I think the spirit of the rules is that you should not already be making assets/code for a specific game meant for the gamejam. You could still make non-specific aspects of a game, such as setting up your own personal generic project template to use before the gamejam begins to get the busy work out of the way that doesnāt really have anything to do with the real gameplay.
What about assets like sounds, music and/or graphics? Can we use free and/or paid assets we own?
Personally I think you should be able to but if you do you should not be eligible for categories based on graphics/audio if those were ones. These donāt exist for this gamejam so thereās no real issue other than making sure you have the legal right to use whatever youāre planning to use.
Can we start drawing before the jam starts?
Again personal opinion: only for generic aspects that could be used for any kind of game such as making the assets for gamepad images. Making assets for a specific game idea would go against the spirit of the gamejam so youād have to think what would and would not be game specific. We donāt know the theme yet anyway so if you did make some assets you might have to really shoehorn them in.