"If you're not careful and you noclip out of reality in the wrong areas, you'll end up in the Backrooms, where it's nothing but the stink of old moist carpet, the madness of mono-yellow, the endless background noise of fluorescent lights at maximum hum-buzz, and approximately six hundred million square miles of randomly segmented empty rooms to be trapped in
God save you if you hear something wandering around nearby, because it sure as hell has heard you"
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I'm a huge fan of liminal spaces. I can't get enough of them.
My fascination with the blend of horror and architecture started when I watched Markiplier play Kitty Horrorshow’s Anatomy and worsened when I read Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves. The Covid-era surge of interest in liminal spaces and the Backrooms carried that fascination into my adult years, and with the release of A24’s Backrooms, I felt inspired to craft my own interpretation.
I also felt the need to call upon other likeminded people to contribute their own versions! Leading us to here, now, with you reading this prologue. Hi!
The Backrooms Jam is exactly as it says on the tin. A comfortable, non-competitive way to put your own twist on the creepypasta. Whether you're a fan of the Wikidot, Kane Pixel's Youtube series, the original post, or something else.. you're very welcome to contribute! How you do it is up to you. Whether you want to make an interactive zine or a walking simulator, it doesn't matter. Get weird.
THIS IS MY FIRST GAME JAM. Go easy on me. I'm not going to babysit everyone on a discord server, okay? I have other responsibilities.
No voting, no strict time limits. Start working on it now, I don't care. Halloween is my favorite holiday, so I figured having the submission period end at the turn of that day is appropriate. You won't have to worry about being ranked either, as I think this should be more of a collab than a contest. Feel free to submit an old project as well, if that suits you better.
Teams are allowed! Any size, just try not to bring in a whole ass indie studio.
Make it your Backrooms. The original picture / pasta is a classic and you are absolutely good to use it as a basis for what your Backrooms could be. However, you could also just as well stumble into a McDonald's indoor playground that happens to go on forever; or even a church with a hidden wing that stretches into an impossible space. A game that goes far beyond the bounds of its perceived limits. A labyrinthine website. It doesn't even have to be endless; it can be finite too. This was the original intent with the creation of the jam, seeing what people would come up with when given the prompt of "make an original Backrooms take". Do whatever! You are your own architect.
Try to be original. You can echo your inspirations, use existing elements or free assets, reference (or even parody) other works, even set your story in an existing fictional universe- but please refrain from plagiarizing others or being boring. Tell us a new story! Mix it up!
It doesn't have to be a game. Like I said, if you wanted to get weird and experimental and wanted to make a board game or a zine or an album or something- go right ahead.
It doesn't have to be scary. Backrooms as a concept can be / is scary, but don't limit yourself to the horror genre. If you want to make it chill and dreamy, go right ahead. No dialogue exploration experience? Absolutely, count me in. 80's B-movie gory splat fest? Do it. We want variety, people!
Gore, sensitive topics, flashing lights, and loud sounds must be disclosed if present. Either on your submission page or in your game. Just so that we know what we're in for.
No porn or trolls. Parody, joke submissions are acceptable, but I reserve the right to remove your submission if I find it obnoxious. Also, this jam is 18+ focused, but we are more focused on traversing these spaces than boobs.
No generative AI. If I see any generated text or AI art; you're freaking done buddy.
Most importantly, have fun! Or else.
Not sure where to start for inspiration? Look here!
If you have any questions or problems, contact me on Discord: hippie6x3
or just direct message me here on itch. I'll get back to you.
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