💘 Love at First Listen: Otome Jam
Create a short voiced branching romance story in qforge.studio.
Build an otome-inspired story with romantic tension, meaningful choices, character voices, and a playable/listenable experience people can enjoy directly in the browser.
💖 Open qforge.studio
💬 Join the Discord
🏆 Prizes
We’re awarding a total prize pool of $500 USD.
- 1st place: $250
- 2nd place: $150
- 3rd place: $100
Winners will be selected based on the jam ranking criteria.
🌸 What is otome?
Otome is a Japanese word meaning “maiden,” “young lady,” or “maiden-like.” Globally, the term is best known as the name for a genre of romance-themed story games, often created with a female audience in mind.
Otome games usually focus on romance, character relationships, emotional choices, and one or more love interests.
Create a romance story where the characters can be heard.
🎧 What is qforge.studio?
qforge.studio is a tool for creating voiced games.
You can write an interactive story with choices, generate voices for characters, add sound,
and publish a playable/listenable experience that people can enjoy directly in the browser.
Your game can be exported and embedded directly on your itch.io submission page, so people can play it without leaving itch, like in this example submission
For this jam, your submission should be created in qforge.studio.
💌 Theme
Love at First Listen
Interpret the theme in any romantic way.
Maybe the player falls for someone after hearing their voice. Maybe a mysterious stranger leaves a voice message. Maybe every choice changes the relationship. Maybe two characters meet through a magical call, a secret confession, a song, a curse, or a whispered warning.
Your story should include: romance + choices + voice
📌 Main requirement
Your submission must be created in qforge.studio.
It should include:
- romance
- at least two meaningful player choices
- voiced dialogue or narration
- a playable/listenable published story
You do not need to make a full game with art, UI, sprites, or complex mechanics. The focus is on interactive voiced storytelling.
📜 Rules
-
Create your story in qforge.studio.
Your final submission should link to a published qforge story. -
It should be otome or at least otome-inspired.
Your story should include romance, love interests, emotional relationships, flirtation, romantic tension. -
Include branching choices.
The player should be able to make at least one choice that affects the experience. -
Use voice.
Your story should include voiced dialogue or narration created in qforge.studio. -
Submit on itch.io before the deadline.
Your itch submission page should include the link to your qforge story. - Solo creators and teams are welcome.
-
Short stories are welcome.
A small finished story is better than a huge unfinished one. -
Keep it respectful.
No hateful, harassing, or discriminatory content. -
Mature content is allowed if clearly labeled.
Add content warnings where needed. -
Your story must be playable/listenable.
It does not have to be perfect, but people should be able to experience it.
💬 Discord
Please join the Discord for jam announcements, qforge.studio support, feedback, and community updates.
Because this jam uses qforge.studio, Discord is the best place to ask questions, report issues, find teammates, and get help while building your story.
Joining the Discord is strongly recommended so you don’t miss important updates and support.
📣 Share your progress
We’d love to see what you’re making.
Share your story ideas, screenshots, character concepts, voice clips or final submissions on socials using:
#LoveAtFirstListenJam
You can post:
- “I joined the jam” posts
- story concepts
- character introductions
- short clips
- favorite voice lines
- choice previews
- final story links
We may feature selected posts in the Discord or on our socials.
Sharing on socials is encouraged, but not required.
✅ Submission checklist
Before submitting, make sure your itch page includes:
- title of your story
- short description
- link to your published qforge.studio story
- how it fits the theme
- content warnings, if needed
- whether you worked solo or in a team
🎓 Tutorials
If you need help getting started, you can watch the tutorials here:
👉 Watch the qforge.studio tutorials
You can also try this example story created with qforge.studio:
👉 Play the example qforge story
Join our Discord to stay updated, share feedback, and connect with other players and developers.
We’d love to hear your thoughts, see your creations, and build this project together with you.
⚖️ Rights
Creators retain full copyright to their stories.
By submitting an entry, participants grant the jam organizers permission to showcase and promote their work in connection with the jam and qforge.studio, for example on websites, social media, presentations, or videos.
Proper credit will always be given to the creator.
❓ FAQ
Do I need to know how to code?
No. The jam is focused on creating a voiced branching story in qforge.studio.
Do I need voice actors?
No. qforge.studio lets you create voiced stories without hiring voice actors.
Does it have to be a traditional otome game?
No. Otome-inspired romance stories are welcome.
Can I work in a team?
Yes.
Can I submit a very short story?
Yes. Short, polished stories are encouraged.
Can I start planning before the jam?
Yes, planning is okay. The main story creation should happen during the jam.