The third annual Spooktober Visual Novel Jam, a visual novel game jam/competition, is (more or less) right around the corner, and during this… many an eerie and spine-chilling tale shall be unearthed!
Now, while this game jam isn’t the strictest in terms of rules, I can not stress the importance of one particular bit enough: “all submissions be made without explicit sexual content”. Seeing how a high percentage of visual novels tend to feature this type of content, it’s fine if participants release an updated version with it after the jam. Just exclude it from the submitted build and everything will be fine. That is if you remember to tag appropriately: violence, substance abuse, mature themes, etc. If not for the sake of those who end up playing your creation, then to avoid potential trouble during the judging. There are other rules too, so do check out the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2021 website to avoid missing anything. Would be a shame to spend an entire month on something only to have it invalidated for Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2021 because you didn’t read the rules.
All that said, how about some cash prices? Should probably have opened with that to really get everyone’s attention. Anyway, dates first: jam ends October 2nd and judging ends October 29th.
Submission based criteria:
- Judge Favorite: Receive the most votes from the judges! 1st place 50% of prize pot, 2nd place 30%, 3rd place 20%
- Itch.IO Favorite: Receive the most votes from the public!
- Best Logline: Judged to have the best log line (1-3 sentences with what your visual novel is about.)
- Best Thumbnail: Judged to have the best thumbnail in your submission!
- Best Monster/Costume
- Best Cinematography/Asset Direction: $150 USD Prize
Creator based criteria:
- Best LIVE* Performance (Recorded Streams within judging period): $100 USD Prize
- Best Voice Performance (In-Submission Only): $100 USD Prize
That just leaves two tiny tidbits – the Discord link and a shout out to the fantastic sponsors, Ratalaika Games, CELSYS, VN Game Den, Naninovel, Scrivener, Penguin Pop Games, VisuStella, and NovelKit.