Welcome to the second Decision Space Jam (DSJ), a game design jam free for anyone to participate. Submissions for DSJ will be accepted until 9/1/24 (September 1st), after which there will be four weeks to playtest submissions and provide feedback. Playtesters do not have to submit a design, however all participants to submit a design are expected to playtest at least three other submissions.

The DSJ provides mechanical constraints without a thematic prompt. We encourage you to come up with interesting and unique themes. However, bear in mind the DSJ staff reserve the right to reject submissions if they are deemed offensive, so please tread carefully on sensitive subjects like colonialism. Bigotry, racism, sexism, and the likes will not be tolerated.

Decision Space Jam 2 - 18 Cards

For the second DSJ we have selected the following constraints:

  • 18 Standard size cards - approx. 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches (6.4 cm x 8.9 cm)

  • Use both sides of the cards - Can be minor information on the back, or a whole card.

  • No hidden hands - Private hidden hand information.

  • No other major components  - tokens and dice are fine, but boards, tiles, etc. are not.

  • Must be playable at 2 or solo.

You should be able to get 9 cards on an A4, so playing the game should not require more than printing four A4 sheets (double sided cards), cutting, and sleeving. Plus an assortment of tokens that are easy enough to gather from other games or supplies.

Scoring and Winning

  • To be eligible to win, a player must playtest and provide feedback on at least three other submissions. Feedback will be done using a simple feedback form. However, you may always provide additional feedback to the designer.

  • Winning submission(s) will be largely decided by crowd feedback. The DSJ staff will also mention any personal favorites.

  • The winning submission(s) will be discussed on the podcast.

  • There may be more than one winning entry, it depends on the volume of eligible submissions.

  • Designers may enter more than one submission, but will be required to provide feedback on three other submissions per submission. Unless specified, the earlier submission will qualify to be eligible first.

  • People that have not submitted any designs are free to submit feedback. DSJ staff reserve the right to ignore feedback not provided by participants.

We encourage you to start a thread on the Decision Space Discord to discuss your design process. Please feel free to encourage, help, and provide feedback to others during the design process. We are all richer when we help each other.

Submission & Note on Constraints

Participants maintain full ownership of their designs. The constraints outlined above are intended to encourage creativity, if you want to bend or even break one of the constraints because it will make a better game, go ahead and do so. Please note, however, one of the feedback questions will be how well does the game match the constraints.

Please submit your design using the form linked below by 9/1/24 (September 1st) to be entered into the jam. 

Please submit feedback on designs using the link below.

DSJ Staff: Jake, Brendan, Aurore