Touhou Project is a series of bullet hell games from Japan that's notorious for both series creator ZUN's loose policy on creating derivative works and its all-star case of all-female characters who are just loosely defined enough to let our headcanons go wild. Last June we took advantage of this by giving the theme of "Pride" to our summer game jam to celebrate the prominent LGBT presence in the fanbase. This year we're bringing back the thunder with a brand-new spinoff jam preceding our summer jam, with extra dev time for nice, comfy breathing room to write your gays.

This jam has no additional theme and will run for 2 weeks from Sunday, June 7th to Sunday, June 21st. No game is too small, so take your time and do your best if you wish to participate. Jam veterans should still read the rules below because there are some additional guidelines to take note of.

If you want to participate, we recommend you join our Discord server: a Touhou-centric gamedev hub where you can discuss and show off Touhou fangames. The Discord has chat channels for the jam as well, including team-forming. And you can follow our Twitter for more updates and to help spread the jam!

Rules (Read 'em!)

• Your game is required to be related to the Touhou universe/characters and to explore LGBT themes in some way (wlw romance will be the most common but isn't the only option).
• This jam is inclusive and anyone can join regardless of identity.
• All content created must follow ZUN's guidelines on creating derivative content of Touhou. Most importantly this includes not using assets from the official Touhou games.
• You may use resources such as graphics, sounds and scripts that were made prior to the jam, as long as the bulk of your work takes place during and for this Jam.
• You may steal/modify assets from other sources only if you are allowed to use them non-commercially. (Or are otherwise explicitly licensed to do so)
• You can work in a team or as an individual.
• You're allowed to explore uncomfortable subjects in the LGBT area, but please consider adding a content warning in your jam page if you think it may make certain viewers uncomfortable. Please avoid outright NSFW for the sake of NSFW.
• Avoid unethical ships such as incest or child/adult pairs.
• Entries that promote bigotry or intolerance will not be tolerated.
• Your entry must be free to play at the time of submission.
• If at a later date you want to expand upon your game and sell it, you do so at your own risk and should abide by ZUN's guidelines.
• Feel free to contact us  on our Discord server if you have any questions. Be Fabulous.

How to participate and submit a game:

• To participate, simply create an itch.io account and hit the big Join button up top. You can do so at any point before or during the jam.
• Once the jam starts, you can submit your game at any point before the deadline using the Submit button. The website will then walk you through the process of submitting your game.

FAQ

Q: What kind of game can I make?
A: Any kind you want! As long as it's a fan game of Touhou, the sky is the limit. You can make a game that's gameplay-oriented or story-oriented. You can go for simple art or complex visuals. Whatever floats your creative boat.

Q: How does my game have to relate to Touhou / LGBT content?
A: As a fan game, your game is expected to borrow from the intellectual property in the Touhou series, meaning you should be including characters, locations, lore, or anything else from the from the official Touhou universe in your game. But do not steal assets from the official Touhou games themselves. You're not restricted to only characters/locations/etc. from Touhou, but it must be included and generally be the focus of your game's setting and events. Your game does NOT need to be based off any gameplay from the Touhou games themselves. Making a bullet hell game is perfectly acceptable, but by no means mandatory. You can create whatever type of game you think would be fun to play or fun to make.
As for LGBT content, no rep is too small! You can deeply explore experiences from yourself or others, or you can just have your girls flirt a bit and have a good time.

Q: Do I have to make the whole thing myself?
A: Nope! If you don't want to work alone you can form teams with anyone you please and take any job that suits your style. However, the game you submit must be made entirely by your team and within the jam period. I recommend picking a team with a similar timezone/sleep schedule so all of you are at least around at the same time.

Q: Can I join multiple teams/games?
A: I don't see why not. Voting will be on the game submissions and not the participants, so you'll technically increase your chance of being on a winning team if you offer your talents to multiple games. Just keep in mind that of course means extra work, and this is all just for fun anyway, so no need to overexert yourself.

Q: I'm new to this. What can I use to make my game?
A: You have lots of options for how to make a game. Even if you're a total beginner, game engines can make it super easy to make something playable and fun. Some of them don't even need you to write a line of code! Some popular engines include:

• Unity - Good all-purpose all-around game development engine. Has a vast array of features for both 2D and 3D games, as well as a large community with plenty of resources and tutorials. Also exports to all sorts of platforms and systems.
• GameMaker - Popular with beginners or for simple 2D or pixel games. Offers a simpler programming language that's easy to grasp, and an even simpler drag-and-drop logic if you want to avoid writing code whatsoever.
• RPG Maker - Simple to use and programming-lite engine to make RPG's or RPG-like games. Many different versions of it are available. Great if you want a game with movement and dialogue but don't want to get all technical with code and stuff. Popular choice for story-heavy games.
• Ren'Py - Popular engine for creating visual novels. Uses easy-to-learn scripting so you can create interactive stories. Similar to RPG maker in ease-of-use, except this one creates visual novels. Another popular choice for story-heavy and art-heavy games.
• Twine - A free tool for creating interactive, nonlinear stories, which are perfectly suitable for a jam like this! Great if you want to focus strongly on writing or player choices without having to worry about assets.
• Touhou Danmakufu - Relatively easy-to-use danmaku game maker using a custom scripting language. Basically only used for creating games that play just like the main Touhou games.
• Unreal Engine - Very powerful and graphically capable engine that offers a visual schematic-based programming method rather than writing code. Often used to make 3D games that are good-looking, or simply to avoid writing actual code.

If you want to use an engine such as these, I recommend you look up some tutorials and get some practice in with them before the jam starts. Just enough so that you know the basics, and once the jam starts you can jump right into it.