itch.io

I've been working on it for a week or so. The page has been up for a little while but I'm still tweaking bits here and there. This jam defo felt like a sign to show it off! Solo RPG but you fuck yourself, literally <3

Censor This! Jam is running 'til 1st April! If you share somewhere to share your analogue and narrative work (TTRPG, zines, super-cool-experimental-stuff), come join us. We're all about overcoming the censors and creating games about politics, queer culture, sexual expression, the experience of oppression, and tearing down the old world to rebuild a better one. Anti-fascist, anti-apartheid, anti-AI, no edginess for edginess sake. If you make stuff like this, join us, we'd love to see it!

The Online Safety Act 2023 is, in theory, supposed to protect British children from harmful and illegal content online. Instead, it's thrown Brits into a landscape of digital censorship, with young people remain as vulnerable online as ever (maybe even more than before). Queer content, activism spaces, factual resources (some Wikipedia pages!) and medical support forums (including anti-smoking and suicide support subreddits) have been locked behind age verification checks, controlled by companies external to the Government who are likely to exploit data for profit. It's pretty shit all round...

Itch.io is also impacted by the act. Certain game or creator pages may be inaccessible without a VPN in the UK. No specific reasons are ever given for this restriction, aside from it being in breach of the act. This could be due to the page featuring games rated 18+, being violent, sexual, but also queer or political. Itch.io doesn't enforce an age verification system (which is good, I guess), so you are essentially stonewalled instead, seeing a warning like this one.

This is bullshit. It's censorship in the name of 'protecting children' (a goal which the act is failing anyway). It unfairly impacts the online liberties of young people (because much of what is banned isn't, in fact, harmful) and is hugely invasive to everybody else. It's stifling freedom and creative liberties, both as creators and consumers. It's annoying the hell out of me and is one of the main reasons I set up this jam.

So, here's a question: is your content available in the UK? If you're not a UK-based creator and are curious about your reach, I'll turn off my VPN and check if you're banned here. If you are, where it as a badge of honour; it's a stinky law anyway!

I've never seen anything like this on Itch before. Really great!

Writing this game was a challenge and a joy. Where gaming often creates a fantasy of war, I wanted to write an experience that focuses on the ugly truth. While I've set a price for it, I have free community copies for all of my games, so don't let the fee chase you away. In addition to the main game and a few anti-war poster designs, I've just included a short personal essay about first person shooters and my feeling about the dehumanisation they breed. 

Checking out everyone else's submissions has been great! I hope to see more from all of you in the future.

It's a game, a manifesto, a call to arms (and, to me, it's verging on poetry). I love it.

Really fun! The disruptive nature of protest makes Untitled Goose Game the perfect game for inspiration. (Also, I love pigeons, so extra points for that lol!)

Really enjoyed what you submitted (even if it wasn't quite done yet). Dodging soldiers only to see them shoot each other and die in their only blood was really bleak; really effective anti-war message. 

The fullscreen was a little buggy for me, so I couldn't see what I was doing, but the style and music is really nice and homely; even though I couldn't really play it, there was a great atmosphere.

Really effective way to share your message - love it!

I have a soft spot for Katamari games; it's super satisfying when you get big enough to absorb tanks!

I ADORED this! It's short and simple, but it's SO powerful in it's message!

hey, just in case you (or anyone else) is new to coding and still trying to figure this out: after importing this download, go to 'story' in the top-left bar, then 'stylesheet'. the hex codes will be at the top (that's the bit that says 'light-main: #f8d8c9', etc); change the colours of the themes there. 

hope this is helpful :)

Been thinking a lot lately about the importance of anti-war war games... I really like this.

I'm very excited to take this for a spin; the next game I play is about to be decimated!

☠ 10 out of 10 ritual, would perform again ⛧

this is so deliciously satisfying!

hey! the invite to the discord has timed-out. if the server's still pretty active, i'd love you join y'all :)

This is so fun - I'm OBSESSED! I think it's really interesting that gamers can get nostalgic just for the visuals and music of an opening menu (it's all about the promise of what's to come I think); it's amazing how fleshed out each of these games seemed in my head based solely on the menus. The art and music are gorgeous and so distinct for each one. Such a unique little concept piece! 

what a typoless game, right? 😉

This is such a beautiful and well-formatted sheet! Can't wait to use it

I've been trying to figure out how to get rid of the link to my community page that's underneath the header to my profile - bc I'm a slave to aesthetics! I know that it can't currently be removed, only hidden with CSS. That's not exactly my forte but I might be able to figure it out myself if I knew  how the hell to enable CSS. I can only see that as an option when editing game pages. Am I being bone-dead stupid or is there something I have to do first?

I'm going to try the solution from this thread; does anyone know if this actually work?

I absolutely loved it! Really built up a lot of tension/anxiety in a short period of time with the subtle beginning and audio.