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Questions? Sticky

A topic by FlowersforJoy created 52 days ago Views: 268 Replies: 23
Viewing posts 1 to 9
Host

If you have any questions regarding the game jam, page, polyamory even- here is the place to ask!

Hi all! I just wanted to clarify the following point -No commercial Fan projects. What does it exactly imply? 

And also, do the following examples contradict this clause:

- The set is a popular fandom (let's say Hogwarts) AND the characters involved are the canon (Golden trio etc.)?

- The set is a popular fandom (let's say Hogwarts) BUT all the characters are OC?

Thank you in advance:)

Host(+1)

Yes, you can make fan projects. Just don’t sell it for money. 😁

(+1)

saw this and thought 'oh hey, we make almost exclusively poly romances' but then saw the long list of rules and decided 'we'll just keep making our own thing instead xp'

I think its admirable that your trying to bring light to the poly scene, but there's so many rules that would restrict art, writing, and creativity. Like why can't you have a story start out as a love triangle, look like its going to be normal and chose only one person but then boom, they all fall in love instead. I can name at least one trigamous pony story that did that fairly well... actually a few. (The Teacher, the Sorceress, and the Wonderbolt comes to mind) but I'm not gonna go through all the rules one by one and point out how you could still achieve your goals with x, y, or z. Just gonna say that it's way too many rules.

This isn't spooktober jam, it should be more relaxed. (but hey, I'll keep an eye out on the entries because we seriously need more poly love.)

(+3)

Ehh… On the one hand, I can see where you’re coming from, but the jam is clearly focused on one thing and one thing only: positive representations of polyamory. All the rules exist for that purpose - and, importantly, they’re written for people who don’t necessarily know what polyamory is or what a positive portrayal might look like.

For example, the trope of a “love triangle” isn’t just two characters in love with the same character, it’s generally also associated with jealousy and competition between the two love interests, with the idea that one of the love interests will “win” and get the girl or boy. That’s not polyamory, but people unfamiliar with the concept might mistake it as such, so that’s why the rules call it out.

I can’t speak for the jam hosts, but I imagine a situation that starts out as a typical love triangle but ends with the connecting character choosing both, or with the three of them falling in love with each other, would be just fine. (This kind of situation is even one of the examples provided in the description of the jam.)

Host(+2)

Hey, appreciate your feedback. The thing is, if I didn’t list the rules, I’d end up disqualifying or removing entries that had any of it listed anyway. So better to just list it before anyone submits a game.

I said it a couple times before. But because I a poly person have to read every entry, I don’t want to be subjected to harmful tropes. Feel free to make poly romance with any of these tropes if you’d like in your own time. I just don’t want to read it honestly. And that’s fine, it’s perfectly normal to just have different things we like to read. 

I do think it’s a bit unfair to tell me, that my own jam is too strict. It’s like saying my boundaries and opinions are too strict. They’re just what I like. 

Just figured we'd provide some critique in case you were looking to expand the network to include more authors/creators. You can have any rules you desire, but it may limit what kind of stories or games you will see, and while that might be the goal, this is the first time we've seen a poly focused game jam, and realized that it might be cool to have more games rather than fewer. But we understand wanting very specific types of stories(that is very relatable to us and our own interest in romance).


We are also a poly person ourself, though that shouldn't have to be mentioned in order to provide some feedback or ideas. (from our own experiences, there is a lot of good and bad mixed together, and the bad experiences can be the shadow that makes the positive experiences so much more powerful. Our first experience with IRL relationships in this field was a bad one, but our second was very positive, if not for the bad experience first, the good one may not have been something we can value so highly)


Again, still happy to see a poly-focused game jam, that's really cool, though I can name a few of poly romance games (mostly on itch) we desperately need more. You should hopefully get some good, though highly specific results here, and we will look forward to playing said games when they come out. 

We wish you the best of luck, and are excited to see where this jam goes in the future. XD

Submitted

Is a hierarchical polyamory TTRPG allowed in this jam? My humble self and my Ladies have this WIP: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IT7pW3G4wF9XJkmJTk0aOXBhjKJ-kgXh .

Host(+1)

That works just fine! Seems really fun 🤩

Submitted (3 edits)

To upkeep ANTIjealousy also from my Ladies (meaning that my Ladies are even inviting new Ladies including into intimate relationship with me) I was and I am using 5 +1 (!) Languages of love: https://dmdu.kvalitne.cz/pet-jazyku-lasky-vztahu - Google translator and translatable chat UI are included there too. Playing together (even comparativey) fits into the love langiage called "quality time". Your jam is indeed interesting for us!:) 

We nearly still have hard time explaining that we are not cheaters nor having "open relationships" in the wrongly understood sense. For example, if I woud want a new Lady in one of my harems (I have more of them because of locations...), I would need an aproval from my Lady Partner. Your picture showing the variants of polyamory is so super!:) Would you be please so kind and allow us to using it? Although it looks, that we have kind of specific hierarchial polyamory - my Lady partner as a Queen and not "just" a priority Partner. Uff, excuse me please for pouring out my hearth. ;)


As you can see, I am able to protect my Ladies too. Fun fact: In this time I need kind of protecting myself against too much *interest* of women. The Law of Attraction apparently works for me in a manner of a snowball rolled down from the top of snowy mountain. 

Host(+1)

In regards to the image used on the jam page it isn’t mine. So I can’t grant permission to use it or not. It could be fun to make your own. I know I intend to commission my own diagram for it eventually 😃, thank you for sharing all this you don’t have to apologize. 

(+1)

This jam seems awesome! 

One of my games has a poly route, however my characters are all high school students, so I don't think I can submit the game into this jam. 

May consider making a sequel though ;)

Host

Thank you so much! I appreciate you letting me know about the project, if you do a sequel for it I'd be happy to check it out <3

Hello!

Super excited about this jam.

One thing I was just wondering was about monoamorous characters. Would it be alright if some dateable characters were polyamorous and some were monamorous? Or are you wanting for the story to really focus primarily on polyamory?


Thanks :)

Host(+1)

This is a wonderful question! I am a polyamorous person in a monogamous relationship with a monogamous man (we are actually married). It sounds like it will work perfectly and is amazing representation! <3 Thank you for participating <3333

Oh amazing! Thanks for replying so quickly too

Sorry if this is a strange question at all, but would there be any plans to do polyjamorous in 2025 as well? 

Host

Yes, absolutely! I’d love to make it an annual jam 💞

thanks for the reply-- how exciting!!!

Submitted

Would you be please so kind and inspect my most daring document of a (polyamorous) TTRPG if it's not too much NSFW? I read rules of Itch.io and of your jam three times, but as not native English user, I'm not so sure, if I understand them perfectly.


https://ormrin.itch.io/editable-nsfw-ttrpg-hellhot

I have a question about the rule around not portraying jealousy. I might be misreading it, but they seemed to imply that jealousy should not be portrayed unless it is "overcome" by the end of the game. Jealousy is an emotion that virtually all humans experience, and I'm worried that disallowing characters from expressing an entire emotion by the end of the game isn't great for polyamory representation either. It sets a very high bar of "perfection" that most people can't live up to, and may make polyamorous folks whose lives don't live up to that high bar feel bad about themselves. Struggling with jealousy, especially if you come from a background of trauma around unmet needs or clinical anxiety, doesn't make someone a bad person or not polyamorous or imply their relationships will fail. I get that it's a negative stereotype that jealousy will destroy polyamorous relationships, and that many mono people assume that it isn't possible to have polyam relationships without jealousy, but I also want to see more games with polyamory that feel realistic while still being positive/happy representations.

Also, is it acceptable to focus on non-romantic or queerplatonic partnerships in the context of polyamory? What about content that focuses on aromantic spectrum people, queerplatonic relationships, and otherwise non-romantic polyamorous relationships? Aro people exist in polyamorous spaces, and I want to see their experiences in games as well. Arospec relationships get devalued so often and considered "less than" romantic ones.

(While I'm not currently in any relationships, I'm pretty sure I'm polyam and I'm definitely arospec.)

Submitted

I would say feel free to let jealousy to be in your game for realism, but face it - with too much jealousy or without overcoming jealousy, there can't be truly polyAMORous (love-full) relationships.


I wrote the above from also my personal experiences...

Host (1 edit) (+1)

Showcasing jealousy as a part of the story to be overcome is more than fine. My rule was to not let jealousy be the main thing showcased as it’s a problematic trope polyamorous people, like myself face. That our relationships don’t work because of jealousy etc… I understand romance stories and stories in general need conflict. What matters is they have a good endings and those stereotypes about us don’t win. And especially aren’t emboldened by the text created for a positive jam about good polyamory representation ❤️ 


As for the platonic representations of poly. I do acknowledge of course that those relationships exist and should be showcased. This is and was first and foremost a romantic centric jam for me. As I’m primarily a romance writer and by extension mostly a romance reader so I do prefer the stories submitted will be closer to that. 

Of course, anyone can make their own jam with their own set of rules to bring different types of representation if they want. 

My word is not gospel, these are simply the things I enjoy and this jam is very self indulgent. 

Submitted

Here is my romance inspirational true story aimed also at manual for awesome dating: https://novelo.com/story/1396 .
Please let me know your opiion on it (polyamory is not directky show in the story but there is a PHOTO and a LINK to a web-pos also about it).