Here is a list of things to consider while running a game jam. We include recommendations and reasoning, but as situations vary you are free to ignore them at your own peril.
Things will go wrong. Set up a communication channel (e.g. a Discord server or group chat) where participants can report issues and organizers can post announcements during the jam.
There's so much chaos at the end of the jam so it's better to get the bureaucracy out of the way early. Have everyone sign in to jamvote, create their teams, and add members at the start of the jam. This way people won't have to worry about registering at the last minute.
Announce a target platform before the jam starts, otherwise you can end up with builds that only run on a Windows Phone.
Usually good targets are: Web and Windows, however it's highly recommended to also support Mac and Linux builds.
Remind people early and often about the deadlines. People are tired, stressed, and focused on their projects; so time can slip out of their mind. Key moments to send reminders:
The production build is one of the biggest sources of last-minute problems. Cover these points with your jammers:
Build early. Remind people at the start of the jam that they should make a production build. There are plenty of things that can go wrong during that stage.
Test on a clean machine. The build should work on a system without the development tools installed. Requiring people to install "tool X" usually means they won't be able to get the game running.
Use .zip for compression. It's the only format that works across
all platforms without extra tools. 7z, rar, tar, gzip etc.
require additional software depending on the OS.
Upload to a public location. Jammers often forget to change their sharing settings. The best way to verify is to have someone outside the team test the download link. There have been issues where people have used audio/images that triggered Google Drive's automatic "copy protection".
Start uploading early. Remind people to start uploading at least 1 hour before the deadline. There are plenty of things that can go wrong from compiling shaders, updating descriptions, to uploading to a server.
Have clear guidelines for what happens when a game is not playable due to a technical issue. Options include:
Have guidelines for what happens when a game is unfinished. There are still ways for people to show off what they completed: