Welcome!
I am Charley The Postman, and this is the Panic Game Jam!
We will be creating Horror Games with (hopefully) good writing and great gameplay! For those of you who have the time, there will be additional challenges (displayed near the bottom of the page)---as well as tips and resources on how to develop games and participate in jams!
Join any time, the jam lasts two months.
And we have a dedicated Discord forum for establishing teams!
What to expect
Why did I choose this genre? Because horror games can be produced much faster than other genres. Here are several facts that I believe make this statement true:
(1) horror games hide most surroundings (common horror games do). This allows you to hide imperfections.
(2) horror games rely on some of the most easily produced reactions. These being fear, disgust, and of course, most often, a fair bit of comedy.
(3) the intention in horror games is to make things uncanny. And because most assets produced in our games are either incomplete or partially abnormal, that is buffeted by our imperfect creations. Whereas in many other genres you want the player to see the world as complete and comforting--or in the very least have some amount of visual beauty.
(4) because of these three factors, players expect horror games to be slightly broken, and some even like this.
So because of these, I believe games of this genre have an advantage. And especially in jams, where commonly things are produced rapidly. This is part of the reason I wanted to host a game jam. The second reason (2/3) is that I would like to see how well developers like yourselves can produce horror games within two months (no, you don't have to work on one project the entire time, and you certainly don't have to participate the during this entire period if you don't have the time). But the third reason I have for hosting a smaller jam like this is mostly out of curiosity. I want to just see how these are managed, and try to make the best of it. Who knows, this may lead to a future game jam.
Here is what I encourage in our participants :
- Take health as a number one priority while working in this jam.
- Honor gameplay with your ability to learn, don't waste time on features.
- Take breaks regularly, but always stay curious.
- Be completely prepared to drop projects if you must. That's why we have a Trade Post.
Trading Post
I am not expecting everyone in this jam to make a masterpiece. But I don't want people to give up on their projects, which is why I have designed the Trade Post! This was inspired by Black Thorn Prod's "Pass the Game Challenge Jam."
The Trade Post is a place where you can share your unfinished (or finished) project files. These can be literally anything, whether highly-polished games to show off your skills, or unfinished, partially broken games. Who knows what could happen to them?
Trading Post - itch.io
Why Participate In This Jam?
Well, honestly, despite that we have
Rewards
, a unique
Jam Leveling System
, and a promise to get
Streamers to Play Our Games
, this is just another game jam. So why host it, you may ask? I mean come on--a massive game development event, hosting possibly hundreds of participants? There has to be something cool made from this, right? There has to be a purpose! Yes, there is. I am hosting this game jam, simply because I would love to work with you. I love it when people come together and build stuff. this is not my jam. It is our jam.
So who is this for? Well, the answer is, Everyone. You don't need to know how to make a horror game in the beginning. All it takes is dedication. Honestly, even a lot of us developers don't know what we're doing. Plus, we have teams you can join from our Discord, and I know a lot of people willing to have artists and voice actors on the team!
Theme
-False Safety-
Rules!
The rules are simple.
1) Work on projects within the timeframe.
2) don't create NSFL (Not Safe For Life) content,
3) be kind. Don't boast.
4) And finally, to add some spice, you must follow the theme if you are on a team larger than 1.
Other than that, have a good time.
Have a team as large as you have the tenacity to handle, create as many projects as you dare, and please pester me about your opinions on the jam.
Wherever your imagination leads you, I employ you to follow 🍻
🏆 Additional Challenges 🏆
You do not have to participate in the Additional Challenges to play a part in the main piece of this jam, if you do have the time, and the grit to spare, this may be fun for you. you may complete each one ONCE PER PROJECT--do as many projects as you want.
These are tied to the Jam Leveling System. Completing challenges gives you exp. Each challenge completed will give you a certain amount based on it's difficulty, The difficulty map is displayed below :
The order of challenges ranges from most difficult (top) to least difficult (bottom).
Challenge You cannot use audio in your game. Build intensity in other extravogant ways! (+50xp )
Challenge The Entire Game Build Must Fit Under 3.14MB. No http (online) resources in the finished file (+50xp )
Challenge Ask a developer from another team to create a challenge FOR YOUR ENTIRE TEAM and follow it. This can be anything, but it must last one whole day (+50xp)
Challenge -Make a game where You unknowingly help the monster. (+50xp)
Challenge -Make a game where YOU BECOME THE MONSTER. (+50xp)
Challenge -The Game's Average Playtime Must Be Over 20 Minutes. (+50xp)
Challenge -Hide the main enemy from the player for most of the game--this will improve gameplay as well. (+25xp)
Challenge -Create a horror game where YOU are the monster. Can you reverse the average, "player hides from monsters" horror theme?(+25xp)
Challenge-Get someone to record literally anything for you, place it in your game in a way that makes sense.(+10xp)
Challenge-Add a mechanic that allows you to beat up other characters for fun. (+10xp)
Challenge-Use creatures from Urban Legends as monsters. (+10xp)
Challenge Bring an iconic child's movie character into your game. Punish him, or make him evil.(+5xp)
Challenge Use only 1 color pallete, consisting of only 8 colors of your choice, for everything within your game. (+5xp)
Challenge -You must do 10 pushups every 15 minutes. (This is just for fun!)
Wanna help make challenges? Let loose your creativity on our dedicated Discord channel.
Contact & Discord
Any Feedback on how the Jam should proceed or looking for a team? we have a Discord :
Want a private discussion? Contact me at charleythepostman@gmail.com ! I am very willing to respond!
Jam Leveling System
This system uses swords, or "levels" to determine what rewards you receive at the end of the jam. Gain swords by obtaining Jam Exp from challenges and storing it on either on a physical notebook, or on your preferred digital software.
There are two ways you can gain exp : (1) by completing challenges. (2) I will reward additional bonus exp for features you add that I like. Believe me, this will not be hard with the level of creativity that we all have!
At the end of the jam, if you whish to receive rewards, send me an email (address in Contact & Discord section) and in the following month (we will have a whole month to judge) you should receive all of the various rewards, depending on what level you are. I will calculate this, and intentionally hide the required exp for each level below.
Swords Table
| Sword (level) Name | Reward |
|---|---|
| branch | branch sword badge, ❓ |
| sharp stick | sharp stick badge, ❓ |
| wooden sword | wooden sword badge, ❓ |
| stone sword | stone sword badge, ❓ |
| iron sword | iron sword badge, ❓ |
Rewards Table
Tips & Resources
Did you really make it this far down the page? Well, I guess my big WELCOME may have worked then! Here are a few tips and things that you might want to consider reading when working on horror games and just game development in general.
#A NOTE ON CHALLENGE 2 : The reason I highly recommend this challenge, is because of a great fear tactic : Fear of the Unknown. You can research it more, but basically, it's much scarier when you don't know your threat. You don't know it's strengths/weaknesses--and this leaves you at a total disadvantage, or in other words it scares the crap out of you.
Writing & How to Make a Horror Game :
Brandon Sanderson's Writing Lectures : My Philosophy on Teaching Writing—Brandon Sanderson - YouTube
How To Participate In a Jam :
Inspiration :
Full Amnesia Walkthrough, no commentary
DEAD SPACE REMAKE Gameplay Walkthrough FULL GAME (4K 60FPS) No Commentary - YouTube
Things to chear you up :
Something to chear you up : RAID Shadlands is the bestest game EVAR! - YouTube
Something to chear you up : How I made the BESTEST MOBILE GAME EVER! - YouTube
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