Welcome to Magical Girl Game Jam #9!

Let's make games about girls having magical powers to do stuffs! This is a jam celebrating the Magical Girl/Mahou Shoujo genre.

The Magical Girl Game Jam is held twice a year, during the spring break and summer break in Japan (Feb-Mar and Aug-Sept), with the length of the jam usually 30 days long. 

(This jam started informally in early 2020 with the expectation that this jam would only exist once or twice during the pandemic; but as the pandemic drags on and the community grows, it is decided that the jam is going to be held regularly twice a year.)

Discord Server

Congratulations to SkySet for winning the banner design for MGGJ9! Also thanks to all other artists who participated, including: Falass, TypeG4, AphoDev, alex_ammonit, and Polegacy! Also shout out for XCVG's unofficial submission.

Trailer of MGGJ9 made by a veteran participant of this jam: ShibeyFaceGames

Themes

The themes for MGGJ9 are taken from some chapter titles from the novel 86; shout out to Dogtopius whose suggestion got chosen:

1. I am Legion, for We are Many
2. Identification: Friend or Foe
3. Death, Be not Proud
4. Under pressure
5. Life's but a walking shadow
6. We'll meet again

Use at least one theme; you are welcome to use all six if you can though maybe it'd be a good challenge lol

I suggest to use the week before the actual jam to brainstorm; but I won't (can't) stop anyone from starting now.

Optional Challenge:

I have decided as an experiment to add optional challenges this time; something similar to Godot Wild Jam's Wildcard system. The optional challenges for MGGJ9 are:

• Senator: make a reference (e.g. quote, scene, etc.) to Senator Armstrong from MGRR; please avoid anything that can get you into copyright troubles tho.
• Elf: insert an elf character into your game.
• Horror: let the genre of your game be horror.
• Secret Speedrun Strat: add a secret way to beat your game real quick.
  
• Gacha: add a gacha mechanic into your game.

You can take one, two, all five, somewhere in between, or none of them; they are optional purely just there for you to have fun with, and does not affect your rating. Since they are absolutely optional I decided there is no need to release them late; this may or may not change in future jams.

Rating:

Your submissions will be rated publicly based on the following criteria. Non-submitters will be given rating queue where they need to rate at least three random entries before being able to rate any specific entry.

• Magical Girl Concept
  • How creative and well crafted are the magical girl ideas in the game?
• Engagement/Fun
  • Duh. How fun the gameplay/story is
• Originality/Creativity
  • The creativity of the gameplay mechanics primarily
•  Aesthetics
  • How well the game looks in general
  • Are the artstyles consistent? If the game is in pixel art, do they have consistent pixel sizes?
• Audio
  • How well the audio enhances the gaming experience
  • Includes music if the game has one
• Gameplay Polish
  • Primarily talks about gameplay/experience polish. Is the difficulty balanced? Does the game give good player feedbacks, making it more fun to play? Special effects? If it's mostly narration are the texts properly screened for errors that may ruin player experience?
  • Graphics and audio polish should be rated based on the previous criteria
• Theme Interpretation
  • This is talking about the six themes, not about the whole premise of the jam being themed around Magical Girls.

What is a Magical Girl?

Some people unexpectedly joined the jam without knowing what the Magical Girl genre is in the first jam, so from MGGJ2 onwards, I decided to put this section to explain a bit about what the Magical Girl genre is.

To put it simply, the Magical Girl genre, or Mahō Shōjo (魔法少女) in Japanese, is a genre about cute girls having cute magical powers -- often associated with anime, manga, and other Japanese works. Although not always, Magical Girls often have expected traits such as being cute, wearing cute battle outfits, having cute power, innocent vibes, feminine in nature, sometimes having transformation sequence, etc. These are just expectations however, and expectations can be subverted (especially since 2011 the genre is a popular target for deconstruction thanks to a certain work).

For the purpose of this jam, the definition of a "Magical Girl" is simply a girl having magical power. The definition of "girl" and "magical" are explained in the rules and FAQ section but in general I let the author declare them.

Some examples of Magical Girl works:

• Puella Magi Madoka Magica
  • The work that made the genre a popular target for deconstruction. It's very cute I recommend watching this one :3

• Sailor Moon
  • A classic from the 2000s

• Pretty Cure
  • Another standard traditional Magical Girl

• Minky Momo
  • Probably the original Magical Girl; an ancient anime dating back to the Showa era

If you are previously not familiar with the Magical Girl genre, I hope this explanation at least gives you a vague idea of what you should be aiming for.

For more information, you can check the TV Tropes page for it. While to avoid removal it is enough to fulfill the definition "girls with magical powers", I want you to aim for TV Tropes's Magical Girls

Rules:

Although I want as much freedoms for you jammers to have, there are still rules in the Magical Girl Game Jam. The most important ones are:

• Thou shalt put at least one Magical Girl character in your game -- it can be your main character, the enemy, anything. Creating an original character is strongly encouraged. For the purpose of this jam, the bare minimum requirement is a "Girl with Magical Power" -- as long as you fulfill this, removal for that specific reason won't happen.
  • "Girl" and "magical power" can be based on author's intention (implied through designs or directly declared as such). Further details may be found on FAQ section.
• Thou shalt properly follow the themes (or other forms the specific MGGJ might have).
• Thou shalt keep pornographic materials away from your game. Bare minimum criteria: no female n*ppl*s, no genitalia -- as long as you do not include them removal for this reason won't happen. It is encouraged however, that you do more than that bare minimum. Gore NSFW are mostly unrestricted but I'd discourage anyone from going too far.
  • While this definition is looser than traditional NSFW definition, games that are categorized as traditionally NSFW but still complies with this jam's rule should give content warnings.
• Thy game has to be free to play upon submission.
  • In-app purchases are also not allowed. Please keep real money away from game jam submissions.
• Thou shalt submit video games.
• Answer the submission fields/questionnaire properly. I do check your answers to quickly screen spam submissions. (This rule was recently upgraded from a soft rule due to spam submissions)
  • Do not give vague, non-descriptive answers especially for the "How does your game fits the Magical Girl genre?" question. If I can't imagine how your magical girl would be like in the game from the answer alone, your game may get removed.
    • Bad examples (will definitely get removed):
      • "This is a magical girl game."
      • "This game has magical girls."
    • Somewhat bad example (may get removed depending on context):
      • "<Character> is a magical girl."
    • Good example (definitely safe):
      • "<Character> has the power to <insert description of power here>."
  • Intentional falsehoods in the answers, if caught, may lead to removal depending on the significance.
  • Please answer the questionnaire in English. Non-English games are allowed, but English is required for the questionnaires for quick screening.

Additionally, there are other rules that are softer:

• Unfinished games shall be allowed. If you couldn't finish on time, it is advised to submit an unfinished version first then update later, since this jam allows for updates during rating period (although please leave the original version available if possible).
• Thou art free to use any assets you have legal access to -- however, I encourage you to create as much as possible during the jam, and during submission you will be asked about it -- players might rate more harshly if your game is mostly purchased assets.
• If thou wanteth more chance for me to play your game, it is advised to create a browser playable game with managable difficulty and reasonable length.
• Prioritization of quality over quantity is advised.
• Please be very careful if thou ever decide to insert politics into your game. Due to the toxic and divisive nature of the topic, I have always discouraged the inclusion of politics into my jam since the start of MGGJ.
  • Despite my discouragement however, submissions with political undertone/statements are generally safe from removal as long as it is kept civil,
  • However, submissions with toxic messages such as those that target/judge/harass people based on identities/groups, especially ones that can't be reasonably changed, may be subject to removal.
• Thou shalt respect the unwritten rules for game jams in general:
  • Only submit games that are made for the sake of this jam. To quote itch's quality guideline: Do not add your game to unrelated jams for promotion.
  • Keep toxicity away from this jam... or any jam for that matter
  • etc.
• Have fun! :)

Rules in bold are hard rules; violations of which will almost definitely lead to removal of your submission if caught. Violations of common sense unwritten jam rules can also be enforced subjectively as grounds for removal in extreme severe cases (e.g. obvious spam submissions).

Also while this is not really a rule, I would appreciate it if you put the following hashtags if you tweet about this jam: #MGGJ, #MGGJ9

FAQs:

A few questions that came up a few times in past jams in my discord server that may be in your head too if you are new:

• What do you define as "Magical Power"?
  • For the purpose of this jam, there are a few ways it can fit:
    • A power the author declares as magical in nature.
    • A power that may not be explicitly declared as such by the author, but natural explanations for the power is not given.
    • A power the author may declare as not magical (e.g. machines), but somewhat intends to feel magical and/or mimics something you may expect if it were magical. For a quick test, try to replace the supposed "non-magical explanation" with "magic" and see if it makes sense and does not feel forced.
• Do Magical Boys count?
  • In general, no; but as long as the magical form is a girl, you may have the non-magical form as any other forms including animals, boys, objects, etc. and it still counts -- or maybe the opposite such as a girl having the ability to change into objects. As long as we can see a girl wielding some sort of magical power in action, it is good. 
    • In addition, as long as you put at least one Magical Girl I don't mind what else you put into your game as long as it doesn't get you into legal troubles.
• Can I submit my game into other jams?
  • If it also fits that jam, yes. Feel free to do multiple jams in conjunction if it happens to coincide with MGGJ.
    • Beware though if you submit to so many jams, it might look suspicious. If I see your game being submitted to jams that your game doesn't actually fit into, even if your game fits my jam, I might question whether or not your game fitting into my jam is just a coincidence.
• Can I submit multiple games into this jam?
  • If you have the time, sure! You can also participate in multiple teams; your choice. As long as you have the time, and your games all fit into the themes.
• Can I continue my project from previous MGGJs?
  • Creating a new entry to a series is fine. Updating an old project, however, is not.
• Does a commercial game with a free demo fulfill the game has to be free rule?
  • No. You are saying you made a game worth paying in a month-long game jam, and you offer to submit a demo whose content is a fraction of that, time wise a fraction of the month-long period, for this jam? I don't think so. Instead you should simply make a jam version and then continue to expand it into something worth paying.
• Can I pick multiple themes?
  • Yes. Picking multiple themes is logically also picking at least one theme. If I were to forbid this all you needed to do would be to pretend as if you only had picked one theme and just coincidentally had matched the other themes.
• Can I modify my game during the rating period?
  • I am very lax regarding this, so in this casual jam, I do not lock submission modification during rating period. However, I request you include all versions every time you add a new one -- or at least just the original one or the last one submitted before the submission period ends.
• Can I submit my game late?
  • I used to be more lax regarding this, but now, unless your reason is very, very convincing (e.g. you finished your game way before and was ready to submit 24 hours before the closing, but then a magnitude 9 earthquake destroys your house's electricity and internet connection for a few days), I do not intend to accept any late submissions. Rather than submitting late, if you are unable to finish your game on time but still want to submit, it is better to submit first then modify later (do keep the original if possible tho). 
• The themes are revealed 1 week before the start of the jam itself. Why?
  • My jam, my rules XP. However, the primary reason is to let players ponder about the theme for a week first before jumping straight into coding/asset making/etc.; I want you people to have a mature concept/plan first. Can you start making your game anyway during that time? Yes; and I can't check. It's really up to you, although I think it's much better to work on the concept first (^.^;
• Why are there multiple themes anyway?
  • My jam, my rules :/. The reason is that I don't want the themes to be restrictive. I want the themes to function as inspiration, not as restrictions. The idea came from a story my friend told me of a Game Jam he participated in. I can't go into details but the jam in question is said to use Sonic titles as themes.
• With your definition <non-Magical Girl character X> is a Magical Girl (or vise versa)?
  • Well obviously I want as many obvious Magical Girl characters in while keeping as many obvious non-Magical Girl characters out... We however, are dealing with art and fiction, and it is basically impossible for me or anyone to enact a hard-line one fits all definition to pigeon hole everything perfectly. If there were such a thing, people will always find ways to subvert it. Because of that, what I put is simply a bare minimum definition that is as loose as possible which in consequent may technically allow obvious non-Magical Girl characters in (e.g. Wizards, some Sci-Fi chars); but I want you to aim for TVTropes' ideal. If you have better ideas for the definitions however, I will welcome it.

Previous jams

Some of you who are new might want to see games (or themes) from previous jams. Here are some links to the previous jams:

• MGGJ1
• MGGJ2
• MGGJ3
• MGGJ4
• MGGJ5
• MGGJ6
• MGGJ7
• MGGJ8