Welcome
To celebrate the launch of Horror Game Kit 1.5, we’re bringing you a new type of challenge! We’re providing detailed theme settings to help you enhance your game development skills by incorporating popular elements in horror game design.
Plus, you'll learn to promote your game by completing a video creation task.
Theme
Pandora's Box
In this game jam, participants will explore the chilling possibilities of Pandora's Box, a theme rooted in the idea of forbidden curiosity and the horrors unleashed by it. Whether the "box" takes a literal or metaphorical form, the player might encounter ancient artifacts, hidden secrets, or sealed doors that should never be opened. Once the box is unlocked, unimaginable terrors begin to emerge, and the player must face the consequences of their curiosity while attempting to restore order—or escape the chaos.
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:
- Unleashing the Unknown: Focus on the tension and consequences of releasing something forbidden. The horror might escalate with each passing moment.
- Story Background: Please create your own storyline that fits the theme.
- Symbolic and Literal Interpretations: The "box" could be a physical container, a metaphorical gateway, or even a psychological barrier within the player’s mind.
- Mystery and Survival: The player must navigate the aftermath of opening the "box," finding clues, solving puzzles, or confronting unleashed horrors.
Hints:
1. Consider using a slow-build approach—reveal the contents of the "box" piece by piece to maintain suspense.
2. Experiment with different types of horrors: supernatural, psychological, or even cosmic, depending on what emerges from the box.
3. Provide the player with a moral choice: Was opening the box inevitable, or could they have resisted their curiosity?
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 - 100USD$
2nd place * 1 - 70USD$
3rd place * 1 - 50USD$
Participation Prize * n - 30USD$
Best Decoration * 1 - 10USD$
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.
Horror Game Kit 1.5
Horror Game Kit 1.5 is a comprehensive template that empowers you to craft spine-tingling horror games with minimal to no code. The newest version 1.5 brings exciting updates, including a new package system, enhanced prefabs, and upgraded smart assets. This all-in-one solution includes a robust template packed with essential features, a curated selection of assets and tools, pre-built systems to streamline development, and a demo game to spark inspiration. Plus, with the new SDK framework as the foundation, you'll soon be able to take the fear to the next level with multiplayer horror games.
To see the difference between HGK 1.0 and HGK 1.5 →Horror Game Kit Overview
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 #pandora's box 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
| Criteria | Definition | Score | |
| Gameplay mechanics | Plot | Coherent and thematic game story, with multiple triggers and guidance methods to ensure that players do not feel monotonous. | 20 |
| Highlight | You have fully showcased the game idea that you most want to highlight in this game | 20 | |
| Audiovisual game elements | Game art | Includes all visual elements in a game, such as landscapes, animals, animations, special effects, and user interfaces. | 20 |
| Game music & Sound effects | Game music refers to background music that plays continuously and loops throughout the game, typically unrelated to player actions or game state. Game sound effects are triggered based on specific scenarios or actions and only play when the triggering conditions are met. | 20 | |
| External Display | Youtube Video | Record a Video, upload it to YouTube and mention us by@yahahastudios and use the hashtags #pandora's box #horrorgaming. Please add the itch link of the game in the video description. | 10 |
| Itch Page Decoration | Enhance your itch page to fully express your game. To help you get started with the decoration process, you can refer to this document. We recommend carefully crafting your cover image! | 10 | |
How to Submit Your Game to Itch
What is YAHAHA
Using YAHAHA Studio empowers creators with little or no coding experience to bring their imaginative game ideas to life. YAHAHA has significantly reduced the barrier to 3D game creation through this exceptionally user-friendly creator tool, designed with all the principles of the Unity development environment. This tool could be your gateway to a new life as a creator in the metaverse. Accessible through the YAHAHA App, it provides an opportunity to reach an audience of thousands of players worldwide every day.
NOTE: We'd love to hear your opinions and any suggestions you might have for enhancing our future game jams. If you wish to provide feedback, please send an email to creatorservice@yahahastudios.com and use the subject line "GameJam." If you use any other subject line, we may not catch it!
YAHAHA does not claim ownership of Entries, however, except where prohibited, by participating in the Campaign, Entrant grants Yahaha and its agents an irrevocable right and license in perpetuity to publish, use, edit, adapt, and/or modify any or all of the content in an Entry that was created or contributed to by Entrant without the need for further approval, in whole or in part, in any way, in any and all media throughout the world, and to associate the Entry with Entrant’s name, likeness, and biographical information, without limitation and without compensation for the purposes of annoucing winners, showcase and marketing promotion associated to the Campaign. Entrant agrees that Released Parties (as defined below) are not responsible for any unauthorized use of Entries by third parties.
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