Make a Game Right Now!

This is a jam all about primal, elemental, close-to-the-metal game creation! No pictures, no layout, all killer, no filler. Fire up google docs or the markdown editor of your choice and go to town!

The Rules

This jam will accept entries with the following conditions:

• Make a game with markdown or one of these templates: EB Garamond , Open Sans, Lexend, or Comic Sans.
  • If starting with a google docs template (File -> Make a Copy), don't change any fonts or colors. One font, white background, black text is the goal. When your game is done, export as PDF/ePub/etc. (File -> Download -> select the file type.)
  • A good guide to markdown/pandoc, if you're planning to go that route and aren't experienced, is here. Ignore the stuff about images and such and don't worry about styling.
    • If you want a more google docs-ish in-browser experience for markdown, I can recommend hackmd. When you're ready to bring it to your computer to export via pandoc, there's a download option in the 3-dot menu at the top right.
• No pictures, no drawings, no diagrams. Text only as much as possible!
• No further layout. Avoid alignment changes, markdown blockquotes, ASCII pictoral representations, etc. Try not to mess with form too much. The intent is to focus on what's being written, not how it's shaped on the page. Header 1/2/3, bold, italic, ordered/unordered lists are fine.
  • Tables are allowed but I encourage you to try to see if you can turn them into lists instead. If you use them, try not to mess with their default formatting re: things like line width/color.
• In the same spirit, I encourage you to not style any itch page you make for it. I do, however, suggest you add a cover image of the title or something so it shows up properly on itch and maybe a few choice screenshots.
• Charge whatever you want to for it, including PWYW or nothing at all, and add community copies if you'd like.
  • Bear in mind that this jam isn't a band-aid for the problems of platform discoverability and perceived value without visuals, layout, itch page customization, etc, so I wouldn't expect to strike gold with it...on the other hand, I maintain that very few projects aren't worth at least a few bucks, and at the very least, I hope this jam normalizes for at least a few people that you can make a quality game/etc without all of the trappings.)
• No fascists, no racists, no homophobes, no transphobes, etc.

Within those conditions, make whatever you want! A game, a supplement, a setting, a list of characters, plot hooks, you name it. A page of your creation will end up looking like one of the following when exported to PDF:

Hard Mode

These aren't strictly required, but try any or all of the below in addition.

• No tables.
• Keep the amount of expository/prose writing low - aim for like 5-10% of the work, tops. See what kind of tone, feel, vibe, and themes you can get across with just text as conveyed through mechanics, list choices, etc.
• Make a standalone game, framework, supplement, etc. that can be run without any other sourcebook, system knowledge, or etc.
• Make a fully new game, framework, etc. that isn't directly based on any existing SRD, toolkit, etc. (Inspiration from others is of course fine and good.)

Why minimalism?

• Text-first design is good practice. There's a tendency to rely on visuals and layout to convey information, tone, etc. (A tendency I can be guilty of, for the record.) The fact of the matter is that the actual thing being written will be a better product if it can be enjoyed and understood without those visual aids because not relying on them forces the author to make themselves as clear as possible with text only. It also has great benefits for portability and accessibility re: screen readable and audio versions of your game! (And you can always add those visual elements on top and make it even better.)
• I want to encourage new developers to start making stuff. If you want to get into game design, comparing your work to lavish products that are the result of crowdfunding campaigns with several-person teams can feel really unfair and intimidating. This jam is a way to encourage those potential new developers: Come up with a thing and put it out there. Make the best game you can within these limitations and worry about the rest later. We're all on the same footing here.
• I want to remind existing developers why they started making stuff. A lot of existing developers (myself included) started off by making something in a google doc or whatever because they got the itch to create something and couldn't let it go. This jam is a way to encourage them to strip away all of the scene-related worries and anxieties about a holistic visual product and try to reclaim that feeling. If you're already a developer, you've definitely got something hanging out on the back burner that you've convinced yourself isn't a priority because there's no time to make it a full production. This is a great opportunity to put it on the front burner and get it out of your head and onto something. Life's too short to lose sight of what brought you to the table. 

This isn't a ranked jam and as such I'm not going to be rating entries/etc. If you submit a valid entry to this jam, you won! Feel free to contact me (my itch page has my relevant info) and ask me for a download key to anything I've made as a reward.