We live in challenging times. We're not sure how you got here but, hello, welcome. Maybe you could use some distraction? If you do, read on:

A Game By Its Cover, our little game jam, is about browsing Famicase for inspiration, and to use that energy to make a small game out of it, and share it with the world (or a poem, or some bars on your instrument, or a single page pen&paper thing, who cares about videogame anyway).

What's Famicase, you ask? It's this amazing annual art exhibition from METEOR in Japan. They take old Famicom cartridges, and invite artists to design labels for them — for fictional games, that don't actually exist. They've been doing that for about 20 years now, and we think that's super cool. Go take a look at their 2024 exhibition.

We don't do prizes or rankings here, because competition is for losers. Real cyberpunks take care of themselves and others, and don't worry about deadlines too much.

Here's how to make, ahem, a game by its cover:

• Step 0: Make sure your mental and physical needs are met to the best of your ability
• Step 1: Make whatever you feel like, as long as it's loosely inspired by fictional game cover art.
• Step 2: That's it, you did it.

Here's our (as always totally optional) theme for this year:

Hole

FAQ

Q: Can I-

A: Yes

Q: OK but are there any rules I should follow?

A: Only one, which we take very seriously: Respect the wishes of the original artists, and don't appropriate their designs without consent. Refer to the submission form on this page (click "Join Jam", then "Submit" while submissions are open) for additional details.

Follow us on the Fediverse (if you're not a Fed), tag your stuff on the socials with #agbic to flash our secret gang sign, and go find some like minded jammers to vibe with on our discord.

Peace out ~ Dom & Ludo