Now that the games have been submitted and judging is well under way, I can't help wondering what the theme for the next jam will be. Vampires, pirates, fairy tales, sci fi, time travel, horror, humour, detective mystery, fantasy or archaeology. These are all the classic themes, but what about something a bit more imaginative? How about something based in ancient China, myths and legends of a foreign land, something based on a historical event or a Bible story, Australian bushrangers, the stone age, something set in the Arctic or Antarctica, a war story or a search for outlaws in the Wild West. It could be just a word, like 'pumpkin'. The things to keep in mind are the time period, the geographic location and the goal. Whatever the theme, it should allow a lot of variety in the submitted games. Any ideas?

I love the idea of mythology from foreign lands!

Growing up, I loved mythology, and read all about myths and folklore in the Western civilizations. However, I don't know much about the myths and folklore of the Eastern civilizations. I find all of it fascinating and intriguing.

Having said that, I will probably be unavailable for the next game jam, so... no need to listen to me.

I think that Im going to stay away from enforced theme choices in the future, and stick to common design constraints. Kind of like the "treasure hunt jam". It wasn't very prescriptive except that graphics were not allowed. 

I'm glad we had Halloween and Christmas jams, but the Christmas jam in particular was kind of tough to adhere to the theme.

If there is a themed based jam in the future it'll probably be super vague. Something like "mythology", or "sci-fi".

While I likely won’t participate in another Adventuron jam (I just wanted to try Adventuron this time, and Inform 7 still suits my needs better), here are some thoughts.

myths and legends of a foreign land

I’m note sure that’s a very good idea, because it’s possible for the games to be disrespectul in some way for the foreign culture. It’s difficult to make enough research to stay true to the original material, especially during a jam. (All this depends of the chosen culture of course, there’s more risk with marginalised ones.)

For this Christmas jam, I think it should have begun sooner, and the voting period too. I haven’t played the games yet, and I’m not in a Christmas mood anymore since it’s mid-January.

It would have been better for the jam to start at the beginning of November, and the voting period to start at the beginning of December, so that you have the whole of December to rate the games.

If there is a themed based jam in the future it’ll probably be super vague. Something like “mythology”, or “sci-fi”.

It’s a good idea, but more than vagueness, I think that the theme should be an evocative concept, open to multiple interpretations.

In the French interactive fiction comp, the theme are things like “the sky”, “ruin” or “screens”. They are words that have multiple meanings, both litteral and figurative, that are easy to include, and it’s always interesting to see how authors used them.

For me, “sci-fi” or “mythology” are a bit too generic, they don’t help getting your imagination going.

Well, that was my 2 cents anyway.

The rules of the next jam are pretty much written now.

One thing I can share is that the next jam will be the first adventuron gamejam to have optional graphics (previous jams either required graphics or demanded no graphics - in order to create a level playing field). 

I do suspect that games without graphics will not resonate with "mainstream" players very much, but it reduces the author's burden significantly.