Author Archives: Jim Flatmo

(Contest 2/2) As part of our continuing mission into branding/etc, we’re renaming our competitions! The formal name will remain AMES <subject> Competition, but like the Academy Awards (aka Oscars), we wanted to have a ‘formal but informal’ name for the awards themselves. “The Oscar goes to…” just sounds better than “The Outstandanding Achievement Award forContinue reading “Naming Contest!”

(Contest 1/2) It’s *BEYOND* time to change the AMES logo (the original was a *FAST* placeholder made in WordArt that was NEVER meant to last this long), and one of our priorities for the ’26-’27 year is updating our branding… but why not start now?! Enter Logo Contest: This contest is open to ANYONE (Students,Continue reading “Logo Contest!”

Hey everyone! I hope you’re all getting a chance to deep dive into “Everything Comes With a Cost” – I’m looking forward to seeing everyone’s projects when we hit completion in May! Some quick FAQs for things that came up last night – this isn’t an “exhaustive” list but definitely wanted to cover a fewContinue reading “Launch Recap / FAQ”

And we’re off! Prompt for the 2026 AMES Season is (drumroll…): Prompt: “Everything Has a Cost” In this challenge, every choice your game makes the player confront will take something away — time, energy, resources, relationships, or even stability. Think about systems where progress always comes with a tradeoff, and where players must constantly weighContinue reading “Prompt Launch 2026!”

Location, Date, and Time DATE: Saturday, May 17 STARTING TIME: 1 PM, tech set-up starts at noon LOCATION: Northwest Career and Technical Academy (NCTA) 2205 West Campus PlaceMount Vernon, WA 98273 Updates Hi everyone! A couple quick updates this morning! Animation and Film both have their rubrics added on the Film / Animation Competition page. No changesContinue reading “Film/Animation Details”

Here’s an updated version of the prompt – the prompt remains “unchanged”, this version just has more supporting text/clarifications on intent/etc. “The Masks We Wear…” remains the ‘formal’ prompt title. Itch.io jam pages have been updated accordingly. From the literal masks we’ve worn in recent years to the metaphorical ones we put on every day,Continue reading “Updated Prompt”

Hey nerds! We are in week 2 of Showcase production! By now teams should have finished their ideation/planning phases and moved on to their next steps. Recommended goals for this week are prototyping for game, and getting through preproduction steps for other media (Decide genre, pick exemplar films or scenes to mimic, build a plotContinue reading “Week 2!”

The 2025 Showcase Competitions are about to start! Showcase Competition officially starts on March 10 at 7pm with our online Prompt Launch event! Event is open to everyone and will be held on Zoom at https://everettsd.zoom.us/j/9167070608 Showcase Website is also now open at:https://amesshowcase.itch.io/ (Main Page)https://itch.io/jam/2025-ames-game-showcase (Game Competition)https://itch.io/jam/2025-ames-film-showcase (Animation/Film Competition)https://itch.io/jam/2025-ames-sound-showcase (Sound/Music Competition)