You know when books, movies, TV shows, or games share a universe, with familiar characters and locations popping up when you least expect (e.g. Marvel Cinematic Universe, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere, etc.)? Well, we're going to try to do something like that with this jam. To qualify for this jam, all submissions must take place in the same shared universe. 

This is going to take a lot of coordination and preparation compared to typical jams. Leading up the jam period, we'll collaborate with participants to establish the universe. Then, when the jam starts, we'll all build some game that would make sense in that universe. Here's the plan:

1. Brainstorm on the jam discord. We'll discuss various ideas and get a sense of the kinds of settings participants would prefer.
2. Vote on the main ideas. Medieval fantasy? Sci-fi dystopia? What's the name of the major city? We'll bring our brainstorming ideas to a vote. The results will become the foundation of our shared narrative. There may be multiple voting sessions as needed, so stay up to date on Discord.
3. Add to the wiki. I'll set up a fandom wiki for the crossover jam universe (with whatever name we decide) and fill in the main ideas. Then I'll leave it to all of you to submit edits to flesh out the details. If at this time you get an idea for your game, but the idea may impact the rest of the universe, please document it on the wiki so others know what's up.
4. Review the wiki. To prepare for the jam, check out the edits others have submitted to the wiki. This could give you some great ideas for references to include in your own game.
5. Make the game. In 2 weeks, make a small game that adds to the lore of our shared universe in some way. We encourage you to share your progress with others early on, and even coordinate more directly to add more references to each other's games.
6. Submit and judge. After you have submitted your game, be sure to check out the other submissions. There is a judging period, but there aren't really any prizes, so no need to take it too seriously as a competition. The judging criteria will be on overall quality and how well it fits into the crossover universe.

You can join the discord server here: https://discord.gg/m4CWakb6rt. Actually, I very strongly encourage you to join us on discord, because we'll do most of our collaboration there.

The Shared Universe

The wiki is up: https://crossoverjam.fandom.com/wiki/Crossover_Jam_Wiki.

FAQ

What kinds of games are allowed?

Any genre is acceptable, as long as you can make it work in-universe. Just please no NSFW content (nudity, etc.). Also, keep in mind that the jam period is only two weeks, and we don't expect you go without sleep, skip work/school, or miss anything else important in your lives. You could use the whole two weeks, or throw something together in a couple hours. Just do what you can. Nobody's expecting a masterpiece in two weeks. There's also no real restriction on the length of a playthrough, but be mindful that a short jam game is more likely to be played to completion than a long game, and quality is often better than quantity.

I have an idea, but it doesn't really fit in the shared universe. Can I use it anyway?

You can certainly be creative in how you work it in. It could be a storybook that exists in-universe, or events from hundreds of years ago, or a character's dream. The important thing is that the games reference each other. Like if your game is a storybook, you need to make sure that the book shows up in someone else's game and that the book references things in others' games (ideally in fairly obvious ways, so people aren't harsh with the judging). If you are still unsure if your idea will work, you can reach out to me on Discord.

Will there be a theme?

Just fitting the game into a shared universe may be constraining enough, so there will be no additional theme.

I joined late and didn't participate in the brainstorming or submit any edits to the wiki. Can I still participate?

Absolutely! Just be sure to become familiar with the shared universe by reading pages on the wiki and being active on Discord. Also know that by coming late, you'll have less of a say in the foundational decisions.

How should I reference others' games?

It could take place in the same city, feature the same NPC, use products from the same fictional brand, etc. Be creative, and be sure to coordinate. If you are using any information from the wiki, it may be worth checking who submitted it and coordinating directly to make sure those things are represented consistently across the games. You may even consider sharing assets.

What things should I add to the wiki?

Before and during the jam period, only add things to the wiki if you are comfortable with others using it. After the jam ends, feel free to submit additional edits to existing pages with more game-specific content. A page will be created for each entry, so you can add details there as well.

Can I start working on it early?

There's more gray area here than in other jams, because we'll all be starting early, at least on the writing, with the brainstorming and wiki. But the majority of actual development should be saved for the jam period. A few art assets before the jam should be fine. In fact, it may be worth sharing some of those assets through the wiki so others have a reference. And even a bit of code before shouldn't be much of an issue. Just don't submit some project you've been working on all year that you just tweaked to fit the universe.