What is this about?

"Branching Corpses" is a collaborative exquisite corpse of games. Each game has a minimal amount of 2 endings, and as a gamedev you can pick any unfinished ending and add your own game  to continue the storyline. That game will have multiple endings itself, which will create an ever-expanding tree of games (also called "corpses"). The goal of this jam is to get people together to add even more chaos to this on-going story.

Rating:

Your entries will be rated over 4 categories:

• Coherence (does your corpse link well with the rest of the storyline and the other corpses?)
• Stability (does your game run smoothly/without crashing (very important since browser games have low performance)
• Innovation (does your corpse do anything unexpected/uncommon?)
• Emotion (does your corpse cause the player to have powerful emotions while playing?)

Every entrant will be eligible to prizes!

Prizes to be split between participants:

• 1 steam key for Over My Dead Body (For You) ,
•  2 steam keys for Super Phantom Cat , 
• 1 steam key for Sirius: Age of the Free Agents 
• 1 steam key for Astral Traveler.

This all starts with a duel between the Monster King and the Hero of the Legend, pictured above.

To start your journey, consider playing the first game here: https://adriendittrick.itch.io/branching-corpses

The rules:

• Each game must be browser-based for easy navigation between games with URLs.
• Window size must be 1024x576, but actual resolution can be whatever you want (for instance 512x288 for a more retro feel)
• Each game follows one of the endings of a previous game and continues the timeline from there.
• The minimal amount of endings is 2: "the player wins" or "the player loses", you are free to add more endings if you see fit.
• Everything that happened in the previous games of your timeline MUST be respected. Do not retcon anything in your timeline.
• List all endings on the game's description page and link to the next games in the series if asked to.
• Link to the previous game in your game's description page.
• Make the source code and ressources of your game available (typically by uploading a zip file of your projet folder)

General guidelines:

• Joining our discord server helps so you can get more information and ressources: discord.gg/ggqZ2c4 
• Don't spend too much time on a game. Ideally each game should be published after 2 or 3 days in an MVP form (Minimal Viable Product) then polished / improved during the rest of the jam time.
• Ask on discord if you have any questions about timeline continuity.
• Mouse-only games are recommended but you can also add keyboard inputs. If you do, make sure to multiply inputs (a.k.a: arrow keys do the same thing as WASD an ZQSD for european keyboards) avoid controllers at all costs, because not everyone owns one.
• Try to leave obscure elements in your endings. This has two advantages: it serves as a cliffhanger to get players more invested, and it allows more freedom for other devs.
• Consider using the ressources that are already available from other games to speed up development.

The flowchart:

This will be updated as entries are added. Jam entries will appear in yellow, and depending on the number of entrants we may have multiple entrants working on the same slot, in which case we will figure out splitting solutions.

Partners:

ComputerFiguur is helping with the social media exposure for this jam. Join their dev/creator server CFN Gaming

Over my Dead Body (For You) is a game where you play as a Ghost and a Zombie at the same time! Solve puzzles by working together. A steam key for this game will be gifted to the winner of the jam, but you can also check their page here to purchase it on steam!

Super Phantom Cat is a retro platformer in which you explore quirky environments, clear colorful levels, solve the mysteries shrouding the Phantom world and rescue your kidnapped little sister! Two steam keys for this game will be gifted at the end of the jam: one for first place and one for second place. You can also check their steam page here.

Sirius: Age of the Free Agents is a story-driven Twitch Integrated Space Shooter. Blast your way through hordes of enemies, collect upgrades, advance your ship, discover the beackground stories... or fight more and get tackled by more and more user-events on your stream! Visit its steam page here.

Astral Traveler lets you blaze your way through 47 challenging tracks as you dodge obstacles at breakneck speeds, shooting down the enemy raiders blocking your path and phasing through pulsars for an extra burst of speed. Play it here.