The Global Game Jam has a list of diversifiers that the game jam teams can use and restrict their game with. Unlike the theme that is compulsory and will be revealed on Friday, the diversifiers are completely voluntary and are revealed beforehand. Their main purposes of the diversifiers are to offer more challenge and constraints to experienced jammers and to make it easier to sort and find different types of games afterwards. More information on the diversifiers and how they are used can be found on the GGJ site.
The diversifiers for GGJ14 have been published and are:
- Back to the 1885. The game could have been built and played in the 19th century.
- Can You Come And Play? The game has a local multi-player mode.
- Design, Create, Play. All the content in the game is procedurally created, including graphics and sound.
- Hackontroller. The game must use a custom controller invented by the team, or use an existing controller in unconventional manner.
- Homo Sapiens are Boring. The game is meant to be played by cats.
- Honor Aaron Swartz. The game only uses materials found in the public domain.
- I am who I want to be. The game has characters, but nothing in their design suggests a gender.
- Inclusive. The game is specifically designed to be accessible to one or more groups of gamers with disabilities – vision, motor, hearing or cognitive impairments.
- Rebels Learns it Better. In this educational game a hidden learning path is provided for those who oppose the given rules.
- Round and Round. Rotation is one of the primary mechanics in the game.
- The Ultimate Bechdel Test Survivor. The game survives all three conditions of the Bechdel test.
- You Only Live Thrice. The player only has 3 lives and each level starts over when you die.
- You Say it! The game utilises audio produced by the player either recording or instructing player to make sounds.