This jam is now over. It ran from 2025-08-25 13:00:00 to 2025-09-09 01:00:00. View results

Welcome to the Animatronic Nightmare Horror Game Jam from Strange Creature Games and Black Lantern Collective! The theme will be announced when the jam begins. Read below for more info about the jam and the $185 prize pool!

Prepare to manifest your darkest dreams of nostalgia…

Your job is to...

Make a horror game in 2 weeks themed around animatronic monsters and cursed, condemned establishments.

A short story to set the mood

The aroma of pepperoni and melting cheese always lured you into Poco’s Pizzeria. Today, exhaustion clung to you like a second skin after a particularly grueling day. But it was all worth it, because it’s the weekend now and your parents promised if you did well on your exams they’d take you to Poco’s.

The ball pit, a shimmering ocean of plastic orbs, beckoned. You dove in, the colorful spheres swallowing you whole. A blissful darkness descended, lulling you into a deep, dreamless sleep.

You awoke to an unnerving silence. The usual cacophony of children's laughter and the clatter of plates was gone. A thick layer of dust motes danced in the moonlight filtering through the grime-coated windows. The pizzeria was deserted, eerily still. A shiver, colder than an arctic wind snaked down your spine.

Your heart hammered a frantic rhythm against your ribs as you crept out of the ball pit, your tired legs carrying you through the deserted dining area. The air hung heavy with the tang of stale pizza and something else… something akin to decay. In the far corner, bathed in the pale glow of dimmed spot light, stood the animatronic mascots – A wicked smiling bear, an eerily jovial rabbit, and a cheesy-grinned mouse.

Driven by a morbid curiosity, you approached the trio. Upon closer inspection you notice their uncanny, wide, and unmoving grins. You lock eyes with their menacingly cold and robotic gazes. As you reach out a trembling hand to touch their eyes flicker to life and a metallic shuttering sounds through the silent pizzeria, a loud clicking sounds off abruptly as the power goes out, plunging you into absolute darkness.

The SCG (Animatronic Nightmare) Game Jam will begin on August 25th at 8 AM and will remain open to submissions until September 8thth at 8 PM. Winners will be announced 2 weeks afterwards.

(Central Standard Time)

1. Work on a game within the time constraints of the 2-week jam period and submit it to this jam and no other game jams.

2. We encourage you to use assets that you have either created yourself (or team) within the jam period or have obtained the rights to use. Assets created outside the jam must be credited on your jam entry page.

3. Do not use generative A.I. to make assets for your game. Obvious A.I. games will be disqualified.

4. Teams will be limited to no more than 4 members, and all participating members must be included on your entry page.

5. This is a horror-themed game jam, so try to make a horror game! However, please do not include any inappropriate references or overly explicit imagery in your jam entry.

6. You must be at least 18 years old in order to receive prizes.

7. No updates to your game will be allowed after the submission period is over, once voting is over though you can do whatever you'd like!

4 Winners will be chosen by a panel of unbiased judges