Admin/host I have a question. I'm almost done with my game but I really don't want my game to be disqualified and my hardwork not paid off..so I want to ask now..my game jam project has no battles and puzzles, just pure adventure horror game. Do you think it is allowed?...I am doing a visual novel so not rpg. Thank you.
Hello,
It was a hard decision in your case, but I have decided to remove your game from the jam. I'm sorry. I will tell my reasons below:
1. When you said you were doing a visual novel, I thought you meant a visual novel game, which is a visual novel where you make choices to progress through the story. Your submission is just a story. There is no game at all. The "player" has not even one single choice. Ultimately, this is a game jam, and your submission is not a game.
2. Your submission does not exactly follow the theme. The character isn't really under a delusion, rather he just has amnesia. He doesn't know who he is or what's going on. The only belief he has is that a monster is chasing him, and it is not made clear to the "player" at all that this isn't true until the very end. The player doesn't know what's going on, and so doesn't know if it's true.
For these two reason, I believe your game doesn't fit the requirements of this jam.
I'm very sorry and wish you the best with further development of the project.
Unfortunate..I am about to add choices in the future with different endings. Well story driven games without battles and puzzles can be classified as 'games' also. Pure exploration games as well. For the delusional part, beside the fact that the main character has amnesia, the events and characters (NPCs) that he interacted were part of the delusion done by the monster. Anyway, thank you for considering my entry, sad that it was declined. Good luck with your game jam.
It may well be that it ends up being a game in the future, however, what you submitted to the jam was not. exploration games can certainly be games, but your submission doesn't even have exploration. It's just keep clicking for the next line of text until the end.
The major issue with it that makes it not follow the theme as outlined is that the player does not know from the beginning what is going on. If the player already knew he was the murderer of all those people but the character didn't know, then it would have been fine. But the player doesn't find this out until the end when the character finds out.
I do wish you the best with developing it further, it just doesn't fit in this particular jam.
