Unnerving and uncomfortable. Your game should evoke feelings of dread, discomfort, or lingering unease. What makes the player squirm? Interpret this however you like: Make a game about traversing a weird world, or about kidnapping random people*. Adherence to the theme will be one of 4 voting criteria and is something ToastyTime will consider in his final decision (see Voting in Rules for more).
ToastyTime is an RPG Maker YouTuber who has been covering RPG Maker games since 2017. He will be playing at least an hour of every single jam entry and reserves the right to create videos on any entry even without express permission from its creator. Videos will appear on the ToastyTime YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/toastyfunnyguy).
-*ENGINE: Your game should be made in RPG Maker, or similar engines that follow the RPG Maker experience and vibe. Engines like Wolf RPG Editor, RPG Paper Maker, RPG Bakin, Smile Game Builder, EasyRPG, and MKXP-Z are allowed. If your engine of choice is not listed, feel free to ask in our discord or on the community page!
-ORIGINAL WORK: Development on contest entries must begin after the jam starts. Pre-existing assets (such as music, sound effects, and graphical resources) may be used, but any new content made for the game must be created during the jam period. You are welcome to brainstorm your game ahead of time.
-TEAM SIZE: Teams should not be larger than 5 in order to keep this fair for devs of all sizes. Only one submission per person. Artists or other collaborators can work on multiple games, but only if creating distinct assets for each one. Only one person needs to join itch.io and submit the game. However, if others on the team also join itch.io, they can be tagged as contributors. (On your game's itch page, pick "Edit", "More", "Admins", and follow the instructions).
-GENERATIVE AI: You MAY use generative AI in this jam, whether for graphical resources, code, or anything else. However, you MUST disclose the extent of the use in your submission page. Any entries that use generative AI without disclosing it will be found out and will not be eligible to win.
-YOUR GAME: Your entry must be playable by someone using a Windows PC, with nothing more than a keyboard or mouse. Game uploads will be locked during the voting stage and NO changes may be made until after this period ends (1 week).
-*ADULT GAMES: You MAY create games featuring ADULT CONTENT, however you MUST disclose this on the submission page and follow the Itch.io Terms of Service (https://itch.io/docs/legal/terms).
-VOTING: While all members of the general public are able to play and rate entries, ToastyTime will play all entries and provide his own ratings. ONLY ToastyTimes rankings count for prizes. Criteria the public can vote on are: Adherence to Theme, Enjoyment, Creativity, and Presentation.
Thanks to a generous anonymous donation, we have additional prizes!
1st place: $100 (from ToastyTime)
2nd place: $75 (from donor)
3rd place: $25 (from donor)
To discuss the jam and keep up to date with information, join the discord:
Dedicated to my grandmother, who always supported my own game making.