Before you stands a bare, new life. By what amniotic force was it wrought at the thickening wheels of creation? Love? Hubris? Ambition? Whimsy? It slouches forth from the caves as Jeweled Dusk slides into inky darkness, originary puppet-strings tangling amidst the salt and chrome. History's fuzzy wave crashes over it in the psychic sea, and you name it: monster.

Monster Mash-Up Released!

We have assembled a mash-up mod pack of all submissions! Thanks to everyone who participated!

— The mod jam organizers

Imbue a hideous specimen with life

Join us this Halloween for a 72-hour modding jam for Caves of Qud, everyone's favorite indie science-fantasy roguelike RPG! Challenge yourself to distill Qud's beautiful monstrosity into a creature of your own making, and add it to the game.

Submissions

This jam is unranked. If you choose a public domain license when submitting your entry, we will consider it for inclusion in a compilation modpack to be released after the jam that will be linked on this page. You'll need to edit XML text files and PNG sprites, though no programming is required. Please do not submit C# files in your mod. Work by yourself or with friends! More info about submitting your mod is available on the submission page.

Resources

See the Modding section on the Caves of Qud Wiki for information on what programs you need, required file structures and locations, links to example mods, and tutorials for creating your monster, giving it items and dialogue, adding it to the world, and so on.

Want to ask a technical question or chat with other participants to get the juices flowing? Hit up the Kitfox Games Discord, the Caves of Qud Discord, or the jam's message board on the Community tab up above.

Frequently(?) Asked Questions

When do I work on the mod?

We encourage you to work on physically creating your mod (e.g. writing the data files) during the 72 hours when submissions are open—that is, from October 27th 2023 at 10:00 PM UTC to October 30th 2023 at 10:00 PM UTC. Conceptualizing outside of this time is allowed.

If you have never modded Caves of Qud before, consider going through the steps of creating a mod to get acquainted with the tools and concepts. The wiki's Snapjaw Mages tutorial is a good start.

How do I ensure my mod is considered for the jam pack?

In order to be considered for the jam pack, the mod must contain only data files (see question below) and be released under Creative Commons Zero (there will be a toggle on the submission page).

Can I write my mod for the Creatures of the 7th Plague Beta?

In absence of a solidified public timeline for the merger of the beta into stable, we ask that you write your mod for the stable version of the game (2.0.204.X). Data mods are generally stable across versions, but we encourage you to test your mod on the beta version as well, and to reach out or file a bug report if it does not transition well.

What counts as a data file?

In short, everything but C# counts as a data file. This includes XML files, JSON files, RPM (map) files, images, and music.

May I include more than one monster?

You may create anything that you feel aligns with the theme, but keep in mind that the jam only lasts for 3 days.

Live and drink, traveler.

Organized by the Caves of Qud Discord team