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It's over!! Oh my gosh. Thanks everyone who took part, it was an amazing turn out. Dozens and dozens of super cool, personal, handmade works were made! Some people made their very first games too which is rad. So, check em all out below and keep making flatgames and flat art. There'll certainly be more from me in the future. And if anyone sees this and wants to submit late, just email me at 'dreamfeelx@gmail.com' and we can add it to the collection! I know there's a couple more coming which weren't quite done on time!

Best,
- Llaura, Friday 27th January
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BREAKING NEWS Jan 5th!!

The Jam officially ends on Friday night, but we've decided to extend submissions for late entries up to Jan 26th, a full month from when we started to give more a chance to make & submit. Flatjam now runs over GGJ, so consider a dual entry!

We've been really thrilled with the reception and the entries so far, so we've decided we're going hold a showcase in Dublin on the 8th of Feb in Third Space on Aungier St. We'll share the FB event here as soon as the upcoming Kitty Horrorshow night is over! https://www.facebook.com/events/347710072276201/ Feel free to hold similar events or even jams in other places if you like. :O

Keep making cool stuff! <3 - Llaura Ash
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Theme:
Over the new year, spend a few hours and make a flat game/comic/story/art about a place you visited or an event/situation you experienced in 2016.

All you need to make a game and to present an idea is a couple hours, a laptop, and some markers.

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This is for everyone, whether you've made a game/comic/story/art or not before. If you've never used Unity and want to, here are some files to get you started! You will need Unity and make sure, when it asks, to install win, mac and linux installers (by default they're not selected). Also it may be worth reading through the fundamentals section on Unity. Unity can be a very complex tool, but we only need its most basic functions.
Here: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/UnityBasics.html

Flatgame Unity Template: https://t.co/VbNPgNSUYf
Just the Unity Scripts: https://t.co/KITQM14lJ8

NB: If you downloaded the project/scripts on the first day, Tuesday 27th, there is a bug that won't let you build your projects and you need to replace the ParallaxObject.cs file with this one: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/7050/Games/flat/ParallaxObject.cs Thank you!

Also, feel free to use tools other than Unity if you prefer. I would love to see comics, stories and anything else too. :)

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There are some rules to flatgames to make it easier 4 u.

1. Create works where you only control/play with movement of pieces around the screen (the player or anything else) and no further interaction, or even collisions. As little scripting as possible except movement and animation. Flat games are focused on presenting a game as the most raw and immediate combination of movement, art and sound. Place text onto the world to give characters dialogue, monologue and story.

2. Make art physically, and try to complete it in under an hour or so. Use whatever materials you want! Pens and paper, crayon, photos of toys around your house or even puppets! Give yourself a time limit. Eg, 30 minutes to draw the elements you need and 30 minutes to edit and clean up, or even alter however you want. I love boosting the saturation to gaudy levels. For animation, try to draw the same thing twice. The art can be re-purposed. Use the things you already drew in ways you didn't think of at the time! Protip, if drawing, draw on the same a3 sheet as it will limit how much drawing you do!

3. No sound effects, just a single track of ambience/music/background. A track of music/sound is a great way to add structure and a sense of progression to your flatgame. Tools like audacity can be downloaded for free.

4.n Release it! The idea is to aim to make the game in an hour or two, and to actually do it in half a day. Finishing games is its own skill and it's fun. <3 Remember most people's key impression of your game will be from your itch page, so add screenshots and give a nice description!!

(Bonus 0. Flat games should be inspired by or recreate real events and places. Feel free to exaggerate/reinterpret and fictionalize. Isle is Full of Noises started as a game about visiting an island for a holiday (inis spraoi!) when I drew the art, but when I put it into the game it became something entirely different and pulled from different memories.

Think about how you can use the 2D canvas to represent space and time. Eg, to show time passing in one location, draw the location multiple times at different times and the playing can walk between them. Space as time. art as time. time as time!)

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That's it! Break the rules if you wanna (they're there to help), but stay true to the ethos!

Examples of Flat Games:
- The Isle Is Full of Noises by me! https://dreamfeel.itch.io/the-isle
- L'Origin Du Monde by Liadh Young https://liaddh.itch.io/lorigine-du-monde-mini-game

Some (windows only) older games by thecatamites:
- Hazy Hazy Town https://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/6666
- Wrath of the Serpent https://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/6438
- Peter Pencil https://www.glorioustrainwrecks.com/node/10328

Send me more examples if you know them!

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Organizers
- llaura dreamfeel, http://twitter.com/dreamfeelx, dreamfeelx@gmail.com
- breogán hackett, http://twitter.com/bourbonbrick, boaheck.itch.io (also made the banner!)

Let's make some flat games! \:D/