Little Orbit Jam | The Rules We Don’t See

2. Schedule

Late registration does not extend the final submission deadline. Any extension to registration will be announced on the website and in the communities. Check the competition page for live status before joining. Try the submission process a day early and leave time to upload, check permissions and fix launch problems.

3. Accounts and teams

Create your own account at https://www.jamjam.cn/register and choose “果酱星球线上站” (Jam Planet Online). Follow email verification and account approval instructions. Existing users can sign in at https://www.jamjam.cn/login. Ask for help if approval is pending; avoid duplicate accounts.

Rolling registration runs from September 28 at 12:00 CST (04:00 UTC) through October 7 at 23:59 CST (15:59 UTC). Find this Little Orbit Jam on the website, review the theme, dates and rules, and keep your successful event registration record. Account approval alone does not register your entry.

Solo creators use their personal workspace. For a team, one captain manages the team and teammates accept invitations using their own accounts. Follow the capacity shown on the website. Read the project-sharing notice and back up personal files before creating or joining a team. Never share personal passwords.

In #team-up, describe your skills, project interests, working language, time zone, availability and the roles you need. You do not need to post a public introduction or join both communities.

4. A beginner's route through the website

Open the studio: https://www.jamjam.cn/workspace?view=editor

If “Load platformer sample” is available, read the replacement warning and back up your project first. Play the sample, change one parameter or one part of the level, and compare the result. Start with a three-to-five-minute game: one main action, a goal, feedback and an ending.

Scenes help arrange game objects. Nodes help describe goals, rules and endings. The current basic node runtime mainly supports collecting and reaching an exit; other nodes may document design rather than implement arbitrary gameplay.

The web-code panel supports simple HTML, CSS and JavaScript workflows. Its restricted preview does not promise arbitrary dependencies, network access or complete support for every engine. Save often and name important versions. Node-version restoration does not automatically restore all project files; keep separate source and asset backups.

AI capabilities depend on account approval, available credits and service configuration. Some requests require individual approval. Check availability and cost before requesting generation; review, test and check rights before accepting output. You can use the non-AI tools without a paid AI workflow. Tool choice and spending do not automatically improve your award chances.

5. An experienced developer's route

Keep using the engine and development tools you know. Unity, Godot, Unreal, GameMaker, Ren'Py and other workflows do not need to be converted into website nodes. Use the website for event records and your usual tools for source control, builds and backups.

Prepare a playable link or a clearly labelled build. Source code, screenshots and recordings alone do not replace a playable entry. List supported platforms, controls, expected play time, content notices and known issues. Reviewers should not need to pay or request permission to play. Builds and links must work without login; the submission form does not accept private test passwords.

6. Files, resources and sessions

• Project files: https://www.jamjam.cn/workspace?view=files . Organize design notes, assets, source and playtest records. Respect the displayed storage and upload limits and keep backups.
• Asset gallery: https://www.jamjam.cn/workspace?view=assets . Check each item's license, attribution and permitted use. Being visible in a gallery is not itself permission.
• Community and activities: https://www.jamjam.cn/workspace?view=community . Find community links and updates.
• Jury sessions: https://www.jamjam.cn/workspace?view=mentors . Select an available person, date and discussion direction, then request a session. The current rule is one 20-minute session per team per week. The host must confirm; the meeting link then appears in the workspace.

Bring a playable build, one clear goal and up to three specific questions to a session. Cancel promptly if you cannot attend. “Not open yet” means that person's availability has not been released. Availability during this jam's development window is not yet confirmed. Session participation does not imply that the host is a judge for this event or guarantee an award or publishing deal. This event does not promise a scheduled course series.

7. Community spaces

Use #start-here for this guide, #announcements for official updates, #general for conversation, #team-up for collaborators, #help for questions and #playtest for feedback. KOOK provides the Chinese-language community; its verified invitation will be added to the official entry points.

When requesting a playtest, include the link, platform, controls and one question. When giving feedback, describe what happened before suggesting a change. Be respectful; no harassment, spam, private information, credentials or unlicensed material. Contact an administrator privately about personal issues or reports.

Development began September 21, 2026 at 12:00 UTC+8. Rolling registration runs from September 28 at 12:00 CST (04:00 UTC) through October 7 at 23:59 UTC+8. Once registered, teams may join development. All entries share the October 12, 2026, 23:59:00 UTC+8 deadline. Joining late does not extend the deadline or create a personal two-week period. Any registration extension will be announced for everyone. Core gameplay and main new content must be made within the event development window.

Eligibility and submission format

One team per person, 1–8 members per team, and one game per team. Create the core gameplay and main new content during the development window. Licensed existing engines, templates and general assets are allowed with disclosure of sources and pre-existing work; renaming an already completed game is not an eligible new entry. Obtain all required coauthor and guardian permissions. Entry is free. Contact the organizer before registering if a lawful prize-payment channel is unavailable in your region.

Use any engine. Submit a playable ZIP build or standalone HTML file, up to 50 MB, that requires no purchase or account login. Larger projects need a smaller judging demo. A play link is supplementary; judges use the archived build. Malware, infringing material, disclosure of private information and content prohibited by hosting-platform rules are not allowed. Disclose relevant content notices; eligibility decisions require reasons and an appeal route.

The unique competition portal is https://www.jamjam.cn/competition?cycleId=8e72bb5c-ae75-4781-80cf-35b7555ec097 . The captain registers a fixed roster; each member reads and confirms the rules separately. The captain selects an uploaded playable build and receives a version-specific receipt and archive. The server must receive and archive the build before October 12 at 23:59:00, UTC+8. Roster changes require organizer review. The public entry page displays game details, chosen author credits, play links and the downloadable judging archive; do not include private contact or identity information in these fields.

Judges score each criterion from 0 to 100: play 35%, theme 25%, completeness 25%, originality/integration 15%. Judges must recuse for conflicts. Eligible entries are fixed before voting starts. Rankings require review before an official award announcement.

11. Your work and what can happen next

Creators and existing rights holders retain copyright. Submission, winning and prize payment do not transfer copyright or automatically grant commercial publishing rights.

Event showcase permission

To the extent you control the relevant rights, submission permits the organizer to use the game's name, your chosen public credit, description, submitted screenshots and trailer, and links to your public playable page for this event's review, showcase and record. This is a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free permission for one year from official submission. Necessary resizing, cropping, subtitles and translation must preserve meaning and reasonable credit. It does not authorize game sales, source-code disclosure, asset resale, model training or invented endorsements.

Winner publicity permission

Before payment, winning teams confirm a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free permission for three years from award confirmation to use those materials and reasonable gameplay excerpts in the organizer's website, official communities, social accounts, press materials, recaps and event recruitment materials. Contractors may produce these materials solely for the organizer and receive no independent exploitation right. Existing coverage may remain as an historical archive after the period, but no new promotion is produced under the expired permission.

Real names beyond chosen credits, likenesses, voices, interviews and extra recordings require separate consent. Third-party music, art and fonts remain subject to their licenses. Disclose restrictions and provide substitute publicity material where needed. Reasonable credit, accurate representation and no implied endorsement of unrelated products are required. Uses outside this scope need a separate written agreement.

Thirty-day priority publishing discussions for every submitted game

For every officially submitted game, whether or not it wins, the organizer receives one priority opportunity to discuss publishing. The shared window is October 12, 2026 at 23:59 through November 11, 2026 at 23:59, UTC+8, exactly 30 days. Award notices, additional paperwork and revisions do not restart or automatically extend it.

During that window, before signing an exclusive third-party publishing agreement that would prevent the organizer from publishing the game, notify the organizer and allow up to seven calendar days for a proposal, never extending beyond the 30-day endpoint. You may continue development, show a free demo, participate in events, talk to others and seek partners. You do not have to disclose third-party trade secrets. The organizer may also initiate a proposal.

This is a priority discussion opportunity, not a purchase option, automatic right to match an offer, obligation to sign or existing publishing license. You may reject a proposal. The opportunity ends when the organizer declines, fails to respond within the response period, or the window expires without a new agreement. Platforms, territory, term, exclusivity, revenue shares, cost recovery, approvals, maintenance and exit conditions require a separate contract. Refusing a publishing deal does not justify withholding an otherwise earned and verified prize.

All relevant coauthors and rights holders must validly authorize submission. Disclose existing contractual conflicts before submitting; you cannot grant rights you do not possess. These terms must be available and expressly acknowledged before official submission, and are not retroactive to earlier submissions.

12. Questions, privacy and appeals

The data controller is Yuzhu (Zhuhai Hengqin) Cultural Creativity Co., Ltd. (钰铢（珠海市横琴）文化创意有限公司). Registration identity, member acknowledgements and event correspondence are used for administration, eligibility, judging and appeals, normally retained until one year after results. Records necessary for unresolved disputes are retained until resolution. Winner publicity permission records are retained through the corresponding permission period; accounting and tax records follow statutory retention periods. Unnecessary identity-document copies are deleted promptly after verification. Public build downloads last no more than 365 days; showcase and publicity materials follow the one-year and three-year permissions and historical-coverage terms above. Website accounts and ordinary project files remain subject to the website privacy policy. Only necessary information is shared with event operations, reviewers, finance and authorized payment providers. Any additional notice or consent required for cross-border personal-data transfers is handled separately before transfer. Send access, correction, deletion or consent-withdrawal requests with the entry ID to webmaster@jamjam.cn. Where legal retention or an effective permission requires continued processing, the organizer explains the reason and restricts use.

Ask ordinary questions in #help or the KOOK general discussion channel. Send personal information, dispute evidence and payment details only through the organizer's designated private channel. Public results list games, agreed public credits, awards and necessary judging explanations, not emails, identity documents or bank details.

Submit a specific appeal with evidence within seven days of results. An uninvolved person should review it and explain the outcome. The final rules must explain the data controller, purposes, retention and correction/deletion route. Major outages, postponements or cancellation require clear public handling instructions; they do not retrospectively expand permissions or remove existing obligations.

Pre-submission acknowledgement: I have read the rules and prize details, can represent the named creators, and understand the event showcase permission, winner publicity permission and 30-day priority publishing discussion window for every officially submitted game. Copyright stays with its owners; commercial publishing requires a separate agreement. Any required guardian consent has been obtained.

This page is the event overview and participant guide. Read the event-specific rules presented at registration, member confirmation and submission, and keep your receipts. The event portal shows live availability. Player voting opens as announced after vote validation is verified.

Archived builds and support

The submission form does not accept private test credentials: builds and play links must be free to access without sign-in. Up to 30 archived versions per entry are allowed during the submission window. To enable judging and public voting, the organizer may retain the submitted build and offer the unchanged, eligible build for free public play after the deadline, for no more than 365 days from submission. This does not expose source projects or grant players adaptation, resale, or commercial rights. Download access closes at expiry. Corrections after the deadline never replace the judged archive; an entry that cannot be fairly assessed may be exhibition-only. Send roster correction or withdrawal requests, with the entry ID, to the organizer email displayed in the competition portal. All affected members must be verified; no replacement entrants after the deadline. Never post identity or payment documents publicly.

The judging rubric is fixed before registration opens: play and experience 35%, theme 25%, completeness and playability 25%, originality and integration 15%. Judges may be announced after registration opens, but must be confirmed and announced before judging begins. Later judge appointments do not change these weights.

9. One worldwide prize pool

Approximately RMB 5,000 in total, shared worldwide across six awards. All listed CNY and USD prizes are gross, pre-tax amounts, not guaranteed net receipts. Any legally required withholding is deducted from the corresponding prize; the gross amount, tax withheld and amount paid will be explained and documented. All recruitment channels compete together.

The columns are alternative payment amounts for the same award. They are not cumulative or regional pools. Domestic payments use CNY and overseas payments use USD. A cross-border team designates one authorized recipient and a feasible currency at registration. Rounded amounts are fixed rather than adjusted with daily exchange rates. Each amount is the total for the winning entry, not an amount per teammate.

Jury rubric: core play and player experience 35%, theme expression 25%, completeness and playability 25%, originality and creative integration 15%. At least two independent reviewers without a conflict play each eligible entry. Rank by the mean valid score; ties use core-play score, then theme score, then an additional independent review. Reviewers cannot score their own work or work in which they have a direct interest. Pre-event advice does not earn points.

Players' Choice uses one announced official voting route. Verified, approved website users receive one vote each, may revise it before voting closes, and cannot vote for their own entry. Only eligible entries appear on the ballot. Platform likes, chat reactions and itch.io rankings do not directly count as official votes. Fake accounts, paid votes, automation and impersonation are prohibited. Suspicious votes receive review; a shared school or network is not sufficient by itself for disqualification. Ties use independent jury core-play scores, then additional independent review. Cash-prize voting will not open until the ballot and validation process are ready.

A game may win in both categories and receive both awards; both remain within the same pool. If fewer than three eligible games exist, only actual places are awarded. Published place amounts will not be reduced without prior notice and a valid basis. Material rule changes require clear advance notice and any necessary consent.

10. Claiming an award

Provisional winners will be contacted privately using registration details. Reply within 14 days. An additional reminder and seven-day correction period precede action on non-response or missing information. Results remain provisional until verification is complete.

Payment requires eligibility verification, authority from all relevant creators and rights holders, a team-authorized recipient, necessary tax and payment details, and acceptance of the winner publicity permission below. Obtain any required guardian consent for minors. Do not buy a service, pay a stranger a release fee, post identity documents publicly or surrender a storefront account to claim a prize.

Payment is planned within 30 days after complete verification. The organizer covers its outgoing transfer fees; recipient-institution fees and applicable taxes are explained before payment. Any legally required withholding will be explained and documented. If a payment route fails, agree on a lawful alternative rather than substituting vouchers or adding purchases without consent.

Entry is free. The organizer pays awards; itch.io, TapTap, Discord and KOOK do not become payment sponsors by hosting content. The organizer and prize obligor is Yuzhu (Zhuhai Hengqin) Cultural Creativity Co., Ltd. (钰铢（珠海市横琴）文化创意有限公司). Contact: webmaster@jamjam.cn.

The organizing company pays CNY prizes directly. USD prizes are paid through its authorized existing overseas account; the company remains responsible for the prize. Contact: webmaster@jamjam.cn.

8. Final submission

The official final submission route is https://www.jamjam.cn/competition?cycleId=8e72bb5c-ae75-4781-80cf-35b7555ec097; use it when the page accepts submissions. Submit once per game through the solo creator or team captain. Prepare the title, short description, theme connection, author list, playable link or build, platforms, controls, estimated duration, content notices, asset and music credits, licenses, AI disclosure, known issues and version number. Agree internally on credits, prize allocation and who can represent the team.

Keep the success record and reopen the materials to check access. A chat link, cloud upload, itch.io submission or general studio review is not automatically an official event submission. The judging version locks at the deadline. Request permission before fixing a launch failure after the deadline; retain the original and do not silently add gameplay or new judging content. Comparable exceptions must receive consistent treatment and a recorded explanation.

Competition portal and full rules: https://www.jamjam.cn/competition?cycleId=8e72bb5c-ae75-4781-80cf-35b7555ec097