We're here, and we're queer!

The "Only One of Any Asset" (O2A2) Visual Novel Jam is back again for 2023, with a special ~ Queer Edition ~!

We welcome LGBTQ+ developers of all skill levels, whether you're completely new and want to make your first game or a veteran who's been grinding at a long-term project, to challenge yourself to make a micro visual novel. O2A2 is a low pressure, anti-crunch, non-competitive jam without judging; everyone who completes a game by the deadline is a winner!

Links to previous editions of the jam can be found below:

• O2A2 2022 - July 2022
  
• O2A2 (Again!) - July 2021
• O2A2 - May 2020

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What is the purpose of this special edition?

The Queer Games Bundle will be making a return this year. With this jam we wanted to give people that little push to make a game on their own creator profile and have something to submit to the bundle, if they haven't published anything new lately.

"But what happens if I'm not queer but want to participate?"

If you're an ally, we encourage you to help others out with their projects (aka, work with someone else on their team - just not as the lead creative)! 

If you do want to lead a project to post on your own account, O2A2 2023 will be coming back in its regular edition later this year (most likely in July), so keep you eyes peeled for future announcements! We also kindly suggest you to purchase the bundle once it's out in June to support your fellow friends and gamedevs.

"If I make a game for this jam, does it have to be in the Bundle for sale?"

It's not a requirement, but we still encourage you to make a "donationware" game where people can at least tip you for your work!

What are the rules?

We're shaking things up this time, and we're giving you two weeks to make a visual novel or a bitsy-like. 

We encourage you to finish your game during the first week of the jam, submit and use the second week to add polish and get feedback on your game. For those participating in a team, we encourage you to help each other out so everyone involved can have something to submit to the Queer Games Bundle.

Nonetheless, you can use the time as you see fit, as long as you submit before the deadline is up!

For a visual novel you can use at most:

• one sprite / one character / one pose (multiple expressions without change in pose are okay)
• one background / one place / one time of day
• one illustration (in place of the one sprite and one background)
• one thousand words
• one background sound file (either one music track or one ambient background noise)
• one sound effect
• one voice actor
• one piece of menu background art
• one main project (submit only one entry where you are the creative lead/director. You may participate in other teams as a different role)

For a bitsy-like you can either:

a) make a VN-style bitsy game with the above ruleset, or

b) make a classic bitsy game using at most:

• one avatar (or its equivalent if you're not using bitsy)
  
• one sprite / one character / one interactable NPC (or its equivalent if you're not using bitsy)
• one item which you can reuse throughout the game by using a sequence/shuffle (or its equivalent if you're not using bitsy)
  • (There's no restriction on number of tiles!)
• one thousand words
• one background sound file (either one music track or one ambient background noise)
• one sound effect file
• one main project (submit only one entry where you are the creative lead/director. You may participate in other teams as a different role

There are no restrictions on:

• themes / genres (e.g. romance, horror, comedy)
• suggestive/explicit or violent content (so long as such content is tagged appropriately on the game page)
• using Creative Commons, similarly licensed free-to-use, or paid assets (this time we're strongly suggesting that you avoid CC assets that include the Noncommercial or -NC license part!)
• usage of solid color backgrounds (all white, black, or other)
• programming and scripting effects
• minigames, so long the main portion of your entry can be considered a VN (e.g. point and click, fill in the blank/Madlibs, etc. all OK!)
• special effects / movement / zoom / animation (such as blinking, lipflap/mouth movement, sparkles, moving side to side, etc. Complex frame-by-frame animations that would change a significant portion of an image are not allowed.)
• custom GUI assets like buttons, text boxes, textures and other elements
• price point of completed entries
• submitting your entry to other jams (as long as you follow the rules of those jams!)
• language your game is in, you're free to write your game in a language other than English as long as it's equivalent to one thousand words
• omake/fandiscs and fangames are welcome. However, if you do not own the IP, please do not steal assets from the source material

Use this freedom in the spirit of a simple jam.





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Examples

Looping backgrounds in Yesterday, the World Ended by Ronove




Psychedelic Transforms in (in)finite girl by supercircuit



Camera Perspective in Weltschmerz by tofurocks and co.




No use of sprites in One More Sleep🌙 by PRINCESS INTERNET CAFé



Clever use of the one sprite in Medusa's Mini Mystery by Marionette



Clones of the dancer in just dumb little dances by Vimi



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What is not allowed?

• submitting partial works e.g. demo, Part 1 of x, etc... Self-contained prologues are okay!
• submitting unfinished works or placeholder pages for future uploads
• submitting entries that promote bigotry and hateful conduct, or are otherwise made in bad faith
• using non-GUI assets (sprite, BG, audio, etc.) from a larger project of yours
• using illegal assets (pirated/stolen, or you do not have a proper license for)
• using engines or programming in a manner that would make hybrid games (e.g. a half VN/RPG hybrid, due to the assets required to make a functional RPG with an overworld map)

Entries that disregard the rules will be removed from the jam.

Additionally, AI-generated assets are only allowed if you own the training data. (e.g. Photoshop's content-aware fill, training an entirely separate instance of AI on exclusively your work, using ML to remix art with permission from the artist, etc.) Systems in which the training data is not owned by the dev (ChatGPT, Midjourney, Stable Diffusion, and similar) are not allowed at this time.


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Okay, but... Is X allowed?

See our FAQ in the Community Boards for more in-depth interpretation of the above rules, including edge cases and previously established limits.

However, we would like to reiterate that the spirit of this jam is to create something minimalist and to use the limitations to spur your creativity. So please do not over-complicate yourself. There is probably a simpler way to make the thing that you want to do within the constraints of the jam.

And most importantly: Don't stress, focus on having fun, and keep in mind the aim of the jam is to create something small, self-contained, and finished.


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What can you do before the jam starts? Where can I find other participants?

The jam follows the "standard" jam protocol. You can:

• make notes/outlines, jot down ideas, brainstorm
• make a sketch or two for designs
• browse and select already existing / Creative Commons assets
• look for team members

All the mental efforts, working out the logic of your story, calculating time needed and other "preparations for your journey" are fine. Finalized assets or writing that appear in the actual game as a direct result of a team member's effort should not be done before the start.

Join the DevTalk discord for direct support, sharing, and talking to other participants in the "current events" section. You can also use the Community section of this jam page. If you're on Twitter, tweet using #O2A2VNJam to see what everyone else is up to!


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Why participate?

We think O2A2 has a special place in the midst of all the other jams. This is a jam with a low barrier to entry that also allows experienced developers to experiment with ideas and presentation, so there's something for everyone to challenge themselves with! We've seen creators who've used their entries as a springboard to their development career as well. Get that drabble out into the world, make yourself a little game for your portfolio, and submit it to the Queer Games Bundle.

What story will you tell?


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Okay, but would anyone actually pay for a 1k-long game?

We think so, and people already have! People pay for poem and short story anthologies, zines, etc. all the time, so think of it like that.





Praxis, baby.


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Credits

This year's art was drawn by Ronove with logo work by MysteryCorgi, and both pieces are licensed under CC BY-ND 4.0. Lemon-chan belongs to the DevTalk community. 


We would like to especially thank Mikey of ATP Projects, the original host of O2A2, for conceptualizing this jam and making it a reality. His work and dedication to the visual novel development community as a whole has invariably shaped the way creators approach their projects.