Ah, the Magical Girl genre. Lengthy transformation sequences, cute outfits, lots of magic, and girls kicking you-know-what in the neverending fight against evil. At least, that’s what I’ve encountered so far across anime, manga, and various fan creations. This brings me to Magical Girl Game Jam #5, which is right around the corner, meaning the time to make a game featuring at least one Magical Girl character is almost upon us! Are you ready?
So, first up, rules! Wait, no. Themes. Yes, plural, and… wait, no. Genre Mashups? Okay then. Well, simply put, you’re required to pick something from both A and B and incorporate both into your game. An interesting twist on the old game jam ‘theme’ thing, I must say.
| A | B |
| Shoot ’em up | Rhythm |
| Platformer* | Card*** |
| Turn-based** | Ren’ai**** |
| Tower Defense | Beat ’em up |
Now, as far as the rules go… let’s see. Ah yes, unfinished games are allowed, submissions must be free to play, and no pornographic materials. Those are simply a few hand-picked highlights, however, so as always, be sure to hit the jam page for the full rundown. Would be a shame if you spent so much time working on something, only to have it disqualified from Magical Girl Game Jam #5, after all.
“But when?”, you ask. Yeah, about that. Who knows? Right. Just kidding. Obviously. From February 13, 2022, until March 15, 2022, there shall be magical girl game jamming, right here, and apparently again this August (yay!). So I’m gonna wrap this up now with a quote from the Magical Girl Game Jam #5 page on what qualifies as a Magical Girl: “the Magical Girl genre, or Mahō Shōjo (魔法少女) in Japanese, is a genre about cute girls having cute magical powers“. Of course, there is much more to it than that… but this should help you get started, at least. All that said, don’t forget to make use of #MGGJ and #MGGJ5 if you tweet about the jam. Best of luck, and don’t forget: have fun.
Oh, speaking of Twitter: thanks to ShibeyFaceGames for reminding me (and everyone else) that #MGGJ5 is approaching!
(Screenshot source: At The Break Of Dawn (Magical Girl Game Jam #4 submission))
