Guidelines for submitting GAMES

GUIDELINES FOR GAMES:

Getting Started

We’re so excited that you’re interested in submitting a game to DYM. This guide will help you deliver a game that’s high-quality and ready-to-use… for youth workers to play in ministries around the world!

Jump to

• What To Include In Your Game Submission
• Naming Your Files and Folders
• Additional Guidelines for Submitting Slide-Driven Games
• Additional Guidelines for Video-Driven Games
• Additional Guidelines for Idea-Driven Games
• Types of Games in the DYM Store

What To Include In Your Screen Game Submission:

1. Title Slide
2. Instruction slide (if necessary)
3. 10 Question slides (at least), 10 Answer slides (at least), & Tie Breaker Slides (optional), and a blank slide the end-user can use to add their own questions and customize for their group.* Note: Don't number your slides on the actual slide. This forces the end-user to play in the order you've numbered, which gives them less flexibility in customizing it for their group. 
4. Non-editable PowerPoint file (many youth workers use PowerPoint to run their games, please include a PowerPoint version of each game you create.) structured as such: title slide, instruction slide, question, answer, question, answer, etc.
5. Preview slides: The title slide, your instructions slide, and two question and answer sets that best preview your game and one or two additional question slides (this will entice a potential customer to purchase your game to find the answers!) The size of preview images should be smaller than your resource files, at the size indicated below.

Game Files should be:

Dimension: 1920px by 1080px
Resolution: 72 ppi (Pixels Per Inch)
Color Mode: RGB
File Type: JPG/JPEG

Preview Images should be: 

Dimension: 640px by 360px
Resolution: 72 ppi (Pixels Per Inch)
Color Mode: RGB
File Type: JPG/JPEG

Naming Your Files and Folders:

We want DYM to be known for games that are ready-to-play in minutes. No one wants to download a game and then spend 10 minutes reordering slides in ProPresenter. Help us make everyone’s life a little easier by naming your slides in the following format:

Files:
Title Slides: YourGameTitle.jpg

Instruction Slides: 000_Instructions.jpg, 000_Instructions2.jpg, etc. (Instructions are recommended, but not required.)

Question slides: 001__Question.jpg, 002__Question.jpg, etc.
Note the two underscores. This way, the question slide will come before the answer slide.

Answer slides: 001_Answer.jpg, 002_Answer.jpg, etc.
Note the single underscore. This ensures the answer slide will come after the question slide.

Please do not include Q & A numbers on the slide. This will allow other youth workers to play as many as they’d like, in any order they’d like.

If you have two answers for one question, (for example: a fact that pops up after the correct answer in a trivia game) simply add a number to the end of the second answer’s filename: 001_Answer2.jpg

Any additional slides: (for example: Tie Breakers) should still have the three digit prefix (011_Tiebreaker__Question.jpg, 011_Tiebreaker_Answer.jpg).

Preview images:
Thumbnail: A scaled-down version (640 x 360px) of your title slide, labeled YourGame_preview00.jpg

Additional preview slides: (two question and answer slides that best preview your game plus one or two additional question slides, labeled YourGamepreview01.jpg, YourGamepreview02.jpg, and so on.

PowerPoint Files:

Once you’ve created all of your slides, throw them into a PowerPoint project (1920px by 1080px) structured as such: title slide, instruction slide, question, answer, question, answer, etc. Everything should be in order so all the customer has to do is open it and go!

Mac Users: If you have Keynote, you can create a new Keynote project (Widescreen), drop your slides into the project, and export as a PowerPoint file. This creates a non-editable PowerPoint file.

Note on Non-Editable PowerPoint Files: A non-editable file will preserve your font choice. If an end-user does not have the font used in the PowerPoint in your editable version, it will revert to a boring font - and nobody wants that. So submit a non-editable PowerPoint!

Folders:

To help our editors review your resource at-a-glance (and, help your resource make it from submission to site more quickly!) PLUS helping a youth worker who purchased your resource use it quickly and easily, please organize the files in your submission accordingly:

Main Folder: Labeled with the name of your game and your name: MyGame--My Name

Within this main folder should be:

• PowerPoint File: Labeled with the name of your game: MyGame.pptx
• Title Slide: Labeled title: Title.jpg
• Preview Folder: Labeled Previews
• Slides Folder: Labeled Slides
• The Slides Folder should include all Question and Answer slides, named using the naming conventions listed above.

Additional Guidelines for Submitting Slide-Driven Games:

1. Keeping Originals

When working in Photoshop, drag your questions and answer layers into a folder in your layers panel. Title that folder, “Question 001”. Then, once you’ve saved your “01__Question.jpg” and “001_Answer.jpg” files, you can duplicate that folder and rename the copy, “Question 002”. Hide the original folder and edit the question and answers in the new folder. This will allow you to keep an original copy of each question in case you need to go back and fix something.

2. Multiple Editions

When possible, don’t stop at 10 Questions/Answer slides--keep going to 20, or even 30. Then you can package them as separate editions (they would still need to have their own zip file with thumbnails that indicate which edition it is.) If a ministry enjoys a game, they’re likely to look for a “Volume 2” in the DYM Store. It’s best to just get 3 editions done in one sitting so they’re off your plate. We’ll schedule them to hit the store periodically. Once you have 3 or more versions of a game in the store, we can package it as a bundle deal.

3. Game Layout

Slide Driven Games - We recommend scaling down your game’s logo and adding it to a corner of your slide. It just adds a little touch of branding to your game. Also, please avoid the following backgrounds: solid black, solid white, anything vibrant, and anything that makes the text hard to read. In most cases, adding a simple lens blur filter to a background image while slightly bringing down the brightness will make the text in the front pop out a little more.

4. Double Check EVERYTHING

Before you submit your game, please double-check the spelling, the accuracy of answers, slide order, duplicate slides, and folder structure. Have a friend triple-check it for you! Your accuracy will help move your game through the DYM Pipeline quickly and easily.

5. Don't Number Your Actual Slides: Putting a number on your slides then requires the end-user to play the game in the order you've given, which gives them less flexibility in customizing it for their group.

Additional Guidelines for Video-Driven Games:

If you decide to add videos to your project (video intro or video question/answer slides), please export them in the following format to keep the file size to a minimum and compatibility with presentation software to a maximum.

File Guidelines:

Dimension: 1920px by 1080px (1280px by 720px is also acceptable)
Frame Rate: 29.97fps
Codec: H.264
File Type: MP4

• Please don't include videos in PowerPoint files. PowerPoint embeds the video into the .ppt file and it take up more room a youth worker's computer.
• Please make sure that the video is not copyrighted.
• Avoid spaces in filenames
• Uppercase each new word for separation (ex: MyAwesomeVideoTitle.mp4)

*Please follow the same Folder Structure Guidelines as slide-driven games. You do not need to include a PowerPoint file as it will increase the file size significantly and slow the user’s download time. Please be sure to include screenshots for the thumbnail and preview images.

Additional Guidelines for Idea-Driven Games: 

Sometimes a simple idea can go a long way. If you have a great idea for an event, group game, or experience, please follow these notes to ensure that it’s something other youth workers can use in their ministry.

1. Include a detailed Word document

As you prepare these games for submission, be sure to look at it through the lens of someone who’s not played before--write clear instructions and include a supply list. The more detail you give, the easier it will be for a youth worker to execute.

2. Link to resources

Some ideas require props, materials, outside apps, etc. Always include links to the necessary resources. If you’d like, create an Amazon Shopping List and include the link with your submission, it’ll make playing your game that much easier!

Special Note about Amazon Lists: Use an Amazon Idea List rather than a Wish List or Registry. If you use a Wish List or Registry, when someone buys off the list, it removes items from the public list because it’s been purchased. Later customers will see no items in the file! Yikes. 

3. Include photos

“A picture is worth a thousand words” is a popular phrase for a reason. Sometimes, a written description just isn’t as helpful as a photo. If you created a unique way to play your game, take a picture of the set-up and include it with your Word document.

4. Include graphics and/or videos

If you have supporting graphics or videos, please include them in your submission. Even something as simple as a title slide makes the game far more valuable.

5. Scale when possible

Some youth groups have 10 kids, others have 400. If “Blindfolded Crowbar Toss” game needed 15 crowbars for your 100-person group, make a note that smaller youth groups can get away with 8 crowbars.

Types of Games in the DYM Store:

Brainstorming new and creative games to submit to the DYM Store?! We have an extensive library of games that can be categorized into 6 main types: 

Slide-Driven Game ($4) A slide-driven game contains graphics that can be easily thrown into presentation software and clicked through as you would message slides. (Example: 50/50)

Slide-Driven Game with Video Intro ($6) This is the same as a slide-driven game, but with an additional intro video. (Example: Color Chaos)

Video-Driven Game ($6-8) Video-driven games play like slide-driven games, but use video clips instead of graphic slides. (Example: Facebook Hack)

Idea-Driven Game ($4) Idea-driven games are most commonly instructions, supplies lists, graphics. (Example: 20 Toothbrush Games)

Sidekick files ($4) Sidekick files are the easiest way to create beautiful, customizable games in minutes! CLICK HERE to find details on how to submit a sidekick file.

Once you’re ready, compress your files using a .zip file (or share them with us using a Dropbox link) and submit it here!

If you have any questions, please contact us at support@downloadyouthministry.com

Thank you so much for partnering with DYM to help Youth Workers like you win!

The DYM Team