A long lost hero in need of respite... a group of allies rising to take his place... last year our valiant hero Harold took some time off, making room for the Ascent of the Allies! Now, with his time away, he has recovered, rested, and grown even stronger than he was when he left! What new power has Harold acquired? And what challenges will rise to face him? Did he return because he was ready, or because he had no choice?

It's been a nice break... but he's finally back!!! Sawyer Friend, KV Kingdom, Stay Awake Games, and the RPG Maker Beta Testers Server invite you to join Harold Jam 2024: Heroic Return!

Rules:

1. Following the jam theme is optional! This year's (remember - it's optional) theme is "Heroic Return", and you can interpret that as you'd like! Was Harold gone for a training arc? A vacation? Maybe it was a symbolic leave, or maybe he never left at all, the choice is yours!
2. Required elements are non-optional. Must include the character, a line of dialog and location announced at beginning of jam (see required elements below).
   
3. No pre-existing games! Please do all your devving during the jam time. Pre-existing art work, animations, plugins, music, and other assets are permitted.
   
4. Entries must be stand-alone entries! You're allowed to make sequels and follow ups, but each entry must be playable without any pre-requisites (this is to ensure that games in the Rating Queue can all be played without issue)
5. Judging will be within 6 categories (see Judgment Categories section below).
   
6. Ratings can be done by anyone, participant or not. Invite your friends to play yours and others'!
   
7. Time limit of 45 minutes (suggested over 5 minutes for best results). Judges can play as long as they want, but should only judge the first 45 minutes of gameplay.
   
8. Collaboration is permitted (and any number of submissions is allowed).
   
9. Participants are encouraged to play and rate at least 3 other entries.
   
10. All game engines are allowed, but remember to follow the EULA for any assets you use. The jam community tab includes Harold and other Harold-related resources you can use for your project.
    
11. Custom assets are allowed, including plug-ins and art made by others as long as you credit and have the rights to use them.
    
12. It is recommended that games are playable on PC. Browser versions are also recommended as an option.
    
13. Sawyer, KV, and CW reserve the right to disqualify entries at their discretion.
    

Required Elements:

1. Character: Someone named David or Davina! They can have any design but must have that name. They must be in there, even as an NPC. Harold must also play a prominent role in your entry!

2. Line of Dialogue: "Kept you waiting, huh?" This must be spoken by a character, exactly as printed. It can be placed anywhere within a sentence.

3. Location: An island. The player must go there.

See the required elements forum post for clarification and details.

Judgment Categories:

There will be multiple separate and independent award categories. Participants can gear their game toward any award or combination of awards as they see fit. There is one overall rating, which will determine the overall winner of the jam.

 - Harold Award for Excellence: Overall Rating

 - Therese Award for Technique: Gameplay

- Marsha Award for Melodies: Music

- Oldhar Award for Literature: Story

- Hrld Award for Visual Arts: Graphics

- Lucius Award for Laughs: Comedy

Rating Queue:

We will once again be using the "Rating Queue" system first seen in 2020's GMTK! All raters will be given a random selection of three games to rate before they can rate anything else. After rating the three randomly assigned games, raters can then rate whichever games they choose.

In case of many submissions (>25) the deadline for rating may be extended accordingly.

Prizes:

Winners of each category will be determined by community voting, based on the criteria above.  $100 will go to the winner of the Harold award for excellence category, alongside a "Returning Legend" role in the server.

The original Harold graphics belong to KADOKAWA. As always, thanks to Nowis for donating the fantastic banner and character art. Give Nowis a follow on Deviant Art and Twitter as well!