Ratings

This jam is now over. It ran from 2024-01-01 06:00:00 to 2024-04-01 04:59:00. View results

Welcome To The Visual Novel/Interactive Fiction AI Asset Jam

The purpose behind this game jam is to encourage game developers, new and experienced alike, to become familiar with new tools that will soon become the standard in both personal and commercial projects. The use of AI generated content is required in entries to this game jam.

The jam runs over the period of several months to let people get acquainted with AI tools and to give newer game developers plenty of time to design and develop their game.

Note: Steam does not currently allow games made with AI, in any part of the game, to be sold on its store. Please keep this in mind when planning out your game.

Theme: Unsolved Mysteries

The theme for this jam is Unsolved Mysteries, the TV show that ran from the late 80s to 2002 when the host passed away. It's not required that your game is directly related to the TV show -- there are plenty of adjacent themes and ideas that would fit as well. Here's a list of possible ways to follow the theme if you need some ideas:

A story with a narrator
80s/90s aesthetic
Reinactments
Murders
Missing persons
Conspiracy theories
Alien abductions/UFOs
Ghosts
Solving a previously unsolved mystery
Creating an unsolvable mystery

Rules

AI generated content must be used in your entry. This can be code, art, writing, audio, music, or anything else as long as it's generated with machine learning.
Your game must be in the format of a visual novel or interactive fiction.
You must give a brief description of where AI was used in your game. This is to help reviewers figure out how well AI content was able to be incorporated. This will be given in a field when submitting the game, so you aren't required to note it in your itch.io page or inside the game.
No pornography. Mature themes are allowed (remember to mark your project appropriately), but everyone has already seen how easy it is to generate naked anime girls. This game jam's focus is on all the other content that AI tools can generate.
Your game should ideally less than one hour in length. The focus of your game should not be replacing quality with quantity.
Your game should be completable. Demos are fine, but there should be a clear beginning and end of your game.
You can start planning out your game as soon as you want, and you can try out AI tools to get an idea of what you'll be able to generate, but the majority of assets for your game should only be created after the jam has started.
You must submit your game before the deadline.
Your game should be free to play until the jam and voting period ends.

Voting & Prizes

There are two prizes available: one $50 Steam® gift card for the entry that receives the most points overall, and one $50 Steam® gift card for the entry that receives the most points for integration of AI assets.

Voting will be open to submitters only. Entries will be judged on the following criteria:

Incorporation Of AI Assets: How well does your game incorporate AI generated assets into its gameplay and story?
Fun: How fun or interesting is your game to play?
Style: How does the presentation of your game set itself apart?
Innovation: What kind of unique gameplay or story ideas does your game contain?
Use Of Theme: How well does your game represent the theme?

FAQ

What game engine should I use?

Visual Novel

RenPy: Free, popular python-based engine.
Monogatari: Free HTML5-based engine.
NaniNovel: Unity plugin. Pricey, but worth it.
Unity, Unreal, Godot, or any other engine of your choice as long as it can create a visual novel!

Interactive Fiction

Twine: Free, popular HTML5-based engine.
TweeGo: A stand-alone compiler for Twine files. Useful for larger and more advanced Twine games.
Inform 7: For creating text adventures like Zork.
Any other engine of your choice as long as it can create interactive fiction!

What AI tools should I use?

Machine learning is an emerging technology with a lot of volatility. I've put together a small list of tools to help get you started, but you might have to dig around to find something that will work for you. Free tools were included as available. Tools with asterisks run on your local machine, which require more setup and a more powerful computer. However, if you can get the tools running locally they can't be randomly shut down or changed like hosted sites.

Images

Text/Code

Voice

Audio

Am I required to share the prompts or models used to generate my content?

It would be great for you to share your processes to help in the education of other developers, but no, that is not a requirement.

How much can I modify my AI generated assets?

Ideally, the less the better, but there's no getting around having to make some modifications to get generated content ready for use. Whatever works for your game is fine.