Welcome to the 7th Retro Platform Jam!
The objective of this jam is to make a game for any obsolete console or computer, either for real hardware or emulation!
The 7th RPJ will donate its prize pool to the PCRF, or Palestinian Children's Relief Fund!
Current Donation: $190 USD!
The donation will be in the name of the winner, or by another name or entity they choose.
If you wish to donate anonymously and contribute to the prize pool, please PayPal as a friend to RetroDevDiscord-at-gmail. Donating is NOT a prerequisite to participate in the jam, and is COMPLETELY optional.
Special thanks to every single contribution, as every little bit matters.
[ If you have donated previously and wish to retain your donation for a future jam, please contact me directly. ]
The official community of the Retro Platform Jam is the RetroDev Discord Server. Join us today at:
Outside of Discord, follow RetroDev@Mastadon.Social !
Theme
Make a game about friends finding each other, being chill, or maybe murdering each other instead!
Platforms
Games for the Atari 2600, NES, SNES, Game Boy, Sega Genesis/Mega Drive, 68k Macintosh, Apple II, Commodore 64, Amiga, Spectrum, DOS, MSX, PC-88, PC-98, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64, PlayStation 1, Dreamcast, and more will be accepted! Platforms satisfying these criteria are allowed:
- Any game console, handheld device, embedded platform, micro- or personal computer released on or before March 31, 2003. (This date is meant as a guideline for console targets, not a hard rule!)
- For pre-Windows 95 PC targets, ensure the game runs on a 486, Am5x86, or PCem virtual machine configured with a 486.
- For a more retro Macintosh experience, target Mac OS 9 or earlier.
- All PC-9800 series computers are valid targets.
- Macromedia Flash, by request (as long as it runs on a computer made pre-2003).
PLEASE NOTE: As of RPJ#6, due to the addition of a prize pool, PICO-8, WASM4, and other fantasy consoles are no longer allowed. Sorry!
This may disappoint some of you, but the primary objective of this jam is to develop a retro game that runs on real, older hardware. Unfortunately, even with artificial restrictions, fantasy consoles give unfair advantages over developing on real hardware.
Rules
- You may use any assets you have the rights to use. This includes libraries, frameworks, engines, external tools, and previously-made graphics or audio.
- Games must be either new or ported to a new platform. The game cannot have been released to players or submitted to a Jam previously unless a port to a new platform is submitted to the Jam. The submission must be exclusive for Retro Platform Jam until after the prize pol has been distributed.
- Your submission should specify which emulators or hardware revisions your game has been tested on. Users on the RetroDev Discord server may be available to help test your game on hardware, at their discretion.
- Team submissions are accepted with no team size restrictions.
- No excessively NSFW content (we don't want to censor), but no sexism, racism, discrimination or any kind of exclusion is allowed.
If possible, we heavily suggest you record and upload a video of your game running on an emulator or hardware. This is especially important if your game runs on a lesser-known or difficult-to-emulate platform.
Voting
Games will be rated by participants and contributors in the following areas:
- Fun - how fun is the game to play? How good does gameplay feel?
- Game Design - how well is the game constructed? Do the game systems work together to make a cohesive whole? Are there innovative game mechanics or concepts?
- Platform Usage - this is basically our graphics and audio category, but submissions might be for platforms with radically different capabilities. Do the graphics and audio represent the standards and style of the chosen platform? Are the graphics and audio aesthetically pleasing and/or creative?
- Theme - how well does the game use the Jam’s theme? How creative is the game’s interpretation of the theme?
(Note that when voting, a few words as a brief review or notes on your experience is now required.)
Resources for Building Retro Games
Not sure where to start? The RetroDev Discord server is full of people willing to answer any questions we can and to facilitate learning. Additionally, we maintain a list of tools and documentation for developing on retro hardware here:
https://github.com/RetroDevDaemon/retro-platform-jam-tools
Feel free to submit Pull Requests with any tools or sites we've missed!
Submissions(5)
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