itch.io

So, there is the following rule that makes me assume physical game design (board games, card games, TTRPGs, etc) isn't allowed...

"Control Guidelines: All games must be playable on at least Windows 10/11 and with mouse and keyboard."

... But would designing a physical game that is playable via a program ok? For example, a board game on Table Top Simulator, or a TTRPG that can be played over Discord.

UPDATE: Got this answered by the hosts in the Discord - yes, physical games are also allowed.

So, itch isn't a platform only for video games - assets, tools, albums, books, comics, physical games, and really just about whatever someone wants to post as a project can be found on the site. When searching through projects, that's why there is a drop down box at the top of the page to separate what kind of projects you're searching through. Switch if from "Games" to "Physical Games" and you'll get thousands of examples of TTRPGs, board games, card games, one-pages, etc.

Which brings me to another point, physical games aren't only boxed board games and card games, like you see in a store - it's just anything that doesn't require code to play. Which, if you wanna make the argument of accessability for people regardless of accessable tech - loading an image to see the rules of a game is *waaay* simpler for a device to do than trying to load and run code.

Sure, you could make a game that requires a board, pieces, extra bits, or what have you - but that doesn't stop it from being accessable on itch, or suddenly make it require shipping to play. Say you need a board; you can simply post the image file and players could just print it out (or if they are playing virtually, say over discord, one player could stream having the image file in a paint/photoshop -like program where you add and move the pieces on another layer).

That being said, a lot of the physical games you see on itch, especially those posted to game jams, don't require a ton of stuff like that. If it's an TTRPG, the most you might need besides a PDF for rules is a piece of paper, a pencil, and some dice (all of which can easily be replaced digitally, for free, if the player wanted). One-Page games are literal designed with the philosophy of "all you really need to do is to print 1 piece of paper," or, heck, just load an image of said paper (there is currently a jam specifically for these sort of games going on if you curious about learning more and want to see examples). Having multiple players (a common assumption when discussing physical games) isn't even a real requirement - solo physical games exist just as easily as solo digital ones.

As for actually posting and participating in a jam (especially one with voting): yes, you can post videos to itch on a project page or for a devlog on a project (or, bare minimum, put a link in a comment or the project's description), so if you wanted to include recorded game footage, you can. That being said, you don't really see that happening a lot, since (as discussed above) these games aren't really all too difficult to just pick up and play. Sure it's not as seemingly simple to the player as clicking a "play" button and the game running (assuming the game was designed for browser play and the player has a device that can run it - which is not always the case, or arguably the case most of the time), but in most cases all that's required is loading an image or downloading a PDF, doing some reading, and MAYBE getting some sort of physical component like dice, playing cards, or a notepad, assuming they are even needed (all of which, again, can easily be replaced digitally).

TLDR: Itch isn't just a site for digital games and physical games are a lot more simple and accessable than you're implying (arguably more accessable than digital). There is nothing really stopping non-digital entries to game Jams, unless the host specifically wants it to be digital only (hence this thread - seeing as digital vs non-digital is never clarified in the jam's page).

Love the design of this game! The whole idea of using syllables count mechanically is really inspiring and led me to making my own syllable based one-page almost immediately. Just wanted to thank you for the idea! ... And also point something out I randomly noticed about your project.

Apparently the way Itch allows users to search for projects is extremely separated by project type, and they make the point to separate "(digital) games" and "physical games." While doing some research/testing into how it all works, noticed your game is categorized as "game" as opposed to a "physical game" (which I assume is the preferred category... But also for all I know this might be intentional) . . . I get this is probably a weird specification to make, but it seems if you are searching physical games, this project just won't turn up as a result (personally wish there was a search for both physical/digital - or they call the "games" category "digital games" - but oh well). IDK if this is something you'd want to change or not, but just in case it was, thought I'd point it out.

Personally, both digital and non-digital game design should be welcomed in game jams unless the jam's style is specifically for one or the other (ie. One-Page RPG jam, Godot game jam, etc). That being said, I am well aware to many people, the "game" part of "game jam" means digital only. Since I can't seem to find anywhere in the rules here providing a definitive yes/no on if non-digital games would be allowed, I thought it might be best to just directly ask.

Thank you!

Thank you!

While it can be a bit of a pain at times, I've found Slides to be a surprisingly useful program for designing documents and pieces for games; however, I wouldn't really recommend using it for a game's artwork like I did here, really that was just a self-appointed challenge... There were so many times I was considering just scraping it and opening up paint instead, but I'm glad with how it turned out in the end.