, lifestyle choices and practices (including those – related to food, health, parenting, drugs, and employment.)

Sexual harassment (irrespective of gender), as in unwanted attention of a sexually-oriented nature, including (but not limited to) offensive comments or gestures of a sexual nature, sexual or smutty jokes, repeated comments/invitations/ intrusions into someone’s private life, unwelcome physical contact or simulations of physical contact, provocative visual material.

Bullying, as in repeated, persistent, offensive, abusive, intimidating, malicious, or insulting behaviour, including (but not limited to) threats and intimidation, manipulation and coercion, verbally or degrading language, gestures or images, shouting, yelling; using a raised voice and unpleasant tone, unexplained displays of rage, intentional humiliation, remarks either to the recipient or behind their back, threats of violence, stalking or cyberstalking

Reporting – How do I report a violation of the Code of Conduct?

If you or someone you know are being harassed within an NZGDA space, or have any other concerns, please contact the NZGDA Board at info@nzgda.com.

The NZGDA will record, retain, and share any and all records related to violations of the Code of Conduct according to the NZGDA Complaint Handling Policy (02).

Consequences – What happens if the Code of Conduct is violated?

Participants are expected to immediately stop any harassing behaviour upon request by the NZGDA or the organiser of any physical event or online space.

The NZGDA or any organiser of any physical event or online space reserves the right to ask any participant to leave the event at their discretion if they feel this Code of Conduct has been breached.

The Board will handle all complaints in accordance with the NZGDA Complaint Handling Policy (02).

For more information, please see the full list of NZGDA rules: Rules of the NZGDA.