Feature art by KookaburahSan

Once upon a time, a game jam was held to create stories around the theme of fairy tales…

“Once Upon A Time VN Jam” is a four-month game jam running from October 1st, 2024 00:00 (UTC+2) to January 31st, 2024 23:59 (UTC+1) held to create fairy-tale-themed narrative stories.

What is a fairy-tale-themed story?

That is a good question and I’m glad you asked! To put it shortly: any story linked to a fairy tale. To give further details:

– creating a story using the codes or the themes of fairy tales (structure, characteristic characters like princesses, knights, dragons, witches, ogres…) – basically, creating your own fairy tale;
– rewriting of classical fairy tales: these rewritings can be a fairy tale story inspired from a classical fairy tale, a part of an already-existing tale you choose to develop, a parody, a modern rewriting: in that case the connections between the tale and your story have to be obvious (events, or references…);
– even “meta”-stories (stories focusing on fairy tales as a concept or a medium) are accepted ; – you don’t have to limit yourself to occidental tales: you can explore some other folk tales as long as they are somewhat equivalent to what we call “fairy tales” in Western literature (for instance, 1001 Arabian Nights are totally appropriate for this jam! And we’d love to discover more stories.);
- nonetheless, please note that stories inspired by mythologies are not included in this jam, as they used to constitute beliefs, while fairy tales are undoubtedly fictional. If you want to tell a mythology-themed story, why not consider Mythology VN Jam next year? ;)

And of course, if you need inspiration, don't hesitate to play some entries of last year's edition of the jam!

Rules

1/ Since the jam is named “Once Upon A Time VN Jam”, the entries are primarily expected to be visual novels or interactive fictions.
2/ However, entries from other genres are allowed as long as they have a significant narrative portion (at least half of the game).
3/ You may start working on your project before the start of the jam, or submit an update of an existing one. However, this update has to be of narrative nature (for instance, an update updating the art assets, fixing bugs or correcting typos wouldn’t be “narrative”, and you may not submit such entries to the jam).
4/ Incomplete entries (demos, v-slices, concepts…) are accepted and even encouraged to avoid crunching.
5/ You can work both as a solo dev or a team as long as you properly credit everyone involved in the project.
6/ You can create your own assets or collect assets online. If so, make sure to abide by the creator’s licensing.
7/ You are not allowed to use any type of AI-generated content, even if it is hand-painted over, and even if you own the training data. So, if you collect assets online, make sure they are not AI-generated (note: 60+ backgrounds for free is a red flag).
8/ You may submit your entry to other game jams, as long as it also respects their rules.
9/ NSFW projects are accepted, as long as they are indicated as such. Please make sure to use appropriate trigger and content warnings.
10/ If applicable, no erotic or sexual scenes should involve underage characters, or underage-looking characters (for example, a character looking 10 but being 500 years old). In particular, shotacon and lolicon content is not allowed.
11/ Entries promoting any sort of discrimination (LGBTQ+-phobia, racism, sexism etc.) are prohibited and will be removed.
12/ Your project can be commercial or free at your own convenience: however, commercial fan games are not allowed.

All entries failing to respect the rules will be removed.

On the complicated distinction between fairy tale and fantasy

Now, a question you may have regarding some projects is the following: is my project fairy tale or fantasy? It is true that it is complicated to establish a clear distinction between both, and we don’t have a perfect answer to give! For the spirit of this game jam, have in mind that we won’t regard the distinction too strictly: if your project is standard fantasy, it fits!

So, if you started developing a fantasy project, you’re good and you can submit it to the jam. But if you want to create a project specifically for this jam and want it to be fairy tale-themed, maybe you can try to take some of the following elements in consideration:

– Fantasy stories usually put a lot of emphasis on the world building, as the point is to transport the reader in a whole new world; fairy tales tend to be in some sort of blurry medieval times with magic elements in it;
– Fantasy stories usually focus on the learning journey of the main character, and the whole point is to make this character grow and become a hero; fairy tales focus on having morals;
– Fairy tales are less lengthy than fantasy stories as they were originally orally told before some writers (Perrault in France or the Brothers Grimm in Germany) decided to write them down. In comparison, fantasy is originally a genre meant to be read (before being imported into cinema etc.).

To give you an example of this distinction: a game like Actala – The Hero’s Shadow by Chattercap would be considered fantasy (but would still fit the jam); a game like Under The Stars by helen would be considered a fairy tale.

But, as you can tell, these considerations are restrictive: according to them, for example, Alice in Wonderland isn’t a fairy tale which, technically, isn’t false, but let’s be honest: the story still feels fairy tale-like. This is what matters in the end, so don’t let the theme bridle your creativity and have fun!

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