The fourth 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”. A large percentage of visual novels do tend to feature such content, and it’s fine if participants release an updated version with it after the jam. Just be sure to exclude it from the submitted build and everything will be fine; if you remember to tag appropriately, anyway: violence, substance abuse, mature themes, etc. If not for the sake of those who end up playing your creation, then in order to avoid potential trouble during judging.
There are other rules too, so do check out the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2022 website. Would be a shame to spend a full month only to have your project invalidated for Spooktober Visual Novel Jam 2022 because of a rule slip-up.
That said, how about some cash prices? Should probably have opened with that to really get everyone’s attention. Anyway, dates first: jam ends September 30th and judging ends October 28th.
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
Creator based criteria:
- Best Voice Performance (In-Submission Only): $100 USD Prize
That just leaves two things – the Discord link and a shoutout to the fantastic sponsors: Ratalaika Games, Naninovel, Penguin Pop, CELSYS, Esoteric Software, and Very Ok Vinyl.
