🏆 WINNERS ANNOUNCED!
1) Escape Protocol — $5,000 (Condorcet winner) Super Creative! We felt so immersed playing this.
2) Watch This, Chat — $2,000 Trying to convince strangers to get in your car is hard. Trying to convince AI, even harder and very, very weird!
3) Social Valley — $1,000 This brings a whole new dimension to Stardew Valley! Now we really get to know the NPCs well!
4) Almost Somewhere — $500 Very creative…and creepy! Great immersive experience and we loved the asthetics!
5) Your Honor, WTF?! — $500 Super bizarre and weird. This is a great way to settle arguments IRL!
6) Player2 NPC — $250 Who doesn’t love bossing NPCs around in Minecraft!
7) Valhart — $250 This feels like Hogwarts all over the place! Get that AI to teach you some spells. Ya gotta find her first!!
8) Village Builder AI — $250 Fun grindy game with NPCs that have weird personalities. The NPCs think they help, but do they really???
9) Murder Tavern — $250 Chaotic fun—AI patrons gossip, scheme, and turn every bar brawl into wild, emergent stories!
10) Silent Therapy — $250 Try and help this guy? It takes a lot of effort and deduction to figure out exactly what he needs!
You can find All Top 10 entries in the Player2 App and play them now. Congratulations!
🎖️ Special Mentions — $50 each (encouragement)
These awards go to games with big potential or standout creativity that could shine with more polish, or missed the top 10 only marginally. Consider this both encouragement and a vote of confidence.
- Vampire Cafe! — Awesome twist on a great genre! This was fun!!
- Cursed Diamonds — This is an AI mystery at its finest! You really WANT to help her out, but can you, really?
- Deltarune AI — Crazy personalities in Deltarune! Who’d have thought that’s what they were thinking??
- Sticky Situation: Werewolf in the Basement — The AI’s in this “multiplayer” deduction/werewolf game were very sneaky…and mean!
- The Last Fortress — Love the look and feel of this. It gets pretty deep with AI in SPAAAAAAAACE!
- McGibble — I love this so much! This game is so weird. You will remember this for quite a while!
- Reign or Ruin — Definitely don’t tick off the villagers in this one! They will destroy you!!
- Introvertigo — 1st level - politely get out of a conversation with another guy in a men’s bathroom…. Is there another game that does this? I think NOT!
- SchoolCheater — A game about cheating at school and not getting caught. Don’t try this IRL! It’s actually kinda hard….the game, I mean.
- InnerLife - AI-Powered Life Simulator — An uncanny life sim where your AI generates your life events.
Largest Cash Prize ($10k) on Itch Right now.
THEME : Beyond AI Gimmick
Scroll down for more info about the theme!
Welcome to the Player 2 AI NPC Jam: Bring your NPCs to life!
This is a global game jam inviting developers to build AI-powered characters in any game engine using the free Player2 API. Your challenge is to integrate Player2 tools to create NPCs that think, react and adapt in engaging and innovative ways. All submissions must leverage the free Player2 API to drive NPC behavior.
Requirements:
- Join our Discord and make sure to click the "I am in an official Player2 Game Jam." button to get your role.
- Use any game engine of your choice.
- Integrate the free Player2 API for all NPC intelligence.
- Submit a playable demo or download link by the deadline.
Prizes:
- First place – $5000
- Second place - $2000
- Third place - $1000
- Fourth - Fifth place - $500
- Sixth - Tenth place - $250
- The top ten entries will be featured in the Player2 App.
Join us to prototype the future of intelligent characters and showcase your creativity – let’s bring NPCs to life!
Theme: Beyond AI Gimmick
At its heart, Beyond AI Gimmick challenges you to weave AI-powered NPCs into the very fabric of your game’s systems, narrative, and player experience, rather than treating them as flashy stand-alone features. We want AI characters that…
- React and evolve with game state, player choices, and world events
- Enhance core mechanics, from combat and puzzles to exploration and social systems
- Contribute to emergent moments, leaving players with unpredictable, memorable stories
We want intelligent NPCs that feel rooted in your game’s logic and lore, shaping and shaped by everything else going on.
Inspiration & Example Categories
Feel free to draw on these broad ideas—or invent your own twist—to explore how AI NPCs can truly belong:
- AI Mods for Classics Retrofit popular games (Clair_Obscur_Expedition_33, Undertale, Terraria, GMod, Lethal Company, etc.) with smart companions or adversaries that respect—and expand—the original mechanics.
- Co-op & Party Experiences Play with friends alongside an AI narrator or storyteller who dynamically injects plot beats (à la Death by AI or PEAK) and adapts to your group’s playstyle.
- Original Worlds Build entirely new settings where AI characters hold jobs, relationships, or agendas that intersect with player goals—creating social ecosystems you’d never predict.
- Desktop AI Assistants
Turn your desktop into part of the game:
- Build your own “Neuro Sama.” A personal AI companion that learns your habits, offers tips or challenges based on your playstyle, and even chats outside the game window.
- Make “Bengo Cat” truly come alive. Transform a cute on-screen pet into an intelligent feline NPC—reacting to your achievements, offering hints with purrs and meows, or changing its mood based on events.
Judging Criteria
We’ll be looking for entries that:
- Integrate AI as a pillar, not an ornament—NPCs should drive or deeply influence your core gameplay loop.
- Demonstrate clear guardrails, using LLMs or other AI tools as the “cherry on top” of solid systems (situational logic, memory management, deterministic behaviors).
- Push boundaries of creativity, whether through emergent narratives, surprising interactions, or novel UI/UX approaches.
- Maintain polish & stability—AI features should feel smooth and reliable, with fallback behaviors when LLM calls fail or misinterpret.
Technical & Design Reminders
Don’t rely on LLMs alone. Use them to augment your NPCs’ dialogue, memory, or decision-making—but underpin everything with explicit game logic and consistent state.
Rules:
- Be respectful and supportive.
- Follow itch.io’s terms of service.
- Build your game in any engine you choose.
- Your game must integrate the free Player2 API for NPC behavior.
- Provide a playable demo or download link by the deadline.
- Communicate with your team if you have to step away from the jam.
- Compete fairly—no sabotage or harassment.
- AI-generated art and assets are permitted.
- Use only assets with appropriate commercial licenses and honor their terms.
- No pornographic content or drug references. (If you won't show it to co-workers, parents, or little sister, don't make it here.)
Need some inspiration on what to make? We've got you covered. Check out the link below!
How to build AI NPCs with Player2 API
- For low-code experiences, check out the following tools
- Our low-code AI NPC endpoint
- Our Unity AI NPC engine
- Our GoDot AI NPC plugin
- If you would like to use LLM/TTS/STT directly, this link will give you all the info you need to integrate Player2's low level APIs.
Voting Criteria:
Our judging panel will evaluate each entry using these five categories. Think of them as friendly guidelines—build the best game you can without overthinking it.
NPC AI integration:
How seamlessly does your game leverage the Player2 API?
Do your NPCs behave, react and adapt in engaging and intelligent ways?
Is AI driving the core gameplay rather than feeling tacked on?
Gameplay and stability:
Is your build smooth, responsive and free of major bugs?
Do core systems feel polished and intuitive?
Does the game simply “just work” when it’s played?
Creativity and innovation:
Did you introduce fresh mechanics, narrative twists or unexpected AI uses that surprise and delight?
Does your entry push boundaries instead of rehashing familiar ideas?
Visual and audio design:
Do your art style and soundscape strengthen the overall experience?
Judges’ spotlight:
Each judge can single out a personal favorite.
Recognizes standout charm, emotional resonance or special x-factor moments.
These categories are here to guide you, not to box you in. Focus on making something you’re proud of, and let the AI magic shine!
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