I've had a lot of experience with ImpactJS and I really like it.  I did the last swjam using Impact and if you want you can view the code for that on github at https://github.com/zach-binary/sw-jam1 or play at http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/
 
I think the $99 shouldn't be a big deal if you are working for a serious company.  That's pennies compared to something like Unity3d Pro which is what a lot of studios use. 
 
There are also a lot of other javascript game frameworks, such as limejs which probably gets a lot more support than ImpactJS (I thought the same thing you were thinking but I've had to solve a lot my own problems.  Sometimes I've gotten lucky and ran into dom the creator on #impactjs in freenode though) 
 
If you want some more information on other frameworks here is a handy page that shows an implementation of breakout with each of the popular frameworks.  http://city41.github.io/breakouts/index.html.  I think you're best choices are lime, impact, or just buckling down and using Construct 2 if you aren't doing anything really fancy.

I'm on the fence about this since I just decided I want to put some more work into my last jam entry to make it multiplayer and add a story mode.  
 
If I'm feelin' up to it around December 21st, then I'll probably use HTML5/Javascript and ImpactJS.  
 
Also, if any artists/music guys want a programmer and are willing to work with me then I would def be in.  I want to work with other people with different skills than my own, and I suck at those things.  I have experience with Unity3D if that helps (no pro version though).  

this is an awesome idea.  I'll take a key.

So I haven't played A Ghost By Choice or Death By Pistol 2000 because of dll issues and being unable to download/play respectively.
 
Kissin' Wizard
 
I loved the name and it stuck to the theme real well.  The art and music instilled a sense of horror and it was great having to fend off otherworldly creatures using kisses  I always enjoy top-down Zelda-esque style games.  The game felt a bit unbalanced.  There were areas where it felt like you had to take damage in order to hit certain guys, or just wait forever for the enemy to reveal itself safely.  Also, game crashes a lot when trying to change areas.
 
Eclipse
 
Asteroids meets zombie shoot-em up.  Is there anything past level 2?  All I could think of was shooting.  these zombies were people too.  I deserve to die...
 
Lime XPress
 
The style was good (dialogue and art reminded me of earthbound) and I liked what you were going for.  Wish I could have seen more though.
 
4-Lung Boy
 
What can I say, you got freakin' fan art on tumblr for this game.  Good freakin' job!  I enjoyed it despite the fact that I am not a big fan of AGS games.  
 
Treat Fighter:  Triple Treat
 
I wish I had spent less time on the scoring stuff and more time on actual mechanics like throwing and gravity or something.  I appreciate all the comments I've gotten so far though.  Maybe one day I'll nerf the kicks.
 
Pumpkin Moonshine
 
My moonshine rating was 60.12%.  This is def one of my favorite submissions.  The difficulty was really balanced.  The bombs threw in a certain "eek" factor in that "eek I better be careful or I will die 2 floors away from the top and be upset."  The procedural level generation was really impressive (namely the lighting on the background) considering this was a 9 day competition.  The game fit the theme perfectly and I like how it was Halloween themed but not necessarily horror themed in the traditional sense (being in an active volcano would be horrifying though).  One critique I have is having to use arrow keys to play and not the option of WASD movement (although I made this same mistake in reverse as a friend of mine pointed out).
 
I liked how there was an "end" you could count on after clearing 20 floors.  I wish I had done something like that with Treat Fighter.
 
Puzzle Dream
 
Props to being the only puzzle game entry for this jam.  I wish the skulls had bigger hitboxes, and (as a player) I didn't see the point in labeling the skulls at the end (although I'm sure it had something to do with calculating whether or not the shape was correct).  I did 6 levels.  
 
Cactus City Road
 
This game was as terrifying as it was frustrating.  I don't know if I would have made everything pitch black, rather a dark overlay that lets you see the environment somewhat while still hiding ghost guys and gas tanks.  I also found it frustrating that the light was tied to the mouse which wasn't tied to game while it was running, so your flashlight would move as you moved if you left the mouse still.  Furthest I got was 2 gas tanks and that was by spinning the mouse around in circles around the guy.
 
Mystery Channel
 
This was another favorite.  Despite the mechanics being somewhat superficial, the mood was something glorious that I don't think has been captured by anything else I've played.  Other people have done a much better job describing how they enjoyed the dialogue and I won't embarrass myself trying to say anything about it besides the fact that I got a kick out of what was being said in the little mini games.  
 
Witch King of Decadencia
 
The mood and story were really unique and fit the theme really well.  I felt the game was implemented real well and I liked how you used page scrolling to through a twist in mechanically when you talk to the old man.  I got ending 1, 2, 6, 10 and 11.  
 
My top 3 are:
 
1. Pumpkin Moonshine (#1 fav)
2. Mystery Channel
3. 4-Lung Boy
 

I would say I love everything about it but I didn't see it all because I got stuck

I dunno anyone who can talk about game play and game design and consistently keep it as entertaining as you do! 
 
I love the helpless/hopeless narration of events transpiring regardless of player input, and the congregation of characters abruptly placed under player control as the games go from screen to screen. so far I've played this and 4-lung boy. 4-lung blew me away wrt it being a jam game, but this bma wrt it being kind of the ideal jam game, how it engagingly an unconventionally explores a theme...but I'm ruining your entire thread. really good submission!

 
pretty much agree with all of this.  I still need to check out 4-lung boy but mystery channel is my favorite entry so far.

i'm glad someone got the triple crown thing, I was worried it would go over everyone's head.
 
I think brawlers/beat'em ups can become very technical with some work since they are basically like fighting games.  It would be cool if you had like, a dash and the ability to cancel a punch into a dash, into a kick back into a dash and etc.  Before any of that though the enemies need new patterns, I def agree with that.
 
also some music would be nice too, if I only I had any musical talent

hello and welcome to
 
treat fighter
 
a game where button mashing not only works, but is encouraged!  This topic is dedicated to my jam entry from last week which I kind of want to work on more but will have to take a backseat for a few weeks at least as I have to catch up on other projects.  
 
Here's some screens:
 
 
some things I want to do are:
 

• story mode vs the arcade style survival mode
• physics, I want frankenstein to be able to throw people
• weapons and more attacks in general
• I really wanted to have like a troubadours music shop or something in the background along with other things to pay homage to many past cool gamingw/saltw events and groups.

the game can be played here: http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/
 
itch.io page: http://ren.itch.io/treat-fighter-triple-treat
 
I recently made a few balance adjustments and some fixes, hopefully now it's a little harder to just stay up against the wall.
 
Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

i'm dumb, and didn't see the "Submit Your Game" button.  I see a lot of entries that aren't on that page though.  

Yeah I submitted just last night! I was just wondering about the voting and the playing.
Is there anywhere to go to play what was submitted or is it just what people post here?
 
MaD I played Treat Fight. Quite fun. I know it's a hasty project so you didn't have time to balance the game (after playing my submitted version I realized it's far far far too difficult) but it does seem that the kick is far better than the punch. I also think the high score table isn't working. Just in case you want to polish the game!
 
I know I will!
Best of luck for all

 
Thanks for the feedback.  The kicks do more damage but you get a higher score if you combo punches into kicks, that was the idea anyway.  I may add more recovery to the kicks so they are riskier.
 
There's a couple of small fixes I wanna make, I take that's okay to do now, despite the timeline being over with?
 
Also, for entries to submit, how do we get our games to show up on http://itch.io/jam/saltw ?  I think that would be a great gathering place for entries, but only a few are showing on that page.  Do they require a specific tag?

fucked up time zones + missed date, but please play my game anyway!!
 
http://gods17.itch.io/kissin-wizard

 
you're game may be marked as private (default option).  That page is goes to a 404.

btw there was a lot more I wanted to do with Treat Fighter, namely
 
Throwing (you play as frankenstein, he should be able to pick people up over his head and then set them down (over the edge of a tower))
Music.. I lost a good 4-5 hours total on this before I decided to give up on it.  The game is survival/arcade based right now anyway so any one theme would probably get annoying.
Weapons, would be nice to be able to do more than punch and kick
Make the stage look better/more stages, I kind of threw together what is there now in the first few days of the compo and never got back to it.  I actually wanted a little Troubadours music shop in the background.
Boss fight, this was at the end of my stretch items list since i'm not sure when it should occur
 
and probably more I just didn't think of just now.

Just finished thecatamites entry and I was pretty blown away.  Utilized the halloween them perfectly while overall just very interesting.  

http://ren.itch.io/treat-fighter-triple-treat
 
right on time!

Beware...
 

I've been working on AI, some UI and other elements.  Got a life bar, a combo counter (although you can only throw three consecutive punches and that's it).  Added a a temporary speed boost you can use which was part of the original design, but I need to give him a new animation for it since just limping faster isn't very exciting.  As usual, you can play the latest build here: http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/
 
Here's a screenshot
 

Got some basic AI working.  Currently it's hard because the enemies can attack just as fast as the player can and have the same range, have to figure out how to handle trades or make the thugs slower.  I know adding combos and pushback would help here which may be the next thing after a health bar.
 
I've yet to clear all the thugs myself.
 
http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/

 
got punching working!  you can hit guys here http://saltw-jam1.herokuapp.com/  

wow, that looks really nice so far Pilsen.

got a thug sprite made tonight, and made a punch animation but wasn't able to get it to animate tonight for some reason.  Better luck tomorrow I hope.