The Flights of Foundry Mini Game Jam is part of the Flights of Foundry convention happening on September 27 to 29. The goal is to incentivize creativity and help people get some momentum in their game dev endeavors.

The Flights of Foundry is an annual virtual convention for speculative creators and fans hosted by Dream Foundry. The event is global, virtual, free to attend.

• Create a game based on the theme.
• Join the jam on itch.io.
• Submit your game through itch.io.

Flight

Use these to help you with ideas if you are stuck:

• Make a game where a character learns to fly.
• What would happen if a character had to perform a difficult task while flying?
• Imagine a world where everyone can fly. 
• Imagine a world where only some people can fly. 
• What are some downsides to being able to fly?

• The game should have something to do with the theme and this should be obvious, though the interpretation of the theme is free and up to you;
• The game can be digital (videogame, visual novels, etc) or physical (boardgames and ttrpgs).
• The game should be standalone, i.e. it shouldn’t be a mod or a module to an existing game.
  • Standalone means it can be played by itself without necessary knowledge or ownership of another game.
• The coding, writing and asset-gathering or asset-making should be made during the time of the jam, though brainstorming beforehand is allowed.
• The game can be made solo or in a team, just remember to discuss the terms of this collaboration with your fellow teammates to make sure everyone is on the same page.
• Assets used should be human-made and acquired through legitimate means. There are free assets made available for all kinds of games.
  • No generative AI will be accepted and use of generative AI will incur a ban of the people involved from this and any future jams and events run by this team.
• The game can be sold for profit. (We encourage this! Make money off of your work!)
  • Though we suggest that the games be made available for free to those who participate in the jam.
• If your game touches upon characters or cultures from groups you are not a part of:
• Do not use stereotypes or slurs as a description of the characters.
• Do not use your game to criticize a culture you don't belong to.
• After the jam, we suggest you find a sensitivity reader.

• Be respectful of other participants and their work.
• No sexist, racist, queerphobic, ableist, or other exclusionary behavior will be tolerated. The organizers may choose to ban people who violate this rule.
• Follow FoF’s Code of Conduct.

Try meeting these completely arbitrary goals:

• Make a game about something that should not fly.
• Include a photo of a real life bird somewhere.
• Include a dragon as a pet
• Include a dragon as a prominent character

This is the place to start! We encourage first timers who want to try their hands at making any kind of game! And there are tons of free resources you can use to get started:

• For those interested in JavaScript: Try Phaser or Sprig
• C++ or C#: Godot or Unreal Engine
• Wanna use Lua? Try LÖVE or Defold
• Interested in Visual Novels? Check out Ren’py or LightVN
• Wanna make Interactive Fiction? There is Twine and Narrat
• For TTRPGs, check out these SRDs you can use or the resources here.
• And more general resources, there are free assets here on itch and more links in this guide

Q: Can I make a…

A: Yes, if it’s a game within the rules established in this page, you are fine.

Q: I’ve been working on this game for a while, does it count?

A: Not for this jam, unfortunately. This jam is about creating a minimum viable project (MVP) in the timeframe of the jam. The game you make in this time does not need to be perfect, or even finished, it just needs to exist and be playable, but it has to have been started at the start of the jam.

Q: What systems/engines are allowed?

A: Any that you have legitimate access to.

Q: How do I submit my game?

A: By creating a project on your itch.io page and after that submitting said project to the jam page.

Q: Can I submit my game to multiple jams?

A: Absolutely! As long as the game follows the rules of both jams, we don’t see why not.

Q: Is there a prize?

A: This jam is not a competition, so there are no winners in that sense, but everyone that submits a game is a winner in the sense that they finished the jam! So we offer free access to the organizers’ backlog of games to everyone that submits a valid game!

A couple of articles on how to handle characters from another culture in a role-play scenario that is equally applicable to game design:

• “May I Play A Character From Another Race?” by James Mendez Hodes (on race issues)
• A reply to "Tips and thought leadership on playing other ethnicities/genders/minorities" by Diana Moon
• Best Practices For Historical Gaming by James Mendez Hodes (on history and religion)

• Dream Foundry is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit dedicated to supporting creatives as they launch professional careers in the speculative arts
• May Barros is a demiaroace and genderqueer Brazilian writer, artist and game designer. PhD in Communication with a focus on creativity and cognition. She studied TTRPGs and fandom.
• Tenacity Plys is a writer based in Brooklyn. Xir graphic novel Sn33p's Cool Zine.pdf is out now from Fifth Wheel Press, and xir novella Family Curse is available from Bottlecap Press. Xir work has appeared in Tor's Reactor Magazine, Defunkt, and Alien Buddha.