Jagex: The RuneScape Company, have built one of the most enduring fantasy worlds in gaming: Gielinor.  Known for its deep quest design, irreverent humour, surprising emotional weight, and a quiet sense that anything could be hiding around the next corner, RuneScape rewards curiosity, patience, and creativity.

Celebrating 25 years of Runescape, the RS25 Future Talent Pathway is a mentorship and development programme aimed at supporting the next generation of game creators and storytellers.

For this competition, participants should create a game experience that demonstrates how a short journey, a handful of characters, and a single mysterious object can feel epic, personal, and full of meaning.

The Setting:

"Whispers echo across the distant realm of Gielinor, a land steeped in ancient mysteries, magic, and bizarre inhabitants, concerning a legendary lost relic.

Its true nature remains unknown, whether it is a powerful instrument, a hidden key, or merely a fabrication of folklore, no one can say for certain. However, there is an unspoken understanding that should this object fall into the wrong hands, great peril awaits."

Each submitted game should contain:

• One polished gameplay loop or challenge system
• A journey from a place you invent and travel towards a faraway destination (a border, a ruin, a tower, a hidden valley, a stormy coast, etc.).
• Complete three challenges on the way. Each challenge can be solved in any way you like (cleverness, teamwork, bravery, kindness, creativity).
• At least two characters on your travels and decide whether you trust them.

Each game should be playable on a windows PC or web browser. If any specific hardware is required to play your game, make this known in your additional submission materials.

BONUS CHALLENGES
As additional challenges within the game jam, feel free to attempt the following! 
For those who dont wish to attempt a game for the jam, feel free to try and submit an entry just for some of the challenges.  Please specify when submitting your entry.

Art:
Runescapes art is Stylized/Semi Realistic. It utilises realistic forms and shape language, with reality based logic for both the world and its inhabitants. Colourful Textures and a slight stylization of shapes pushes features into the forefront and highlights key aspects of design.

Show a strong, consistent visual identity inspired by RuneScape's approach:

• Early concept art exploring your starting village, your destination, and at least one character
• Adaptation of art to implemented assets
• Clear art direction guidelines covering colour palette, lighting mood, and character proportions

Submit any supporting materials in alongside your uploaded game. 

Animation:

Demonstrate how animation supports storytelling and personality. A suspicious character might fidget. A kind character might wave. A dangerous creature might twitch.

Produce at least:

• One fully animated key asset or character (a walking traveller, a strange creature, a waving NPC, an object that glows or spins)

Programming Challenge:

Showcase one of the following:

• A challenge resolution system that checks player attributes or inventory items (e.g., "Do you have the rope? Did you befriend the guard?")
• A choice tracking system that remembers decisions your player makes across their journey and changes a small outcome at the destination

Eligibility:

• Teams for this jam can be a maximum of 6 people.
  
• You must be a resident of the UK to be eligible for certain prizes. 
• You must be currently enrolled in, or have graduated from a UK college or University within the last 6 months to be eligible for certain prizes.

Prizes:

1st Place:
Every member of the 1st Place team will receive an MSI Laptop, a PlayStation Plus Pass, and be invited to showcase their game at the Jagex offices later this year.

Top 5:

Every member of the top  5 teams will win a PlayStation Plus Pass, and be invited to showcase their game at the Jagex offices later this year, as well as some RuneScape 25th Anniversary Merch 

Challenge Winners:

Bonus Challenge winners will win a PlayStation Plus Pass, some RuneScape 25th Anniversary Merch, and some 1-2-1 mentorship time with a games professional

Content Suitability

The game should be suitable for a general audience, so please avoid strong language and excessive gore. And your game should not contain nudity, or hateful language or visuals.

Assets

You may use pre-existing code and can use whatever art and audio assets you have the legal right to use, but you shouldn't make stuff ahead of time that is specifically for this jam. You should credit all external art and audio in your game description. 

Generative AI

You must not use generative AI to make art or audio assets for your game, or your Itch.io page. This will lead to your game being disqualified.

Timeline:

Starting from June 1st, teams will have 8 weeks to work on their submissions.

The deadline to submit will be 11:59 pm on the 26th of July.

Additional Submission materials:

You are encouraged to record a small playthrough video of their game.

You are also encouraged to provide a document of any specific instructions that would be necessary, like controls of the game.

For the specific challenges, it is encouraged to create a pdf document showcasing your process and articulate how you met the goals

For any Questions email hello@intogames.org