WELCOME to the DECKER VN JAM!!!!

(5/1/25: RULES ON PROHIBITED CONTENT HAVE BEEN UPDATED, SEE BELOW)

This jam is an incredibly casual one, simply made for the sake of motivating each other to make things, as well as gathering all of said things into one place where we can all share our work with each other and hype each other up.

You can download Decker for free (or for however much you want to pay for it) here. It's a compact yet super versatile and accessible creative software based primarily on the old Macintosh application HyperCard, and allows works to be exported as .html files to be played in-browser. It even comes with some tools made to assist in the creation of ADV style visual novels using the software, such as its "Dialog" and "Puppet" modules (check out the relevant decks in the Examples folder after downloading for more info on these.) However, whether or not you choose to use these tools in your entry is up to you.

Here are some examples of VNs made with the engine: 1 2 3 4 5

While this jam is not TECHNICALLY ranked, I will be making an unordered list of my 5 personal favorite entries (and short reviews of them) to put on the front page of the jam within a few days of its conclusion. 
* Late entries and NSFW entries will not be featured on this list. Additionally, if you'd rather not be potentially featured on the front page, you will have the option to privately opt-out when submitting your entry.

RULES

(UPDATED 5/1/25)

• Your entry must be made in Decker (obviously!!!): You can use whatever other tools you want to assist in the creation of your entry, but the final product must have been assembled in Decker exclusively, and must be playable in-browser.

• whatever other tools except for GENERATIVE AI!! NO GENERATIVE AI!!!!!!! I WANT TO SEE YOUR HUMANITY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

• Your entry must be a VISUAL NOVEL!!!: Decker is a very versatile software that allows for the creation of all sorts of things, including other types of games that are way more complex than visual novels. However, we're keeping it really simple here. You are free to get as creative with the presentation as you want, but a written narrative MUST be the central focus of your entry, and there MUST be at least SOME visuals presented alongside the text (doesn't necessarily have to be character visuals; you could even just use some accentuating photographs, for example.) Any "gameplay" that your entry DOES contain should be able to be performed exclusively using the mouse (although minimal text entry for simple interactive elements, e.g. name entry, is also allowed.)

• Your entry must have been made within the time period of the jam!!!: Sort of. You're allowed to start planning things out before the jam starts if you want, but please don't start working on your entry until the jam has officially begun. 

• Late submissions are allowed up to one week after the jam ends!!!: Only if you were already entered into the jam beforehand, of course.

• "What kinds of things can I submit???": This jam has no theme. NSFW/sensitive content is allowed, but it must be preceded with proper content warnings, and the thumbnail artwork of your game (what people see before they click on it) must be SFW. Submissions that are clearly trying to be offensive just for the sake of offense are also not allowed (especially if they do not fit within the itch.io content guidelines.) If you're really gonna be THAT edgy, then you'd better have something of substance to say with it. There are also no requirements or expectations regarding length or complexity. However, Decker might not be able to handle projects that are too ambitiously long, so be sure to take that into account before starting.

• Feel free to ask if you have any other questions :) although if you have decker-related coding questions. um. unless they are SUPER basic I Cannot Help You. Sorry. I just put down text boxes and draw pictures. But there are other people you can ask in the Decker community forum