itch.io

Rev is a major role model in the TTRPG community on Bluesky, directly responsible for inspiring me to work on more TTRPGs and providing a list of easily accessible open source resources that I've referenced on multiple occasions (the combat system I'm working on for Vekari:RB uses Motif!)

 Their articles arguing for different types of TTRPGs and embracing variety in games inspires me to look beyond the usual boundaries, to test the limits of games without worrying about needing to reinvent the wheel, adding more where more is not needed for the sake of bulk, or making a game a certain way because that's what a TTRPG "should" be. 

The least I can do is offer what I've made back for something like this. Thought Punks must go on, Herrus has declared it 🪐

This is Key Quest with extra steps because the way my favourite game went neglected and then was entirely overlooked when the TTRPG came up pained me. I said on Bluesky that it would have been easy to adapt Key Quest into a TTRPG. Well now there is one!

Noting for clarity sake that this is part text-based game, part novel :)

The smallest of the set (D4) is the inner ring, the largest (D20) is the outer ring. It's a blank template, so you're welcome to adjust it to whatever needs you have! Highlight the section, add a little picture, do whatever your heart desires to it

Got questions about the jam itself? This thread is for those! Ask whatever clarifying questions you may need about submissions or rules to make sure everything goes smoothly!

Some anticipated FAQs:

• Can I submit multiple works? (Yes!)
• Can I include non-Vekari characters or places? (Yes, as long as Vekari ones are included as well!)
• Can I write a fanfic between my character and a Vekari character? (Absolutely)
• Can I make up Vekari places or characters that you haven't? (Go for it!)
• Do I keep ownership of my work? (Entirely, yes! More information about Vekari's licensing can be found at https://vekari.net/ttrpg/ in the Unofficial Content and Licensing section, found by scrolling down)
• Will my work be hosted on vekari.net? (If you want it to! The three winners will definitely be in the form of custom-drawn banners, while others may be hosted as linked works and simple embeds. All hosted works will be fully linked and credited. Not all submitted works will be hosted, but I will do my best to hang on to as many as possible!)
• Do I have to make my piece in Vekari's present day? (Not at all. It doesn't even have to be *on* Vekari. You can make works about the last of the humans as reported by Flek in their last transmission, you can even make a work about Dr. Hallinger if you'd like. The entire universe Vekari exists in is your playground!)
• Can I team up with other creators? (Absolutely, I encourage it even! Go make some friends!)
• Can I submit a work after the deadline? (Generally, no. I am however willing to make exceptions in certain cases when asked, like if your ADHD does the ADHD thing or your fish dies in the last week. I am not that strict.)
• When will winners be announced? (About 2 weeks after the jam ends. I want plenty of time to go through every single submission, and to give all of you time to pick your favourites as well. There will be a dedicated thread for discussing the projects and picking a winner, so don't run off right when the jam ends! If I am unable to contact winners after this period, I will pick new winners and the original winning submissions will be disqualified. )
• What sort of triggering content needs a warning, and am I really required to add warnings to my work? (Firstly, yes, you are required to, as I myself have C-PTSD and don't want to be set back on judging because someone forgot to tag a trigger. I can handle a lot with a warning, but without is just no fun to run into. Some [not all] things you may need to tag are: non consentual content, NSFW, torture, kidnapping, drugs, mutilation, child abuse, and plot-related bigotry. Tags can be applied as actual tags,  just mentioned at the TOP of your work's description, submitted in the warnings box when submitting the work, or all of the above. If you are wondering if your work needs a warning not listed here or if the warnings apply to your work, you may ask in this thread. If you have an issue or think content warnings are stupid, this isn't the jam for you. No exceptions.)
• What if I don't want to use the world of Vekari or its characters? (The world of Vekari exists in a really vast universe. Feel free to make stuff about other planets, characters, and creatures, as long as you reference at least one thing from the Vekari site. The gods are actually creatures made of space dust called Kosmysts. Use that for something. Who am I to limit you to one lonely planet?)
• Can I use Gen AI for— (No. Human brain work only. If you have a problem with that, go pick another jam.)
• Can I write smut? (As long as you tag it properly)
• Can I make something that would be found within the world, like a character, newspaper, or magazine? (Absolutely. I can even put it on the site as such. Your imagination is the limit.)
• Can I destroy Vekari? (Sure. The gods try to defend and protect the planet the whole time, so keep their stated abilities in mind. It won't be easy.)
• Can I complete in-game quests using this jam? (Very glad you asked. It is secretly also an ARG, so yes. No spoilers or suggestions, but yes. You can also use it to influence the site story going forward. If your solution/story is well-made and thought out, I will make it part of the game's story and adjust things as appropriate. For 2 months, you have direct power to change the world of Vekari in canon. Use it wisely.)
• Can I change existing Vekari lore? (You can, but it won't ever be able to be canon. I will still enjoy engaging with it and it might get hosted as a fictional story in the game's library. Fiction-ception.)
• Why did you write so much? (I'm mentally unwell. Be thankful I gave you so much material to work with.)

Hello hello! This thread is for those needing/wanting help from me directly with their projects.

I am a wearer of many hats and am happy to help make sure you have something to show by answering any questions you may have (to the best of my ability) about the world of Vekari, but I am also able to help with programming, art, game design, editing, and music related questions. If I don't have an answer, perhaps someone else will, or I can help you find the answer and we can learn together! I am not qualified to help you with therapy or emotional questions or turmoil that may come up, just a warning. 

If you are looking for general feedback or collaborators, please make your own thread for those. 

Thought this would be a cool way to add variety to spells and boss attacks in a game I'm working on, works perfect for what I need it for! 

This is such a beautiful (if sad) short story that really hit me in the feels, very well written 🖤

omg thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it and I hope Boxo brightened your day a bit 🤡

Sweet, thank you! I'm excited to share, just trying to get all my posts and files in order! Boxo will be showing his face here tomorrow!

I have an already released game I made for Game Off in November (Poltersprite), but I happen to have effectively doubled the content while also redoing main mechanics entirely, and the new map happens to be a haunted carnival, with one of the new ghost types being a clown! The map is also decorated with many clown dolls, his name is Boxo. The ghost can also make Boxo appear in its room out of nowhere! I'm releasing the updated version of the game tomorrow, and worked on it for about the past 2-3 weeks so within the time frame of the jam. Would I be able to submit this, or is it a no go because it was already released and playable for the previous jam? No hard feelings if so, I figured it doesn't hurt to ask since I changed so much! I'm here to play all the clown games either way lol

I didn't realize I wrote a whole novel on this, oops. Sorry! Just excited aha

Hey! I made a Game Boy game in the tail end of 2024 in about 2.5 weeks for Game Off, and was pretty proud of it. It ended up doing better than I expected, so I'd told players I'd update it with new content post-jam. It's... May 4th and I just finished it finally XD Oops

Did not find this jam sooner but I've done the majority of the work on this update in the past couple weeks, and I'm dropping it tomorrow, so seems like a fitting place for me to be! Gonna take a few days off and then maybe I'll work some delayed Vekari update in and submit that here as well :)

I hand-drew 10 pixel art scenes (nearly doubled the project size), redid the journal and inventory entirely, wrote more music so it is slightly less annoying, added a printable game manual, and went over a bunch of suggestions from my Game Off comments and tried to work in as much as I could! Now I just need to scrape together funds for cartridges XD

I would like to yes, sorry about that! My contact email is kfenik@proton.me :)

I love the transformation theme and the butterfly imagery, the wings and art were very pretty!! Well done!!!

This was such a cute game! I loved the art style, and the microgames kept me on my toes. Really polished!!!

Just used these with the font for a jam game, really nice bundle!

Mine's stream-friendly and is up now! 

Painting Tomorrow is a casual splatter pinball game with minimal text ☺️

Play Painting Tomorrow

Let me know if you do stream, I'd love to sit in and watch!

Really polished and really interesting seeing a story like this in a platformer. I enjoyed the challenge of each area and the colour transitions felt really clean, well done!

This was one of the games I was most excited to play and it did not disappoint. Did get stuck on first floor for a bit but eventually found the one thing I missed to progress and was greatly rewarded for it. I loved the sketchy art style and the bathroom of hair was pure nightmare fuel. Amazing experience, excellent work!!

Short little psych horror but I love to see it! Would also like to see a but more after day 1 but the story was really interesting and the controls felt really good to handle. Well done!

This was incredible! The buildup to discovering everything was very well done, the art was haunting even with its small palette with the careful use of red on greyscale. Excellent work!!

I made a ghost investigation game for the Gameboy- inspired by Phasmophobia :)

https://itch.io/jam/game-off-2024/rate/3126066

This is all amazing feedback, thank you so much!!!! I will definitely be taking notes here to improve, I appreciate the suggestions immensely. I'm glad you enjoyed it and very happy to hear I delivered on the atmosphere and artwork :)

This was captivating, well written, and had an excellent art style and atmosphere. I'm excited to see this expanded!

I'm glad you enjoyed! You can press the A button while text is typing to auto-advance and just read, but I will absolutely be speeding that up a bit after voting. Thank you so much for the great feedback!

Really loved this one, the art and palette is aesthetically pleasing, the characters are unique and interesting, the game lets you sit in suspense wondering if you were right or wrong. Great cyberpunk vibes as well, really well done!

Short with basic gameplay but feels very much like an arcade-style game. Movement was a bit floaty but overall more than manageable and fun!

Really enjoyed the cipher decoding aspect, as someone who enjoys ciphers! Camera controls were a bit weird at first until I figured things out, agree clicking letters to decode would be neat and help speed things up for players not familiar with these ciphers as letter by letter can take quite a bit of time. Overall a fun game, keep up the good work!

Short little puzzle platformer, I liked the background music and the visual aesthetics. The little player dude is very cute :)

Short and sweet puzzle game with a great atmosphere, I really enjoyed it! I would love to see it expanded in the future, well done!

I'm glad you enjoyed it!! Thanks for the feedback, I'll speed things up a smidge after voting ends 😁

I'm really happy to hear you enjoyed it and that it didn't disappoint!! I do have J set as 'A' and K set as 'B' which are somewhat on the right side of the keyboard, but I can consider another binding for sure! Thank you so much!

I'm glad you enjoyed it! This is great feedback and I'll take it into account for post-jam updates :)

The ghost and room are randomized each game, so it's definitely possible to get the same ghost back to back. Happens fairly often with only 4, I'm hoping to add a few more to lower the chances of this after voting!

That means so much, thank you!!! And I am simply one man :)

I'm so happy to hear you enjoyed it!!

Prefacing with I know absolutely nothing about the source

I really liked the casual gameplay alongside the messages of resistance and general community-building aspect. Easy to understand how to play and not very long to complete, I thoroughly enjoyed liberating a city and convincing people not to shop at megacorps. Some of those text entries make you think! This was well-made, great job!!

I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if you had to get friendly with a few ghosts! Thank you so much!

I gave it another go with your control tips, I definitely think increasing the jump height just a smidge would make things more smooth. Got up on the platform with a (carefully timed) sprint jump though! Controlling the camera with the mouse works well, though I do still seem to end up on a slight diagonal after a few movements despite setting it straight initially, so not sure what's up there but potentially something to look into! Just glad I got on the platform XD

Any plans to patch/update after voting? I'd love to share the build with some of my friends if so :) Keep up the great work!

Really like the concept behind this, the characters are really unique and they carry the spooky carnival vibe well. The music is captivating and the game does a good job of making me want to find the hidden cards. Unsure if it's just the browser version but movement appeared to walk on a diagonal from the camera, which made it kind of awkward and at times difficult to control. If I'm supposed to be able to jump up the short platforms near the floating cards, it won't let me past the first step no matter what angle I use. Also you can get stuck by running into the trees :') Overall an interesting game, I'd be interested in revisiting with some fixes and seeing it more fleshed out environment-wise!