An open ten-day game dev challenge to create a game where you have no direct control of the game's character(s)!

All skill levels are welcome from beginner to professional. New to this whole thing? Never made a game before? Play some jam-winning games to see where you can be after several jams of practice. 

Highlights

Keynote

About Us

Hosted by 8 Bits to Infinity: a game development community dedicated to improving creative and technical skills through rapid iteration and honest, critical feedback. Join us on Discord, check out our website, and take a look at our past jams and challenges.

The man behind 8 Bits to Infinity is Retro Indie Josh (aka Joshua McLean): gaming content creator and music producer. Check out his game music (free for you to use in jams and commercial projects!) and YouTube.

Mechanical Focus (Required): Indirect Control

Make a game where the player has no direct control over the primary game character(s).

Some possibilities include:

• Suggest guidance to characters, whether from a "god" perspective or something like Pac-Man 2.
• Manipulate the environment to "encourage" characters to perform certain actions, like in From Dust.
• Assign jobs or tasks to characters like in the classic Lemmings series.
• Place items, obstacles, characters, etc. in the world to affect how characters behave.
• Build a level or some other complex devices, then let it run with the hopes you set it up correctly.

Theme (Semi-Optional): BRANCHES

The theme is optional, but remember Theme/Limitation counts for 1/6th of your Community Choice score. Also, the theme can be a great way to come up with ideas if you're stuck!

You are free to interpret the theme however you like. Check out the Wikipedia articles on various meanings of "branch" for some out-of-the-box ideas.

Remember that more creative options will generally score higher, but don't go too far that the theme is unrecognizable.

Judging and Prizes

You (contributors to any game entered into this jam) determine the Community Choice by voting on games after the jam concludes. Check out the Ratings Guide for how to interpret categories and tips on good star ratings.

RetroIndieJosh will create a highlights video including the winners, high-ranking games, and the best diversifier users.

The highest overall rated game will be the winner and placed in the list of 8 Bits to Infinity jam winners.

Rules and FAQ

See the Jam Rules and Jam FAQ for more details.

Jam Specific Rules

• No limitations on:
  • Graphics
  • Audio
  • Engine/library/framework, programming language, and other tools

Challenges/Diversifiers (Optional, but fun!)

By the Hand: Create all of the game art with a physical medium, then digitize/scan it. Something like And Yet It Moves. This is mostly geared toward 2D games, but you're welcome to use billboarding and do it in 3D like My Beautiful Paper Smile.

Educational: Do the impossible and teach the player real-world knowledge in the game. This can be history, literature, math, science, art, music, programming, psychology, philosophy, or even cooking. Whatever you like, as long as it's accurate to real-world information.

Mouse Only: Use only the mouse for controls. No keyboard shortcuts! If you decide to target mobile / touch screens, avoid multitouch since a mouse can't do that.

Schedule

• Development (main jam): 10 November (1pm ET)
• Community Choice voting: 20 - 27 November (1pm ET)
• Winners and ratings announced: 27 November (2pm ET)
• RetroIndieJosh Highlights Video: 4 October

Submitting

• WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND YOU UPLOAD AND SUBMIT EARLY.
  • You are allowed to modify your game page, including files, until the deadline.
  • You are allowed to edit answers to your submission questions (through your submission page) until the deadline.
• Step 1: Click the Join Jam button at the top of this page.
• Step 2: Make your game.
• Step 3: Create a game project page on itch and upload your game files. See this documentation for help.
• Step 4: Submit the game to the jam. After uploading your game, return to this page and click "Submit Your Project" at the top.
  • Be prepared to answer a few questions about your entry when submitting. You must answer all of these questions honestly and completely before the deadline.
  • Submission time is a hard deadline. No late submissions will be accepted.
  • Although you cannot modify files after the deadline has passed, you are still free to edit your game page. But note it is a violation of the rules to link to an updated version created after the deadline, and your entry will be removed.