It's the custom among patricians that first-born children, slated to inherit nothing of their families' estates, venture out of numb Ibul into the wide world, and that -- in the case of the Iuto family -- they shove off with the companionship of their household's foremost hound. So it came to be that Octadius, grown by manhood into a spiteful wreck, pledged his intention to cross bleak Arthax with his canine Hylaeus, who himself harbored no desire to abandon his lamplighted streets, but -- lacking the rights afforded to dogs in other parts of the world -- was forced to obey. And when Octadius, who cherished courage more than sense, found himself impaled on the fossilized stinger of a manscorpion, Hylaeus could do little more than look on with irritation at his own new predicament, and ponder how he might finish crossing the desert with his life in tow. By a hound's luck, though, several days of vexed wandering were rewarded with the company of a dromad caravan, which saw him safely to the white dunes of the East, and from there, to a curious land called Qud.
Courage and Sense, Hylaeus' recall story

Conjure a traveler and their companion

Join us this November for a 73*-hour modding jam for Caves of Qud, everyone's favorite indie science-fantasy roguelike RPG! Challenge yourself to create presets and pets, and add them to the game.

* thanks to the ending of DST in the USA

Submissions

This jam is unranked. If you choose a public domain license when submitting your entry, we will consider it for inclusion in a compilation modpack to be released after the jam that will be linked on this page. You'll need to edit XML text files and PNG sprites, though no programming is required. Please do not submit C# files in your mod, they will not be considered for the compilation pack. Work by yourself or with friends! More info about submitting your mod is available on the submission page.

Resources

See the Modding section on the Caves of Qud Wiki for information on what programs you need, required file structures and locations, links to example mods, and tutorials. Some specific pages of note are Modding:Pets and Modding:Tutorial - Custom Player Tiles.

Want to ask a technical question or chat with other participants to get the juices flowing? Hit up the Kitfox Games Discord, the Caves of Qud Discord, or the jam's message board on the Community tab up above.

Frequently(?) Asked Questions

When do I work on the mod?

We encourage you to work on physically creating your mod (e.g. writing the data files) during the 73 hours when submissions are open—that is, from November 1st at 22:00 UTC to November 4th at 23:00 UTC. Conceptualizing outside of this time is allowed.

If you have never modded Caves of Qud before, consider going through the steps of creating a mod to get acquainted with the tools and concepts. The wiki's Snapjaw Mages tutorial is a good start.

How do I ensure my mod is considered for the jam pack?

In order to be considered for the jam pack, the mod must contain only data files (see question below) and be released under Creative Commons Zero (there will be a toggle on the submission page). Additionally, for this jam mods that contain only pets and presets are likely be considered.

What is a preset?

A preset is a pre-made character configuration with an optional custom tile. You can learn more about making one on the Modding:Tutorial - Custom Player Tiles page on the Caves of Qud wiki. This deliberately excludes custom genotypes and subtypes, but does not exclude otherwise unattainable builds.

What is a pet?

A pet in Caves of Qud is a follower that you can select at the beginning of the game. A number of pets have been made available to patrons of the Freehold Games Patreon, but multiple user-created pets have also been published. You can learn more about making one on the Modding:Pets page on the Caves of Qud wiki. Similar to last year’s Monster Mash, any data-file-based modding is fair game, so long as it is sufficiently related to the creation of a pet.

Can I submit multiple mods?

Yes, you can make multiple submissions.

What counts as a data file?

In short, everything but C# counts as a data file. This includes XML files, JSON files, RPM (map) files, images, and music.

What version can I write my mod for?

Please ensure your mod works on the latest 208.X version of the game.

What happens after the pack is released?

To lower the long-term maintenance burden but also allow for post-1.0 quick fixes, we will only actively update the pack until December 14th. After this period, we ask that you send us Pull Requests if you wish to update your mod in the pack. We may remove mods that break the pack.

Live and drink, traveler.

Organized by the Caves of Qud Discord team