It's time to stretch our wings and codesign a tabletop game, TTRPG, or any other sort of analog (non-digital) creation!

You're welcome to codesign with anyone, and in any manner you'd like. A few examples include:

• Working with someone throughout the entire process to bounce ideas off of each other.
• Asking someone who's never made a game what kind of game they'd want to play, bringing them your progress as you make it to get their feedback, and including their ideas along the way.
• A game designer working with an artist, layout specialist, writer, or some other person to make various aspects of the game shine.

If you don't know any game designers, artists, etc then I highly recommend the second on there: just reach out to someone and see what they'd like to play, then create something for (and with) them!

We've also got a section in our Discord server for codesigning, but it's 100% optional.

✨✨✨ Optional Stuff Below✨✨✨

Join our community (with codesigning options!)

We would be delighted if you'd come hang out with us! We'll be talking about what we're making and sharing progress during each jam, and you can too! 👀

You can join our discord server by clicking here. Quirky Bird Games is a sister company to Weird Giraffe Games (hence the Weird Giraffe Games discord server), and you can find the official jam chat channel down under "QUIRKY BIRD GAMES", the #toucan-do-it-jams channel! Feel free to chat everywhere on the server, though, of course :D 

There's also a codesigning forum channel there. You're encouraged to create a post, choose the tags that apply (what kind of creator you are and what kind of creators you're looking to codesign with), and describe what you want to work on. If you don't have a specific idea, just share some cool stuff about yourself and/or a link to your work, that's cool too!

You can also become a patron of our Patreon (or even "Follow" for free!)! This way you can get an email whenever we put out a post, including when the next jam is created and set up. Depending on the tier, patrons get the games we create (as well as most everything created by Beth and Angel Make Games), in-depth looks at our design work, and even access to a private chat where we talk about things like this jam and share & get ideas, but that's all TOTALLY unnecessary for the jam.

Plus there's a free trial of our Enlightened Egrets tier, which gets you:

• Free access to 75+ projects and everything we release while you're a member!
• Access to a secret area of our Discord server!
• Posts that dive further into our inspirations and design processes for what we release!

Check out Previous Entries

We've run three jams in the past: the Hatch That Idea jam was about taking an idea you've had for a long time and starting on it; and the Empty the Nest jam was about finishing something you've started. Then, the Owl-Some SRDs and Engines jam focused on using SRDs/engines/systems/hacks to make something.

I wrote a roundup of the entries from the Empty the Nest jam here, and it links to the roundup of the first jam as well. 

FAQ

What kinds of things can be entered?

The previous jams allowed for anything, but as our server is rather tabletop-centric, I figured this jam would work best with tabletop-centric creators as well. But "tabletop" allows for a LOT: from thought experiments on a readable document to print-and-play tabletop games, with TTRPGs, lyrical games, and all sorts of other creations in between. And please note that I'm purposely not using the word "game", so if you make a zine, a journaling exercise, or anything else, go for it!

Feel free to ask in the community here on the jam, but most everything counts. :D

Is NSFW stuff allowed?

As long as you flag it as such, go for it! We want this to be a safe place for those who don't want to see NSFW content, but NSFW creations are just as valid as anything else! 🙌 

What's NOT allowed?

• Anything hateful toward any group of people, especially anything racist, sexist, queerphobic, ableist, xenophobic, etc. With that said, things that give a point of view from someone who has experienced those things is absolutely welcome! Generally punching up is fine, punching down is mean and uncalled for.
• Anything more than about 20% done before the jam period begins. I'm not going to snoop around and find out, this is based on the honor system. :D But with that said, if you completed a game before the jam began, I'll remove it.

Note: there might be more, but like... We're really chill and welcoming, so unless you make something really atrocious I'm sure it'll be fine, and you can reach out to me to ask if you're unsure :D You can reach me at:

• Email: CataclysmicKnight[at]gmail.com
• Discord: bethmakesgames

Can I charge money for what I create?

Heck yeah you can, and you should! It's jam etiquette to add community copies or make what you create available for free while a jam you enter is running and, like, a week or so after, but you don't have to :D Doing so allows others who enter the jam to check out all of the entries and give feedback, though.

I HIGHLY recommend that if you make what you create free, please set it to "$0 or donate" instead of "no payments" if you can. This just means that when someone hits the download button, they'll be shown a screen where they can pay for what you've created. If people don't want to pay, they can just hit "no thanks"! But you'll be amazed if/when someone pays anyway, it's the greatest feeling 🧡

Speaking of feedback, what kind should I give?

Unless a creator says otherwise, give encouraging, friendly feedback. This is an encouraging jam, after all, and may involve people who have never made finished anything creative or are still new to creating. Even if someone is a pro, jams are often the perfect time to experiment and try something totally different. So don't point out flaws or things that could be better (unless the creator asks), just celebrate the creation! Be specific about things you enjoy about it, if you can, as "I really loved the way you wrote this part" is so much better and more genuine than "I liked it."

Can I submit something if I submitted it into another jam?

Heck yeah! Almost all of my jam creations were made for two or more jams, and I highly encourage you to do the same :D

How do I win the jam?

You win by finishing something! 🥳 This is an unrated game jam and there are no prizes aside from your own pride, experiences, and maybe any new people you meet :D

How can I find out about future jams?

Check us out on Discord or join our Patreon! You can find out more in the "Join our community (100% optional)" section just above the FAQ.