Enter The Toxic Terror 🎃
The Toxic Terror Gamejam is a horror-themed gamejam event, hosted by Youtube Streamer and Content Creator Phisnom, created with the aim of encouraging game developers to flex their creative muscles to create NEW horror games and horror IP that they can call their own!
Running throughout the month of October 2025 (1st-29th), developers will have only four weeks to create short playable horror experiences surrounding a specific theme, with the participants competing to be winners in a prize pool offering a combined total of $3,000 USD + additional merch rewards for honorable mentions! Valid entries will be showcased and judged LIVE on Phisnom's Youtube Channel after the submission deadline has passed.
Whether you are an up-and-coming developer with some experience already in your belt, a newcomer with no programming experience, a fangame creator looking for a place to start with original projects, or just a fan of Phisnom's streams who wants to participate in this event to be included in on the fun, everyone is welcome!*
(* please note: you must be 18 years or older to participate in this event)
The Event's Theme 🎃
To participate in the event and be eligible for the rewards, your submission must focus on the event's central theme, either directly as intended or interpreting it in your own creative way!
The Toxic Terror Gamejam's Theme is:
--- TO BE REVEALED - THEME WILL BE HIDDEN UNTIL THE START DATE OF THE JAM! ---
This theme is one of the three points of criteria (in this case, "Thematic") a submission will be judged under. So make sure to include it as a core base of inspiration for whatever project you end up creating.
Prize Pool & Rewards 🎃
Top 3 Winners - Prize Pool Rewards 🏆
To encourage developers to try their hardest with their event entries, the Top 3 winning entries will receive a cash reward from a combined prize pool total of $3,000 USD! The money will be divided as follows:
- 🥇 1ST PLACE - $1,500
- 🥈 2ND PLACE - $1,000
- 🥉 3RD PLACE - $500
Jam participants will only be eligible for Prize Pool rewards if their entry is considered an "Original IP" submission (check the Rules & Advice section for more info).
Honorable Mentions - Merch Rewards 🏅
Even if your submission is not placed within the Top 3 winners, it may still be eligible for an Honorable Mention and in turn participants can receive a merch reward.
Rewards may include items previously sold in relation to Phisnom, such as vinyl figures, plushes, keychains, stickers and posters. All sent to Honorable Mention winners free of charge, shipping included!
The amount of Honorable Mention winners & the rewards included are subject to the event organizer's discretion.
If your project is not considered an "Original IP" submission, it may still be eligible for an Honorable Mention if submitted as a "Phisnom Fangame" (check the Rules & Advice section for more info).
Winning Criteria 🎃
A Toxic Terror Gamejam entry will be judged using three main criteria, keep these three concepts in mind during the development process:
Terrific 💀
- How effective your entry is as a horror game!
- This criteria's focus is on the experience of playing the actual game. Is it engaging? Is it fun? Does it make your heart race? Etc.
- "Terrific" can mean many different things from project to project...
- "Terrific" as in how terrifying your game is, if it's focused on actually scaring the player.
- "Terrific" as in how pleasantly spooky your game is, if it focuses on halloween / horror as a visual aesthetic.
- "Terrific" as in how fun your game is, if it focuses on the quality of the gameplay / experience over scares.
- Due to this, games with high Terrific scores may differ wildly. Some may score high due to how scary they are, while others score high from their addictive gameplay. It all depends on context and the strengths of the Developer.
Thematic 💥
- How well your entry fits within the theme of the jam!
- This criteria's focus is on how well the theme is reflected on the game. Does the theme feel tacked on out of obligation? Would it fit among other games of its type? or does it twist the theme in an interesting way that deserves special attention?
- Games with high Thematic scores either follow the instructions to the letter, or playfully incorporate the theme into their identity.
Creative 🧠
- How unique and memorable your entry is!
- This criteria's focus is on how much potential your game has to be its own thing. Are the characters easy to remember? Is the story something that will stick in people's brains? Does it play around with ideas or mechanics rarely seen within its genre?
- Games with high Creative scores have the potential to become great indie successes, at least in the subjective opinion of the judge.
Each entry will receive scores in each of these criteria and an overall point score during the judging process. Please note that while a high score is ideal, your entry's score does not automatically guarantee that you will be included in the Top 3 Prize Pool or Honorable Mention Winners list, as winners will be selected entirely at the discretion of the event organizer.
Rules & Advice 🎃
Rules 📏
Please follow these instructions closely, submitted entries that violate any of these rules will be disqualified from the competition (click on each arrow for more info):
1. The game MUST be created FOR the Jam, follow its theme and be developed exclusively during the event's duration.
- You CAN NOT submit a pre-existing project or game for the Gamejam, whether that be a finished game or a current ongoing project. You may only begin work on the game after the given start date for the event has passed and the Jam's theme has been revealed.
- The entry must be created with the Jam's central theme in mind, a theme that will be revealed only after the start date of the event. While games that poorly reflect the theme may score low on the competition, games that seemingly ignore the theme entirely will be disqualified!
- There are only a few things you are allowed to do in preparation for the event before the start date: Organizing a team of people to collaborate with, creating a space to work and communicate with said team, creating a folder or file structure for the game's files, gathering licensed assets or open-source libraries and preparing generic game systems that can be found in most types of games, such as: Save/Load features, Controller or Generic Input systems, and Text Box / Character Dialog systems.
2. The game MUST be considered either an "Original IP" entry, or a "Phisnom Fangame" entry.
- This will be mandatory to disclose once you actually submit your entry. Please note that ONLY "Original IP" entries will be eligible to receive Prize Pool rewards, while "Phisnom Fangame" entries are only eligible to receive Honorable Mention merch rewards.
- We divide the event into these two categories to ensure that the event's goal is maintained: To encourage developers to create games, characters and worlds they can own and do whatever they want with! While also not completely pushing away fans of Phisnom who may want to use this opportunity to create something for their community. This also discourages the use of "Phisnom Fangames" as a potential strategy to get an unfair advantage on the Prize Pool competition by appealing to biases for the creator/host of the event.
- Entries that do not meet either requirements to be considered an "Original IP" or a "Phisnom Fangame" will be immediately disqualified from receiving any kind of reward.
A project is considered an "Original IP" entry if it meets the following requirements:
- Only features copyrighted content owned by or consented to be used by the Developer / Dev team for the purposes of this event.
- Is not directly based off of Phisnom, Phi the Toxic Slime (Phisnom's Mascot) or The Toxic Cesspit (Phisnom's Community).
- All licensed or creative commons assets used in the project are given proper credit within the submission's Itch page or the game itself.
- Could realistically be sold on a digital storefront in the future without any legal issues.
A project is considered a "Phisnom Fangame" entry if it meets the following requirements:
- Features copyrighted content involving Phisnom, Phi the Toxic Slime (Phisnom's Mascot) or The Toxic Cesspit (Phisnom's Community).
- Clearly states that it is a fangame and that as such the Developer / Dev team does not own the rights to Phisnom's characters and intellectual property.
- All licensed or creative commons assets used in the project are given proper credit within the submission's Itch page or the game itself.
3. Development teams are allowed, but only one person may be considered the team's "Lead Developer".
- The Jam accepts entries made by both solo Developers and Development Teams. Teams are accepted to lessen the load of development, however please try to keep team sizes small! (Consult the Advice section for more details)
- If a team creates a game, all members who contributed to the final entry MUST be credited, whether a contribution is considered a big aspect of the game or just a small bit of help such as a single texture or sound effect, please make sure to credit all individuals involved.
- If a team creates a game, they MUST choose an individual to claim the "Lead Developer" role, this individual will be the one solely responsible for representing the team within the competition. The Lead Developer will also be responsible for submitting the game to the Jam, creating and maintaining the entry's Itch page, and will be contacted by the Jam's host in the event the game receives a Prize Pool or merch reward.
- Please note that the Lead Developer is the one responsible for properly organizing how rewards will be split among the team's members, so if you are a contributor on a team please ensure that you can confidently place your trust on a capable and responsible Lead Developer and that your team discusses these topics ahead of time.
- If you are a contributor working with a team on a specific Jam entry, this DOES NOT prevent you from working on your own separate submission! Contributors may work on multiple projects for the Jam either as solo developers or as a part of other teams, though this should be clearly disclosed upfront to other team members to prevent confusion.
4. The game MUST comply with Youtube's Community Guidelines.
- As valid entries will be showcased on Phisnom's Youtube Channel to be judged for the purposes of the competition, the game can not violate any of the rules set by Youtube's Community Guidelines, this generally means: No nudity or explicit sexual content, No real-life depictions of gore or bodily harm, No encouragement of suicide, self-harm or eating disorders, No endorsement of real-life criminal organizations or real-life hate speech, or any other type of content that could result in a content creator or their channel being put at risk.
- As this Jam is themed around horror games, please note that uncomfortable or dark subject matters often explored through a horror lens are allowed, just as long as the subject is treated with care and respect, and clearly not encouraged to be replicated in real life.
- Even if the game complies with Youtube's and Itch's Terms of Service. The Jam's organizer still reserves the right to remove or disqualify any game that they deem not appropriate or could pose potential issues due to the inclusion of controversial or distasteful content.
5. Do not include malware, ransomware, spyware or any kind of tools or scripts that could breach player privacy.
- Submissions will be inspected in a safe environment ahead of time to ensure that the download is safe to play.
- Any game that includes features which compromise the security and privacy of a user's files or personal information will be immediately disqualified, removed from the submission list and reported to Itch staff.
- Entries should NOT be reliant on an internet connection to be played and any online functionality should be clearly advertised and explained on the game's page.
6. Use of Generative AI tools is NOT allowed.
- Developers are responsible for ensuring that code, textures, models, audio, text or any other type of asset made for the game or licensed for use in the game is not created with the help of Generative AI models and tools.
- This includes any AI models, regardless of if they are "trained ethically" or not.
- If AI Generated content is found on an entry, regardless if it was included knowingly or without the developer's intention, both the entry and the Lead Developer will be immediately disqualified from the event.
7. The game MUST be submitted in a playable state.
- Valid entries must at the very minimum contain a start screen, a main gameplay level and an achievable win state.
- Entries do not necessarily need to be full games! Playable prototypes, alphas, betas and demos are accepted.
- Bugs and glitches are expected in game jam entries. Though an excessive amount may reflect negatively on the entry's score.
- You must build your game for Windows platforms.
- Web builds are accepted! As long as they are playable on a PC / Laptop.
8. All contributors must be 18 years or older to participate.
- Regardless of the individual being a Lead Developer or a small contributor, children are not allowed to participate in this event.
- This requirement is non-negotiable. Entries found to include contributions provided by an individual under the age of 18 will be immediately disqualified. This extends to during the submission process, the judging process and even retroactively after the winners have been announced.
Advice 💡
These are not rules, but it may be helpful to your project's success in the competition if you keep these things in mind (click on each arrow for more info):
1. Keep it short and simple!
- Gamejam entries are NEVER intended to be full games, even relatively small games can take months to develop and that's time you DON'T have! So make sure to come up with a single strong core idea that doesn't need many working pieces to function, and only build on what's necessary to make that concept work.
- There may be many ideas you might be excited about, but sacrificing them in order to get the project out on time is the only way to not get stuck and miss that very important deadline...
- And if by the end of the Jam you've created something that you or your team want to develop further, an updated build or maybe a full game, then you'll know for sure that you have something special in your hands!
2. Keep team sizes small!
- As discussed in the rules section, while teams are allowed to participate in this Jam, we strongly discourage large team sizes.
- Ideally, four to six people should be your limit when putting together a team, with each person contributing something unique to the project (eg: One person for programming, one for art and textures, one for models and animation, one for sound effects and the soundtrack).
- Inviting multiple people as contributors increases the chances the project may run into issues, from team disagreements and infighting, to certain members being suddenly unavailable, to development slowing down due to poor management. All of these issues and more can occur from large team sizes with a lot of contributors.
3. There's no shame in looking stuff up!
- If you go into the project with no idea on how to achieve your goal, don't hesitate to look up video tutorials for your engine or art program of choice.
- Sometimes taking inspiration from works that came before you is necessary, as long as the feature is not core to your project's identity, looking at what other games have done before yours and how they tackle design problems can teach you a lot for how to implement a mechanic or feature into your game.
- Asset stores exist for a reason! If you don't have time to make a prop, record a live explosion sound effect or animate a character walking, relying on free asset libraries is usually the way to go. Just make sure to read the terms of use for the assets you download and give proper credit when needed.
4. Here's some FREE programs to get you started with game creation!
- If you are unsure on what game engine to chose for your project, use: Godot Engine.
- For 3d model creation & animation work, use: Blender.
- For textures, sprites, concept art and image editing, use: Krita.
- For composing songs and little jingles, use LMMS.
- For audio editing and recording, use: Audacity.
- For editing trailers and game footage, use: Davinci Resolve.
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