Submissions open from 2025-05-01 04:00:00 to 2025-06-01 03:59:00
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WARNING:
You must be 18+ years old to Join the Jam regardless of if the VN is NSFW.
If you are currently 17 years old, you'll be allowed to Join the Jam when you become 18.
Otherwise leave this Jam Page. This warning will be removed in June 2025.

What did you do with the Join Jam Button?!? 

It's hiding somewhere!  You'll need to thoroughly read this Jam Page and then fill out this Five Question Quiz on Google Forms to find where it is.  This is to make sure you understand what kind of Jam you're signing up for. 

https://forms.gle/iuEWf2rS4CS1vVU56

If anyone shares the answers to the Quiz or the location of the Join Jam Button then they'll be Removed and Banned from the 2025 Jam. 

What is a MY WOLF? 

A My Wolf is a categorization used to describe various Furry Visual Novels.  For the purposes of this Jam we are going off of the following definition:

Any Furry Visual Novel where the only love interest(s) and/or character(s) that the MC is most intimate with is/are (a) wolf/wolves.

The definition of this trope is not unanimous and is continuously debated.

Examples of MY WOLF's:

What is MAY WOLF? 

In 2023, me (Unagi) and an artist named Cody teamed up to organize a Furry Visual Novel Game Jam in order to “see what the community can do, under a time limit with a hot wolf”.  

18 Visual Novels were submitted and qualified in 2023.

Last year, 38 VN's were submitted and qualified.

We're (as in me, a committee of Administrative Assistants and new artists) continuing this format but making some changes based on feedback from 2024. 

Contact Information:

If you have any questions that need to be asked in private or some other reason, then here is the contact information for everyone involved except the Artists.

RULES:

  • 1. You can only work on your project during the month of May
    • Brainstorming, Plot Outlining, Sketching (that does not lead to direct production of assets), Team Building, Photo Taking & Creative-Commons/Licensed Asset Collecting before the jam starts is allowed.
    • You're encouraged to learn and experiment with different skills and story/gameplay mechanics before May.
  • 2. Submissions will be taken during the month of May.
    • Promotional images and descriptions on the itch.io page can be altered during the Jam Rating Phase.
    • If you want your Submission to be part of the Jam Rating Phase in June then don't add more content nor fix bugs/typos/glitches until the Rating Phase is over.
  • 3. Your submission must fulfill all of the following specifications:
    • Use—at minimum—one of the (premade Wolves) OR (draw yourself or commision someone else to draw your own wolf OC) OR (draw/commission someone else's wolf OC while having explicit permission to use them from the owner.)
    • Have an anthro wolf, or wolves, be a prominent character—protagonist NOT included—to the overall narrative for the majority of the story.
    • Have a word count between 2,000–25,000 words.
      • If stories are first written in languages with low space usage, such as Thai, then we'll go off of an approximation based off of a theoretical English translation.
    • Either be (an Original IP) OR (a side-story, prequel, sequel, midquel, etc to an established IP you own or have explicit permission to use from the owner.)
  • 4. No AI generated or AI assisted assets.
  • 5. Don't violate any of itch.io’s TOS while making the Visual Novel and don't make yourself reasonably vulnerable to a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown by infringing on serious copyrights.  Don’t commit war crimes such as violating the Geneva Conventions.
    • Additionally, avoid any glorification of sexual violence or infantilization in the Visual Novel.  Do not have a recent history of such glorifications.
  • 6. The Jam Submission must be made free to download.
  • 7. Submissions don’t have to be in English but it is strongly encouraged to have an English translation/patch before the rating phase ends.
    • For example, if you release a VN in German, you can work on and release an English translation/patch during the rating phase.  If you add such versions, make sure those comply with Rule 3.a.
  • 8. Submissions need at least a Windows Version but releasing other Operating System versions before the rating phase ends is strongly recommended.
    • Same policy for uploading new versions as the previous rule.

WHAT IF I NEED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT A RULE? 

In order to keep this Jam Page condense, we urge you to ask any questions regarding these rules in the COMMUNITY Tab under the "Further Questions About Rules" Category.

WHAT IF I BREAK A RULE? 

For each of the 8 Rules, we have made Flowcharts detailing the consequences of breaking each rule:

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1XPU-zQXrpTSPOsIjNmLcU-cgmEF0YbuX?usp=sharing

If you obtain three or more strikes, your submission will only be Permanently Disqualified if there is no reason for further action.

Only look at these Flowcharts if you're worried about breaking a rule. 

IS THERE GOING TO BE A THEME AGAIN? 

There will be a Jam Theme and it was publicly suggested by people and then publicly voted too in October of 2024.  The results will be announced two weeks before the Jam Starts in May via email and Social Media.

How you interpret the Jam Theme is up to you.  The only thing it affects is one of the criteria for Rating. 

WHAT IF I SUBMIT LATE?

The only late submissions that'll be fully accepted and qualified will be those that can prove that they uploaded before the submission deadline.  If you need more time to make your submission in June, you'll need to contact Unagi to ask for up to a two week Extension with the drawback of the submission being Permanently Disqualified.

ASSETS PROVIDED: 

We're providing .PSD's each containing a different customizable character you can use with the various layers.

In regards to the licensing of the sprites: you're allowed to use, monetize and commercialize the designs and sprites only if your entry becomes successfully submitted to the Jam.  You must put a link to the Artist(')s(') Socials on the itch.io page and/or in the Credits/About in the VN if you use their art.

Each artist will make a different wolf while the other two characters’ species will be completely up to each artist.  The artists will be encouraged a theme for the Wolves' designs which will be Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  This Wolf Theme was publicly suggested by people and then publicly voted too in October of 2024.

If you are interested in applying to be one of the four artists making the Pre-Made sprites then please fill out this form (Application deadline is November 21'st):
https://forms.gle/aLdja7itjYn9HWtC9

We don’t want to trouble too many artists for art so we'll have public voting to see who is the best fit for this year. The basic designs of the characters will be uploaded here as they are finished by the Administrative Assistants but the .PSD files will be uploaded when the Jam starts in May. 

BUT WHAT DO I DO WITH A .PSD? 

A Photoshop Document, is the standard file format that is used across numerous art programs that retains layering information.  If you have no budget then I would recommend GIMP or Photopea.com.

https://www.gimp.org/downloads/ 

https://www.photopea.com/

Do I have to sign up anywhere to participate?

Besides joining the Jam on this page, nope.  This Game Jam was discussed and organized on the Furry Visual Novels Discord but you're under absolutely no obligation to join it for this jam. The COMMUNITY Tab can be a helpful resource if desired.

Is there a prize or any Jam Rating?

There is no prize.  We'll be doing a public judging here on itch.io for at least one month after the deadline.  New this year, we're using the Rating Queue System to see if that has any positive effects on the Rating Phase.  

  • The criteria for Judging will be:
    • Presentation
    • Writing
    • Creativity
    • Implementation of Theme
  • Anyone can request that their project be pre-disqualified and then re-qualified after the voting to circumvent judging.

Superlatives! 

We're going to be having Superlatives for the following categories via a public Google Forum that'll be linked at the top of this page:

  • Best Newcomer Developers
  • Best Solo Developers
  • Best Duo Developers
  • Best Trio Developers
  • Best Pre-Made/CC Only Entries
  • Best Audio Direction

  • Unagi's Favorite
  • Administrative Assistant(')s(') Favorite
  • Best Tail Wag
  • Best Paw Scene
  • Best Accessibility Features
  • Most Impressive Feat of Coding
  • Various other awards that'll be randomly chosen by Administration.