Even in these fearful times, there is pride in being queer.

The Queer 'n' Fear jam is your chance to make a game with queer themes and horror/spooky themes combined; maybe your game follows a woman capturing spiders for her girlfriend and freeing them into the outdoors, or maybe it follows a trans man teaching his great grandmother about being queer. Maybe it's a serious horror game about zombies where the main character fights to travel home from across the country just to have a chance to to come out to their parents while the world ends, or maybe it's a silly game where you sew pride flags while a storm rages outside.

The point is that you're combining two things: Queerness, and Fear. Your game must have queerness as a major part of the game (LGBTQ+ main character, prevalent pride flags, etc) as well as elements of horror or a specific phobia. As long as it contains both these things, it doesn't have to be super serious or even super scary; it can be silly with the fear part implemented in a goofy or lighthearted way, like the example of a woman getting rid of spiders for her girlfriend.

All sorts of video games are accepted, but games are judged by the community based on the following aspects:

• Theme - Does the game follow the themes?
• Mechanics - How does the game control?
• Story - Is there an interesting plot/hook?
• Visual - How well do the visual assets enhance the game?
• Audio - How well do the sound effects and music enhance the game?
• Fun - Was the game fun to play? Did it draw you in?

Anyone can vote, but a rating queue is in effect. Please do not make new accounts solely to vote on your own game. The rating period will last until 12 PM CST on November 6th.

TIME FRAME

Submissions can be entered anytime between October 1st, 7 AM CST and October 30th, 12 PM CST. The game should be created during this time.

RULES

1. No generative AI. Generative AI use will result in immediate disqualification.
2. The theme can be interpreted in lots of different ways, but it must be included somehow.
3. Everyone involved in the creation of the game must be credited on the game page.
4. Visual assets MUST be made during the event by someone on your team.
5. Music MUST be made during the event by someone on your team, but sound effects can be sourced online.
6. Code MUST be written during the event by someone on your team. AI cannot make your code for you, and you cannot use premade code.
7. All game engines are allowed.
8. NSFW games are allowed but MUST have a warning at the top of the game page or in the title.
9. Games must be tagged with content warnings.
10. Games must be freely available during the submission and rating period, AFTER which you may add a price tag if desired.

WINNERS

1st, 2nd, and 3rd place will be linked on the Audicinal website with the gameowners' permission, as well as shouted out on Audicinal socials. They also get the highly-desired bragging rights.

Anything you make during this game jam is your property. The Queer 'n' Fear jam claims no ownership over your game(s).

Anything submitted to the Queer 'n' Fear jam MAY be shouted out on @Audicinal social media without your express permission, but posts CAN be taken down if requested.

Have fun, and if you want to check out a community for Visual Novels in particular, here's a link to the Devtalk server! https://discord.gg/devtalk