Prepárate para una diversión que te pondrá los pelos de punta - Spoopy Jam returns for another year of Halloween-flavored game-dev action.

After 8 years it's a treat for everyone. The online portion of the jam and theme are live and open for the entire month of October. That's right, fantasmas: YOU HAVE A FULL MONTH TO WORK AT YOUR OWN PACE. 

JOIN THE DISCORD -- https://discord.gg/TkN8r2Uk77

Video games of all quality and size are bueno. Analog and tabletop games as print-and-plays are both welcome and actively supported. Make whatever you want! All that we ask is that your game is new and unique to this jam. 

This year we're getting creepy with  TWO in-person events: 

🎃 Saturday October 17 🎃

• Come to UNO's Criss Library (room 249) --  Organizers will be hosting a Prep Party, where newcomers and seasoned vets take a little time to get prepared, together. This hands-on mini workshop will cover the basics of rapid iteration for game development, tools for game dev, and a bit of team-building.

🎃 Saturday October 24 & Sunday October 25 🎃

• The last full Saturday and Sunday weekend of October we're in-person at the Peter Kiewit Institute for a spooktastic weekend sprint.  Anyone interested can join in on a guided brainstorming session to kickstart a fresh new idea.  At the end of the day on Sunday everyone will showcase their current work!

(Anyone of any age from anywhere can participate online. In-person participants must be at least 19 years of age or a current University of Nebraska student.)

 🎃 Month-long Overview Schedule (US Central Standard - Chicago Timezone) 🎃

• Wednesday October 1
  • Theme announced via Discord, YouTube Live, and here!
• Saturday  October 17
  • Prep Party at UNO's Criss Library (Game dev intro and tool preparation)
• Saturday October 24 - Sunday October 25
  • In-Person Development event on-campus at UNO.
• Saturday October 31
  • Online submission deadline. HALLOWEEN!

 🎃 IN-PERSON EVENT DETAILS 🎃

IP Weekend #1 - Prep Party

UNO Criss Library - Room 249

Saturday October 17 (Bring your own laptop and notebook)

• Noon – Room opens for load-in and setup
• 12:30pm – Brainstorming for Game Design
• 1:00pm - Freeware and Open-source tools
• 1:30pm - Installing an Engine and IDE (unity/godot)
• 2:00pm - Teamwork with Repos (github)

IP Weekend #2 - Trick-or-Treat Dev Jam

UNO Aksarben Campus

Peter Kiewit Institute (PKI) Room 158

Saturday October 24

• 10am – Room opens for load-in and setup
• 11am – Team-building and Guided Brainstorming Session
• 11am to 8pm – Open development time

Sunday October 25

• 10am – Room opens for load-in
• 10am to 3pm – Final development time
• 3pm to 4pm – Presentation signup and prep
• 4pm to 5pm – Game presentations and public play

🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃🎃

General Guidelines and Rules: 

Ask for help and someone will be willing to offer assistance. However: Equipment, technology, hardware, software, materials, supplies, and effort are the absolute responsibility of participants and will not be provided. 

Games clearly un-related to the theme or spam-submitted to multiple jams may be removed without notice.

The core idea for the game and bulk of the development work should be done during the jam timeline. Games created prior to the jam should not be submitted.  Devs are free to use existing media assets or code libraries to get things off the ground and completed on time. All game engines are allowed. Commercially purchased assets are allowed so long as you have the license to use them. 

While the in-person portion of the event is limited to participants ages 19+, Spoopy Jam is still considered a public-facing event co-hosted by a public university. We seek to maintain inclusivity and accessibility to all activities. As such, we ask that developers use discretion and not include the following elements in games made for this event:

• Explicit sexual language and imagery
• Explicit or realistic gore, dismemberment, suicide, or torture

The use of generative AI tools for the completion of a human-designed experience is allowed, but creatively discouraged. Interactive experiences wholly designed by generative AI and/or created  solely by prompting should not be submitted. Utilization of any generative AI tools during development should disclose such use , based on the IEEE article submission policy:

• The use of content generated by artificial intelligence (AI) in a project (including but not limited to text, figures, images, and code) shall be disclosed in an acknowledgments or credits section within the game and/or game page. The AI system used shall be identified, and specific sections of the game that use AI-generated content shall be identified and accompanied by a brief explanation regarding the level at which the AI system was used to generate the content.
• The use of AI systems for editing and grammar enhancement of human-written text features is common practice and, as such, is generally outside the intent of the above policy. In this case, disclosure as noted above is recommended.

[Required EEO statement follows]

The University of Nebraska does not discriminate based on race, color, ethnicity, national origin, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, disability, age, genetic information, veteran status, marital status, and/or political affiliation in its education programs or activities, including admissions and employment. The University prohibits any form of retaliation taken against anyone for reporting discrimination, harassment, or retaliation for otherwise engaging in protected activity.

UNO is an AA/EEO/ADA institution. For Title IX concerns, please contact the Title IX Coordinator (phone:402.554.2120). For ADA/504 accommodations or assistance, please call/contact the ADA/504 Coordinator (phone 402.554.2463) or the Accessibility Services Center (phone: 402.554.2872).

The University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) will be taking pictures at this event for use in advertising and other promotional materials, whether print, electronic, or other media.

Open the ancient tomes of prior Spoopy Jam games:

Spoopy Jam | 2: The Spoopening | 3: Spoopy as Heck | 4: Back from Heck 

5: Inner Spoop | 6: It Spooped Back | 7: Heckraiser