Damn cat woke me up at 5 am horking on the laminate floors I spent this week installing. I didn't want his digestive juices to ruin a board in the middle of my living room so I got up extra early. Now would be about the time I could have started the Game Jam, and less than 2 days would not be enough time for me to deliver something I'd be happy with. I have been reading journal entries and keeping up with posts though and this judging will let me participate peripherally at least. Good job so far everyone!

I wanted to take the time to explain how I'm planning on scoring this year's games. This is a one-week game jam, and I will be judging entries as such. As the title states, I'm not an official judge, so my scores will not be affecting the official contest, but I will give out a prize to the winner: a copy of Firefly or this week's Humble Bundle - Winner's Choice. I'll also give out keys to my Floating Combat Text asset to the top 3 Unity Teams.

Gameplay/fun: 25 points
This one is kind of subjective, but I tried to break it down similar to my other scores.
0: I can't delete this game fast enough
1-4: Bad. I had to fight the controls, and I didn't want to finish playing it, but I had to because I'm a judge. I have trouble seeing where you were trying to go with this.
5-11: Poor. I can see where you were trying to go, but you didn't quite get there in the week's time. The fun factor just wasn't quite there. A little more time and you might have been able to squeeze some fun out of your chosen direction through mechanics tweaks, or levels.
12-18: Decent. I had some fun playing your game and you should be proud. You made a game that is kind of fun in only a week's time.
19-22: Good. I had more than a little fun with your game. Other people seeing a score this high should check out this game. I might even steal an idea or two from the game.
23-24: Great. I had lots of fun in your game. Everyone should definitely check out this game.
25: Damn this game is fun! I'll probably play this some more after the competition.

Graphics: 20 points
0: You're bad, and you should feel bad! I highly doubt I'll be handing this out to anyone. :)
1-3: The graphics are bad enough that it detracts from the rest of the game.
4-9: Not great graphics, but it's a game jam. There's no need to be ashamed here, but next year you might want to look into some free assets.
10-14: Decent graphics for a jam. Here's where you should start to feel pride in your accomplishment. You managed to make a game in a week and the art is decent
15-17: Good graphics for a jam. I could see this in a real game.
18-19: Great graphics for a jam. How'd you have time for that? O.o
20: Holy crap! This could be in a high quality game.

Theme: 20 points
0: You heard the theme right? Death is useful. And you made a Sudoku game?
1-3: Death was mentioned in passing.
4-9: Death is technically useful in your game, but it's a stretch.
10-14: You've met the goal of death being useful.
15-17: Death is useful and you put an interesting twist on it.
18-19: Great concept, clever interpretation, and good execution.
20: Wow, what an amazing idea! Great execution too!

Audio: 10 points
0: There was sound, I turned it off. My ears are bleeding!
1: Lack of sound or bad sound effects/music.
2-4: You have sound but it isn't great.
5-7: You have sound in your game and it wasn't bad.
8: Good sound effects.
9: Great sound effects for a game jam.
10: These sound effects are amazing.

First Time User Experience: 10 points
0: The game crashes, it's buggy, no documentation, and counter intuitive.
1: Hard to figure out, bad experience.
2-4: Some installation issues. Game works most of the time. Could use better documentation.
5-7: Everything works.
8: Intuitive and enjoyable experience.
9: Great job. I forgot this was a game that was built in only a week.
10: Flawless. No installer. Documentation was very clear or completely unnecessary.

Participation: 10 points
Must post links to your posts in the Competition Thread
I may just use slicer4ever's points here per his suggestion. If I do use my own points, it will be something like this. Slicer4Ever says real judges have to avoid a half-point scale so I will too. I'll round up to whole numbers.

0: Didn't post anything anywhere except for the link to your game.
0.5 points for each post that is: More than a few sentences
1 points for each post that is decent, talk about your experiences, maybe a screenshot.
2 points for each post that is good and detailed.
1 point for a meaningful comment on someone else's thread

Judge's Discretion: 5 points
This one is up to individual judges and can be totally not fair. Here are a few things that will get you Eck bonus points:
Firefly references.
Your team doing almost everything itself.
Including family members on teams.
Telling me thanks for my AutoSave Asset
Telling me you're sorry I couldn't compete this year.
Telling me you like my idea: Better Living Through Necromancy.
Make a cool game.

So that's how I plan to judge all the entries. I'll try to do it in a timely manner, but it looks like there are a ton of teams this year. I'm not an official judge so I'm not beholden to official timelines... DEAL WITH IT! :D