This jam is now over. It ran from 2025-04-10 14:50:46 to 2025-04-24 14:50:50. View results

Welcome to the very first Emotionally Loaded Jam! 

the cold spring has just begun, so what could be better than staying in and making an emotionally expressive game? <3 

the spirit of this jam is to express an emotion through ANY game mechanic -- dialog, colors, sound design, whatever your heart tells you ðŸŒ¼


THEME 

Primary Theme : 

~ Emotional Expression ~

the spirit of this jam is to express an emotion through ANY game mechanic -- dialog, colors, sound design, whatever your heart tells you. 

the secondary theme for this jam is ~ Graveyard  ~

Emotional expression is the primary focus for this jam, you can include as much or as little of the secondary theme as you like! Your rating will not be impacted if you don’t have a super obvious graveyard-setting for example :3 

DISCORD

feel free to join the discord here to find / gather team members or just hang out!  


RULES + GUIDELINES

- no use of AI tools 

- no NSFW/gore content 

- you can use whatever software you like 

- you may work alone or assemble a team of many

- use of external assets is allowed but strongly discouraged; take extra care to credit assets not made by you/your team 

- you have 2 weeks to create and submit your emotional game ! [submissions are open 4/10, 16:50 to 4/24, 16:50]

- be kind ðŸŒ¼


RATING CATEGORIES

Your game will be judged in the following areas by your peers and players: 

* Emotional Response from Player: Did this game delight or drown you? Was it intense, maybe accurately tranquil? 

* Conveyal of Emotion: Can you identify what the ludonarrative is trying to express? Can you easily see what emotion the developer(s) were trying to depict?

* Technical Quality of Gameplay: Did the game perform well? How impressed were you with the overall craftmanship? Coding, composition, animation, movement, GUI and such fall into this category.

* Writing: How would you rate the writing of the game? Dialog, plot and such-- 

* Art and Visuals: What did you think of the art? 

* Sound Design: How would you rate the music and sound effects? 


PRIZE

- the host will buy the winner a coffee! I will reach out to the highest rated game and arrange to get you a coffee or equivalent beverage of choice once rating closes :3 




Submissions(16)

All submissions
·
Browser playable (11)
·
Windows (10)
macOS (2)
Linux (3)

No submissions match your filter

A meaningful lie. An end to a world.
A woman wearing a floral dress on the balcony amidst the heavy rain. Who is she?
Role Playing
Play in browser
Healing by loving
Play in browser
A game poem on hugging and holding on.
Visual Novel
Play in browser
a short experimental game about you
Interactive Fiction
Play in browser
Talk and play Teeko in a short, retro visual novel
Visual Novel
Visual Novel
Play in browser
when you are well and you are happy, would you look away?
Interactive Fiction
Play in browser
A game about driving.
Racing
A graveyard of choice.
Simulation
Play in browser
Grief is a maze. Speedrun it, one thought at a time.
Visual Novel
Play in browser
Quick physics puzzle game about manipulating emotions
Puzzle
Play in browser
lost, dead ideas
Visual Novel
Play in browser
Play in browser