Welcome

Are you a game creator with a vision but held back by complex engines, steep learning curves amd overwhelmed by cryptic code? Yahaha Studio understands your needs and is dedicated to creating a low-barrier, code-free ? Yahaha Studio is here to change that. We offer a code-free, highly efficient game creation process that minimizes the learning curve and lowers the barrier to entry. With a focus on horror themes, we provide exciting game templates and a vast asset library filled with ready-to-use horror mechanics, so you can skip redesigning and dive straight into creation. Let your creativity soar in the ocean of game development. 

What are you waiting for? Join us on this thrilling journey through the shadows of creativity. Craft your horror game, and let it send shivers down the spines of players everywhere. Submit your game to our event, and who knows, you might just be the next horror game sensation!

We're excited to share updates to the Yahaha Game Creation Event:

- Event Timing: Our 7-day challenge is now a 21-day challenge.

- Increased Rewards: We've boosted the prize pool for the Horror Hatch event to incentivize participation and creativity. Details on the rewards can be found below.

- New Criterion: We've added "Game Duration" to our scoring, encouraging games over 20 minutes for a richer player experience.

- Flexibility for Veterans: Despite the extended timeline, you maintain the freedom to create as you wish.

Let's embrace these updates and continue to push the boundaries of game creation together!

Theme

Dead Phone

Background 

A phone is more than just a device—it’s a connection to the world, a source of information, a lifeline. But what happens when that lifeline suddenly goes silent? You find yourself in an unfamiliar place—a deserted road, an empty train station, a dimly lit apartment—when your phone inexplicably powers down. No calls. No messages. No way to reach anyone. As you search for answers, strange things begin to happen. Your phone turns on by itself. Unreadable texts appear in your inbox. Voicemails from unknown numbers whisper cryptic warnings. Is this a simple malfunction, or is something using your phone to reach you?

Please note: The content provided in this background is intended to help jammers understand the theme. You are free to interpret and develop the theme as you wish. The final game does not need to strictly follow the background story.

Key Features

- Technological Horror: Utilize a malfunctioning phone as a central gameplay mechanic, where incoming messages, missed calls, and corrupted files reveal unsettling clues.

- Isolation and Vulnerability: Create an environment where the absence of digital connection intensifies the player’s sense of helplessness.

- Reality Distortion: Play with the idea that the phone’s messages and alerts may be predicting events—or even causing them.

- Limited Resources: Introduce mechanics where players must manage battery life, signal strength, or decide when to use the phone at critical moments.

- Unseen Threat: Build suspense by suggesting that something is tracking the player through their phone, leaving them unsure of when and where danger will strike.

Hints

- Glitch Horror: Use visual and audio distortions—static screens, corrupted text, and eerie ringtones—to create a growing sense of unease.

- Psychological Tension: Is the phone warning the player, or luring them into a trap? Create moments where players must decide whether to trust the messages they receive.

- Time-Sensitive Choices: Force players to react quickly to phone alerts—do they answer a call from an unknown number, or ignore it and risk missing something important?

- Dynamic Environments:The world around the player could subtly change based on their phone interactions—does a missed call shift the setting? Does reading a message alter reality?

Your phone is dead, but something is still trying to reach you. Will you uncover the truth before it’s too late, or will you become just another lost soul in the void?

Special Task

1. We have prepared a tutorial on how to replace Lever Puzzle, and now we invite you to try replacing it in your own game!

2. Take a screenshot or record a video of the Lever Puzzle in your game and put it on your game itch submission page.

3. We will give you additonal 10 points to your game if you do 1&2!

4. Looking forward to seeing your puzzle!

Awards

1st place * 1 - 200USD$

2nd place * 1 - 150USD$

3rd place * 1 - 100USD$

Participation Prize * n - 30USD$

Best Decoration * 1 - 50USD$

Rising Star Award * n - 10-50USD$

The Rising Star Award is designed to help and motivate game creators to increase the attention of their games and  promote the feedback and communication among game enthusiasts.

The awarding rule is that if the number of downloads exceeds 100, we will give an additional reward corresponding to 10% of the number of downloads. Each 100 downloads is counted as a level interval. For example, if the number of downloads reaches 100, we will offer a reward of 10USD$; If it reaches 200, we will offer a reward of 20USD$. The upper limit of the bonus is 50USD$. We will conduct data statistics according to the download data within 7 days after the end of each Game jam.

Based on our experience, we suggest that everyone carry out more game promotion activities outside the website and carefully decorate their own game pages.

Some tips for increasing the number of downloads：

1. Detailed game introductions

2. A more exquisite display page

3. High-quality video presentation

4. Actively spread on various major social networking platforms

NOTE: We encourage everyone to share the game with external groups. But to ensure the fairness of award distribution, we will check the authenticity of the download data. We reserve the final right of interpretation for this activity.

How to Join

Official Jam

1. Sign up for the challenge by joining the jam on this page.

2. Submit your game project on this itch.io page.

3. Record the most exciting part of your game (less than one minute) or capture some exciting moments during your development process and upload it to YouTube as a short video. Make sure to mention us by @yahahastudios to submit the video, and use the hashtags #Dead Phone and #horrorgaming.  (Please make it public, or we cannot receive your video).

Rules

To be a valid submission, please follow these requirements:

1. Create and publish an original project. (AI tools, including the YAHAHA AI scene generator and 3D model generation, are allowed and not prohibited at any stage of the creation process.)

2.  Your submitted games should be made with the Horror Game Kit within YAHAHA Studio.

3. Get a score over 60 and submit all the required materials (project + video) to qualify for the participation prize.

4. When editing the itch page, enter "yahaha" "horror" in the tag field. 

5.  Send the co-author to HorrorHatch (https://horror-hatch.itch.io/)  before uploading.

Rating Rules