Sorry, but I need a bit more information to figure out what this game jam is really about. From my understanding (and the provided wikipedia link), we're talking story-driven games with mild puzzles (point-and-click or inventory based), and slow-paced gameplay. But you also said that innovation outside of genre is encouraged, before making it clear that non-adventure games would be removed.

So which of these examples would qualify as "graphical adventure games" and avoid being removed?

1. Puzzle games like The Witness and Hunie Pop. Big visual focus, some story-based gameplay, but gameplay mostly centered around a smaller puzzle minigame. I'm proud to probably be the first person ever to use those two games as the same example. XD

2. Card games or other turn-based strategy games with a visual novel storyline. Regency Solitaire comes to mind, but I mean any game where story outcomes are dictated by playing something else well, and that thing has zero twitch gameplay and can be played at your own pace.

3. Games where you build or have other influence over the world you are walking through. The adventure genre to me always has an action-adventure exploration vibe to it, but I like it when gameplay is less static and keeps you thinking as you wander. Picture as a Minecraft world with events in certain areas, so you can build anywhere but need to find the things you are looking for.

4.  Something like The Aurora Wager where you refuel and build onto a primary transportation object that gets you to better areas. Most likely with more plot than that game, but not necessarily. Does this count as action-adventure instead of walking simulator?

5. Traditional RPGs with turn-based puzzle-like combat, but also an emphasis on branching conversations. Okay, okay, I don't expect this to be approved, but I have to know where the line is.

I really appreciate any feedback here, as it does affect whether I join or not. I'm much more of a ludologist than an narratologist, so I always like to push the boundaries when I can. :3

Hello,

Yes, I understand how, with so many games out there doing different things, it can sometimes be hard to differentiate genres. I'd like to first make it clear that I will not be going through joyfully looking for games to axe. I sincerely hope that I don't have to remove any at all. I'll judge each game with as much charity as I can muster. However, last year, I was saddened to see in the rankings that some pretty good adventure games were lower in the rankings than some games that were not even adventure games at all (they were also good games but not adventure games). This is not an acceptable situation to me to have people who followed the spirit of the jam beaten by those who did not. Since I cannot simply remove a game from the rankings (a feature I have repeatedly asked for), I will have no choice but to remove it from the entire jam :-(

An adventure game can be defined as a game that has the following characteristics:

• It's narrative focused. Not just some narrative tacked on. The narrative is the entire reason someone would be interested in the game.
• Puzzles are tightly woven into the story. The puzzles are the significant plot points in the story, not things you do outside of the story to arbitrarily block your progress, and not abstracted out to a different kind of activity.
• Puzzles are how you progress through the game, and every puzzle solved moves the story along in a tangible way.
• Lastly, it is not clearly any other kind of game besides an adventure game. If it looks and acts like a... match 3 game, for example, that's the kind of game it is no matter how much it might can be squeezed into the adventure game box with enough mental gymnastics.

So to the games you mentioned:

1. No, these are clearly Puzzle Games with a very minimal plot tacked on.

2. No, card games and turn-based strategy games are not adventure games even with a plot tacked on.

3. I'm not exactly clear what you mean. Minecraft is clearly not an adventure game, but it seems like you mean something else that is sort of like Minecraft but has "events?" I guess it depends on how much these "events" cause the game to resemble an adventure game. I can't say for sure whether this is or is not an adventure game as I'm not entirely sure what the gameplay would entail. Certainly being able to build or have influence over the world does not stop something from being an adventure game in and of itself though.

4. I watched a bit of a gameplay video for the Aurora Wager. It looks like a sort of rogue-lite building and flying game. It is certainly not an adventure game. I skipped around in the video quite a lot and saw no indication of a narrative, just flying around and gathering things so you can continue to fly around.

5. You are right. RPG's are not adventure games.

I definitely am a fan of pushing the boundaries, but for this jam, you do have to stay within them even if you push them a bit. I would say all of your examples are very far outside the boundaries.

I also like a wide variety of different types of games. It's just this particular jam is only for adventure games.

Thank you for the reply! For the third example, I was thinking you would be in a 3D world and could build ladders on any tree, or dig caves anywhere, and you had to use maps and story events to find the right places to explore to progress the narrative. So maybe you're a treasure hunter on an island of thieves, and you talk to people in town to find out where they hid treasure and their maps and then use the newfound wealth to purchase a boat and leave. Based on your reply, I think this would still probably fall too much under action-adventure or 3D platformer for your tastes, so I'm going to guess it's a no here too.

As I'm more ludologist than narratologist, I think this isn't the jam for me, but best of luck to everyone else participating! I prefer making systems and puzzles in my gameplay, and the story usually ends up secondary to the moment-to-moment engagement. You definitely cleared things up for me, so I appreciate all the time you put into this thoughtful reply. I hope this jam produces a lot more great adventure games for everybody!