Introduction

Everything below is optional. None of it is required to enter, and none of it affects how you're judged.

It exists because there are a lot of tools out there, and it's easy to get lost. Which tool? Where do I get art and sound? Is my idea too big for one day? What does "saving something" even look like when somebody's done it well?

So here is a list of tools sorted by how likely you are to finish with them, some projects worth looking at, places to get free art and sound, and people to ask when you're stuck.

If you read one thing, make it the Tools section and the Scoping advice. Picking something you can finish in one day is the biggest decision you'll make, and most people pick wrong by reaching for the most powerful option instead of the most achievable one.

Before the day: a checklist

• Pick your tool and install it now. Check it runs on your laptop. Downloading big files on the day over shared wifi is slow.
• Make something tiny in it, such as a character that moves, a page with a button or a two-line story, so you know the basics.
• Pick a topic to look into, and if you can, talk to someone who knows about it.
• Bring a laptop, a charger, headphones and a water bottle.
• Make sure your parent or guardian has signed the consent form.
• Sleep. A rested team finishes more than a tired one.

Tools and technologies

Use whatever you like. Nothing here is required, and this is a starting list for people who don't have one yet.

If you've never built anything before, pick something small. The most common reason a project doesn't get finished is that the tool was new and the idea was big.

AI tools are allowed and encouraged for code, art, audio, writing and ideas. Anything you use goes in your AI disclosure.

Showing your project: because demos are in the room, running it on your own laptop is enough. A browser build on itch.io, GitHub Pages or Netlify is the easiest for judges to try afterwards. Keep a short screen recording as a backup in case something breaks during the demo.

Scoping: how to finish in one day

• Write your idea in one sentence. If it needs two, it's too big.
• Decide the one thing the project must do, and build that first.
• Add extras only once the core works. Delete features before you delete sleep.
• Aim to have something submittable by lunch, and improve it afterwards.
• At the 11:00 check-in, an organiser will ask: "what can you cut?" The answer is almost always something.
• Search "game jam scoping" for advice from people who've done it many times.

Inspiration

Preserving things is a long tradition. A few examples to look at before you start:

• Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa): a game made with Iñupiat elders to carry a community's stories
• Assassin's Creed Discovery Tours: modes that turn historical places into guided, explorable lessons
• Bury Me, My Love: a story of migration told through a chat app
• StoryCorps: a project that records ordinary people's stories as an archive
• The Endangered Languages Project: a site that documents languages at risk of disappearing
• The Internet Archive: a library that saves websites, books and recordings

What they share: they're built around a real person, place or community, they make the thing feel alive rather than explaining it, and they're specific.

Prompts, if you're stuck:

• What's disappearing around you that you'd miss?
• Who do you know who has a skill, a story or a memory nobody has written down?
• What would you want to show a stranger about where you live?
• What's a place in Hanoi that has changed, and what was it like before?
• If you only had one save slot, what would you put in it?

Starting points close to home (examples, not requirements): craft villages like Bat Trang pottery, Dong Ho woodblock prints, water puppetry, the old streets of the Old Quarter, Tet customs, folk tales, regional words and dialects, and the family recipes and stories you know.

A word of advice: the strongest projects usually come from something specific. "A project about culture" is enormous and vague. "A game where you learn how one family makes one dish, step by step, from their grandmother's words" is something you can build in a day and something people will remember.

Free assets, sound and fonts

• kenney.nl: thousands of free, high-quality 2D and 3D assets, in the public domain
• craftpix.net/freebies: a large library of free 2D game assets
• opengameart.org: a community library of free art and audio
• freesound.org: free sound effects, under various licences
• incompetech.com: free royalty-free music
• fonts.google.com: free fonts
• commons.wikimedia.org: free images, with licences you must read and credit
• itch.io: search "free assets" under Game Assets

Always check the licence and credit the source.

Accessibility

• gameaccessibilityguidelines.com: practical advice. Worth twenty minutes even if accessibility isn't your angle, and directly relevant to the Art & Design score.
• Make text readable, and make sure people can tell what's interactive.

Learning

• Your tool's official documentation and tutorials
• The Godot docs, GameDev.tv and the Brackeys archive for structured lessons
• Harvard's CS50G is free and covers game development basics
• Ludum Dare and GMTK Game Jam post-mortems, for jam advice

Finding something to save, and the people who know it

• Talk to family, neighbours, teachers, craftspeople, shopkeepers, librarians and local groups. A real person with something to share beats an abstract topic every time.
• Ask permission before you record or share their story, and ask a parent or guardian too if they're under 18.
• Ask what they'd want saved before you decide what to build.

What to bring and what to expect

• Bring: a laptop and charger, headphones, a water bottle, your signed consent form if you haven't sent it, and any medication you need (tell a chaperone).
• We provide: wifi, power and extension cords, a place to sit and work, and organisers and chaperones in the room all day. Lunch and snacks are planned and will be confirmed here.
• Please don't bring: anything dangerous or illegal, and anything you can't afford to lose.
• Arrival and leaving: check in from 08:45. You leave only as your pickup plan says, and if you need to leave early, tell a chaperone.
• If you feel unwell or upset, tell a chaperone any time. You're never in trouble for asking for help.

Contact us and support channels

• Email: [email protected]. For anything you'd rather not ask publicly, and for parents and guardians.
• Reporting a problem: https://forms.gle/TN9XNC3JpHVn6czn9 or [email protected]. Anything that breaches the code of conduct, including anonymously. Reports go to the organisers.
• On the day: find a chaperone or an organiser, who are in the room all day.
• Before the day: ask on the Devpost discussion board, or on our Discord (https://discord.gg/wQVdTKrEr5). Organisers answer in public so everyone can learn. We aim to reply within a day, or within two days by email.

Please note: organisers, judges and mentors never send private messages to participants. All help happens in public. If an adult messages you privately through a Checkpoint space, report it. You won't be in any trouble.