Love is Unconventional is a fun, low-stress non-ranked jam where you must make a romance game featuring only non-human/non-humannoid love interests!

Want to smooch that sexy RGB gaming computer? Go right ahead. What about making a cute love story with a fuzzy Pixar-looking monster, or a broken down robot? That's a-okay! Oh, but what about something twisted with an evil doll that's slaughtered who knows how many families? Go right ahead, as long as the player can pursue it!

Your character must first and foremost, be the noun they are (i.e. cat, vacuum cleaner, asteroid, soda, house, etc). They can then exhibit human features. For example with a cat, you can give it bipedal posture, it can wear "human" clothing, BUT it must still have fur, claws, a tail, whisker, a cute little nose to boop, sharp teeth/fangs, etc. Without these features, they aren't a cat!

Essentially, we want designs that cannot be mistaken for humans. This will allow for you and your team to flex your creative muscles when it comes to bringing these characters to life. How will they be designed? When it comes to writing them, how will they emote? How will they move and interact with objects? That's for you to figure out!

The sky's the limit here!

Does the game have to be comedic?

Nope! Your story can take on any tone it wants. We're strong believers that the type of characters you have don't dictate the story you to tell, you do. Want to create a bittersweet love story? Go right ahead. In the mood to tell a wholesome cute love story? Pssh, why are you waiting for our permission? Do it! Maybe you're in the mood to write a horror, romance story? We're all for it! Or perhaps, you want to do a fun romcom? Awesome, we're cheering you on!

The point we're trying to say is: monster, alien, robot, talking TV, or marble, it doesn't matter. You aren't stuck to one genre of storytelling. Tell the story you to tell.

Can my game feature a platonic route or platonic love?

Yes! Platonic love and romance are valid, so feel free to feature that in your game!

Questions? Concerns? Let's talk here!

❤️Rules

1) Your love interest(s) must be non-human and non-humanoids. By extension, you cannot use human portraits in-game to show what they would've looked like if they were human. However, you are more than welcome to explore that idea outside of the game through marketing material and the like.

2) Your characters can wear clothes! Clothes are not restricted to humans, y'all!

3) You are allowed to start work on your entry prior to the jam, as long as a considerable amount of the project is completed during the jam period.

4) Demos and vertical slices are allowed!

5) Any engines that allow posting on itchio are allowed. Your game must be playable either via download or with a playable browser version.

6) TTRPGs are allowed!

7) Fangames are allowed! But please don't use resources that are copyrighted/ripped from the source material - we don't want you to get sued!

8) Older games - that is, projects that were finished or had most its development happen outside of the jam, are not allowed.

9) We will not accept ANY games that promote bigotry or discrimination of ANY sort (ableism, homophobia, transphobia, racism, antisemitism, islamophobia, xenophobia, sexism, etc.) This includes hateful imagery or symbols.

10) Games featuring lolicon/shotacon and/or incest and bestiality are not allowed.

11) NSFW (18+) content is not allowed. You are more than welcome to have implications of sexual themes and innuendos in your game, just nothing explicit can be shown.

12) Usage of AI and AI-gen is not allowed. This means no AI generative art, music, writing, coding, etc. Your work must be 100% human-made from start to finish.

13) Free to use, public domain, and Creative Commons License assets are allowed. HOWEVER! Please be mindful of how they were made. If you find out they were AI generated, find other assets that were human-made to replace them with as we do not allow for any projects with ANY AI to be submitted to this jam.

14) If your game features triggering content, you MUST make a content/trigger warning list and display it somewhere on your game page and in your game.

15) You are allowed to use the jam logo in your game and game page. If you do, please credit the wonderful logo artist who made it, Bluu!

❤️Examples

The Bad Guys - An animated heist film that features an anthropomorphic cast that includes a wolf, shark, piranha, spider, and snake.

Cold Hearts - A romance visual novel where you can romance fridges!

The Iron Giant - A 10/10 film about an alien robot who crashes down onto Earth. If your game were to feature a robot love interest, we want someone like this! A robot who beeps boop bop beeps! Not someone who can be mistaken for a human.

A Marble's Muse - A comedy, romance visual novel featuring an all marble cast, five of whom you can befriend or romance!

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On - A film about a 1-inch shell named Marcel trying to find his family. Due to his size, he and his grandmother aren't able to easy move around the house they inhabit. To make it more accessible for them, they utilize items around the house, sometimes with the combination of string, to get things like food or access hard to reach places.

Monsters Inc - An animated film about monsters! if you were to feature monsters as your love interest(s), this is what we want! You can also go more alien or more fantasy with your designs. Think aliens with antennas or tentacles, or blob monsters from your favorite tabletop game!

No Robots Allowed - An interesting blend of comedy, horror, and romance where you must convince the computer you are not a robot.

Raptor Boyfriend: A High School Romance - This romance visual novel features a dinosaur love interest who loves to shred (i.e. skateboard)!

Puss in Boots - A film franchise featuring an adventurous anthropomorphic cat. It also features other anthropomorphic creatures and animals.

Toy Story - An animated film franchise that features anthropomorphic toys! Characters like these, Chucky, or Annabelle are perfect for this jam.

Winning Hearts: Wrestling Otome - A comedy, romance visual novel that features a talking, sassy wrestling belt named Newton.