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I was unable to judge your game, without a way to play it.

It is well deserved. I have yet to read an entry that I didn't like. some are good, others great, a few are like WOW... but everyone here understood the assignment and definitely fulfilled it, so far at least. :)

This is a very poignant game that takes loss seriously. I love how the entire game is essentially a thought experiment, with no "mechanics" as game designers usually understand them. Just contemplate the objects already around you, and make them into your NPCs. That is elegant and brilliant. I also feel like this game is somewhat educational, in that it illustrates what proper ethics should look like, if you are an animist or perhaps a pantheist. You have increased my understanding of how animist people think, feel, and see the world. I'm very grateful for that.

There is a lot of text in this game. I am unfortunately going to have to wait to play it all, slowly like it deserves, until I am done with the judging process. But I have a little feedback for you already.

I am a big fan of so-called walking simulator games like What Remains of Edith Finch and Through the Woods. You have taken this format and elevated it, by using pixel art instead of the standard 3D models.  I have never experienced another designer who thought to do this, and it really works well for your theme and story. This is an intensely personal work of art, and it is every bit as eligible for Favorite Educational Game as Favorite Spiritual Game. In future, I think I will add an award category specifically for games with queer themes. That is a strong current in the submissions I've already read.

You win the new category of Favorite Digital Game. I am so impressed with your vulnerability and your deep understanding of Greek mythology. It would be very difficult for me to decide whether this game is more educational or more spiritual, there are just so many elements of both, especially for a player who doesn't share any of your marginalizations or mine. So the most logical thing to do is to create a new award category around this game. I already did that for another one: Favorite Conceptual Game.

Thank you for making a game so good, it forced me to reevaluate what this jam will be in the future. Designers like you are who I hoped to meet by running it. If you would  ever be interested in collaborating on a game, I have wanted to work on a computer or mobile game for ages. My main specialization (unsurprisingly) is in narrative design, but I know enough C++ and BASIC to be able to write decent pseudocode.

I have not yet finished MEDUSA, but I'm stopping to make a quick comment for a couple of reasons:

1. I absolutely love a Gorgon as a metaphor for monstrosity as a form of power. Love love love. For myself, as a neuroqueer and gender-fluid person, I relate to the concept of the changeling in a similar way.

2.  I hope you don't mind a tiny correction on your Latin usage. "Moneo" would mean "I warn". Latin endings are pretty similar to Spanish and French endings that way. If you want to say "to warn", that would be "monere". Latin verbs usually end in -ere, -are, or -ire.

This game is a gorgeous example of how playing to lose / type 2 fun can work well in a solo journaling game. It reminds me of my own solo journaling game I'm Inside Your Head, which explores how horrifying it might be to suddenly develop psychic powers. But you are exploring two of my favorite topics in social psychology here, moral panics and out-group bias. And you do it so well.

This game is excellent, and I have to let you know it is also eligible for the Favorite Educational Game category. You have a real talent for psychoeducation, and your graphic design is very elegant. Well done.

Would you like to collaborate on it? I have tons of experience with the golden Cobra challenge, and getting one of their honorable mentions literally changed my life as a game designer. It would be a pleasure to work with you on a game for it.

On the contrary: thank you. You win the new category of Favorite Conceptual Game. Since I had to create a whole new category for your game, it seems only fair. (That's also how the Golden Cobra Challenge does it. I recommend entering this year.)

This game is balm for my queer, Jewish, socialist soul. Wonderful. You owe it to yourself to read the recent book "Here Where We Live is Our Country" by Molly Crabapple. Even within the Jewish community, many people know next to nothing about the Jewish Labor Bund, and how the Bolsheviks and Zionists destroyed it. 

What an elegant, insightful game about the subtle ways we dehumanize children. I particularly like the way you've figured out a way to make your mechanics sort-of halfway between Powered by the Apocalypse and something like a Choose Your Own Adventure book. The graphic design also perfectly fits your theme. Well done.

Hello, everyone. I'm so sorry for keeping you waiting this long. I take the judging very seriously, and some of these games are very, *very* long. I now understand why people have length limits in their contests sometimes, lol.  I'm afraid I bit off a lot more than I could chew, here.

I am still committed to reading everything, and then saying which is my favorite game for each category. My life is much less hectic than it used to be, so I estimate it will be a few weeks. Looking forward to being able to announce the good news, soon. 

Awesome, thanks. I just submitted it.

Have you seen a game called BadgeQuest? It reminded me of your game, except that it's a lightly supernatural game about selling Girl Scout cookies. In my first game, we were little scamps who ended up stealing the Grim Reaper's limo. I'm thinking of running a combined campaign, where the girls sometimes get together to play with their favorite Barbies, and then we'd switch over to Dollhouse DRAMA.

I want you to know my recent entry for Cozy Cat Jam is inspired by Dollhouse DRAMA, especially the way the mechanics work. I <3 your game so much. My cats have four stats, inspired by your three: Adorableness, Cleverness, Nimbleness, and Spookiness.

https://narrative-alchemy.itch.io/twilight-of-the-mouse-kingdom

Wonderful! I'm excited for you to see it. I'm particularly proud of the stats, secret societies, and playlists. The game is here. 

I've seen people mention they can do it on other jams, but I can't advise you on exactly how. No hurry. I still have a few elements that I can add to it while I'm waiting.

I had my game done in time, but I had a problem with my laptop and missed the deadline. I would love to still submit it, if there's a way for you to do that for me. I wrote it for this jam and would very much like to share it with everyone.

I've had some health issues lately, and I didn't anticipate how long some of these games would be. In future, I will have to put a length limit like the Golden Cobra Challenge. Will report back when I have some awards to announce.

I'm so excited to read them. It may take me awhile to get through everything. I will post another update when I have one.

I missed this comment before, but I'm happy to answer it now.

I made this game because I was tired of dealing with misconceptions about non-binary people, from both cis and trans people. "Non-binary doesn't exist", "You just want attention", "all non-binary people are necessarily trans", etc. I have long had an issue with the way binary thinking tends to destroy critical thinking skills, and it occurred to me this is related to non-binariness. I kinda went from there.

If you enjoy conceptual games and games that rely on accessibility, here are a few others of mine that you might appreciate:

Got Your Number...? is one of my weirder ones. it's about a society of numbers, and is based on numerical symbolism, number theory, and relationship styles (especially polyamory and polyfidelity).

Garden of Pathos is about giant cursed plants that used to be people, in Baba Yaga's greenhouse. I made it while I was taking a class about neurodiversity, Mad Studies, and critical psychology. It is my first game specifically aimed at including non-speaking autistics and other minimally verbal people. It's also my only award-winning game, so far.

When Silence Comes uses a Jenga tower to represent the mind of one member of a telepathic hive mind, as they travel slowly and then faster down the road of terminal dementia.

Please send me a copy or add a community copy, if you'd like this game to be judged.

Okay, I made that field no longer mandatory. So you should be able to check only the boxes you want to. Please let me know whether it works properly.

No, let me fix that

I don't use Gen AI anymore, after suggesting to Midjourney that they should block the names of all living artists who haven't opted in... And being ignored. Have also considered changing the cover art after the fact, but didn't think it would fix any of the harm done. You've given me more to think about though. Thank you.

Some LARP communities are very into serious games, Intercon and Knutpunkt / Solmukohta among them. "Playing to lose" / "type 2 fun" style gameplay is how I've most often seen it described. Can link you a few articles on it if you like.

I believe this is the first time I've had such a detailed review of any game I've written. And you definitely get what I was going for. I should probably add to the description that while I'm not schizophrenic, I have experienced psychosis on a few occasions. In fact, that might be a better word to use, since it's a symptom rather than a diagnosis. I appreciate you pointing that out.

I feel very seen and appreciated by your review. After running a couple of games at Meaningful Play Conference this week, and then reading this, I feel like the time for serious games is definitely upon us. You really hit the nail on the head when you were talking about how play is for adults too. Americans finally seem to be realizing this matters, and I agree with one of the keynote speakers that we're going to be able to change the world with it.

This was a great theme for a jam. If you run more, I look forward to participating in them. And if you would ever like to collaborate on something, that's one of my favorite things to do.

I'm so glad to hear it. This game is new enough that I haven't run it yet, but I'm scheduled to at Meaningful Play Conference in about a week and a half. Hoping to run it at Intercon W in late February / early March also.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to playing it myself. Might run it the next Intercon.

Sure, I'd love to.

Thank you :)  My other silent game, Garden of Pathos, is the only one to win an award to date. So I thought it was time for another. If you like the idea of playing a giant cursed plant in Baba Yaga's greenhouse, you might like that game also.

Thank you for catching that. I came here today to upload a version of the PDF with some minor corrections, only to find that I never uploaded the old one. It should be accessible now. Looking forward to your thoughts.

Sorry, what?

No problem at all. I'm pretty new to the site and I really appreciate your interest. One of my other games has been downloaded a lot more, but I think this one has generated the most comments and that's pretty interesting. It tells me something about what kind of games I should make more of... But what, exactly?

This is my first game specifically written to not be fun. At all. It's written too be frustrating, upsetting, possibly excruciating for some people. Maybe the point is that I should do more serious games. Already working on one in the new transformative role-playing game design program at Uppsala University. It uses a dyimg bear and her soon-to-be-orphaned cub to try to build empathy for animals, stereotyped people, and the terminally ill. That one's going to need a lot more testing before I let kids anywhere near it.

What is it that made you excited to read this game? That would probably be helpful to know.

This is an analog game that is designed to be played in person or via Discord. The download is a PDF that you should be able to use with any screen reading software that supports pdfs. If you have any trouble, I should be able to edit the options on the file and re-upload it.

Thank you! It was so much fun getting to listen in on some of your conversations as the moderator. 

Thank you! I just hope it isn't too upsetting for people to want to play it

You wish it was a book? I'm not sure there's enough material, but maybe I could do a short story based on this game...

I'm planning to do a revised version eventually, but right now I'm focused on my Golden Cobra game for this year.

That's fine. I didn't realize there would be ratings.