Hey hey participants! I’m Joy, and as the title says this is a guide to getting your game submitted. If there is one thing associated with game dev that I have ample experience in its coming up with an idea and seeing it through to the end. So whether you are a brand new dev with little to no game dev experience, or someone who has multiple games but struggles with burnout, scope, and lack of inspiration. Look no further.

My Credentials:

I’m the founder, creative/casting director, and lead writer for Meant to Bee Studios and all of the games under it currently.

My most recent game, “Carved in Stone” was conceptualized September 27th and finished yesterday October 28th, almost an exact month from just an idea in my head to a full fledged visual novel with 12k words of script, fully voiced dialogue, custom GUI, original soundtrack, blinking sprite animations, 3 CG’s, and multiple endings.

And a year before, I’d joined “Once Upon A Time VN Jam” 2023 which had a 3 month time period, I managed to solo dev an entire 10+ hour RPG in that time. (“Lord of Lies”) Was it easy? Absolutely not, but I had a goal, and I saw it through. 

Both took a lot of planning, adjusting, and proper time management. But if there is a will to see your game come to life than I assure you that there is a way.

So with PolyJamorous starting in 3 days, I’ve made a guide to help you do just that. Whether it be a one shot polished visual novel, an ambitious multi hour RPG, or somewhere in between.

(Keep in mind you can submit an older game of yours to finish, update, remaster, polish etc… you can submit a demo as well.)

Your Submission

The only real stipulations for your submission are dictated by the rules of the jam, primarily that it must be a healthy portrayal of polyamory romance, with adult characters in some sort of medium, whether that be games, visual novels, comics, etc…

I’m sure if you’ve joined the jam you already have an idea in mind. If not, that’s okay as well, maybe you hope to develop an idea along with your team. I usually have an idea long before I join a jam, but with “Carved in Stone” I had a vague idea and developed it alongside a team member for example.

Again, there is no wrong way, just a different way of approaching projects. I’d recommend your first step be to have a vision of your project. 

Now, I didn’t say it had to be a vivid vision, there can be a lot of missing pieces, but you do need to have an idea that is interesting, especially if you intend to team build, as the only thing anyone has to go off is your concept.

(Unless you are a dev with multiple games, and a social media following, than it may be much easier for you to garner a team to help you despite the synopsis of your game.)

The idea I had for “Carved in Stone” was simple, I wanted to submit to Josei After Dark, a smut jam targeted towards women, and Monstrous Desires jam which focused on romanticizing monsters in fiction. The idea was the MC who was an older woman having a night of passion with the love interest (the monster in question). 

Everything that came afterward was developed in my brainstorming/outlining phase which took a couple of hours. 

Luckily a smut game with a hot demon love interest is a pretty easy sell for a lot of people. Though every project comes with its own set of challenges and setbacks. For example, my game is NSFW, there aren’t a huge amount of artists who do explicit nsfw art for free. I got lucky.

This goes double for when I decided to add voice acting, and the game is fully voiced, yes even the sex scenes. 

Every project will have its own setbacks, but keep in mind that you will have them.. Whether you work on a team, or as a solo dev you are going to encounter problems that can make or break development, and its imperative that you come out the otherside, regardless of what happens. 

I know there are some newer devs that join game jams to test out if they can even make a game. 

And joining a game jam is a great way to start! I also did a similar thing when I became a dev myself back in 2021, by joining Yaoi Jam of the same year. 

However, I didn't complete the game within the jam time limit, and instead didn't finish the game till a year and a half later and it bloated in size and scope.

So to avoid that, let me give you some tips on how I manage to keep scope small in my current projects. 

Disclaimer: my word is obviously not gospel, there is no one way to create and I’d hate to imply otherwise. I am speaking from my own personal experience and what has worked for me. Also, most of this advice applies to visual novels, RPG’s, and their hybrids. I imagine most of this advice can apply to other mediums as well, however.

Planning and Scope

As I said above, brainstorming/outlining needs to be your first step, even if you aren’t the main writer on your project. Regardless, you will have to pitch this idea if you intend to build a team. And if you are soloing it, you are the writer.

Now brainstorming and outlining varies quite heavily on the person. For me personally, I have quite loose outlines. For me, as long as I know where I begin, where I end, and the general themes associated with the story, I can wing the rest in the drafting process.

Yours may vary, you may need to keep notes of every intricate detail of your characters, romances, settings, dialogue choices, etc… and that is fine as well. 

What’s important is that you curate an environment that enables you and your team to do your best work. 

Since I learn best by example, here’s my hypothetical example if I was participating in this jam solo or in a team to showcase the differences. 

(I am actually submitting a visual novel for my own jam at the end of this year, but I digress.)

My Process

So I’m going to submit a project, specifically a visual novel to PolyJamorous 2024. 

First thing to consider is, does this project need to be in this jam? 

Jam’s have rules, restrictions, and time limits, this may be in and of itself a reason not to participate, and it’s important that you recognize that. If you have a 20+ hour RPG, or a dating sim with 7 love interests (omg who would do that even..?) maybe submitting to a jam with a couple months to work on it may be more harmful than helpful.

If this doesn’t apply to you, and the jam time for PolyJamorous (November 1st, 2024- February 14th 2025 is more than enough time for your project than I’d continue reading.)

The next thing you need to think about is, what is my project? And does it fit the jam?

My project for this example is a polycule romance between a newly wed couple and a ghost haunting the hotel they have their honeymoon at. (I made this up on the spot, feel free to use it as it legit sounds pretty banger ngl.)

Without doing any sort of outlining I know a couple of things right of the bat- I’ll have at least 3 characters (so 3 sprites), a setting which is a hotel fit for a honeymoon, that is also haunted? Since its a hotel this could require multiple backgrounds, not just the hotel lobby, maybe the suite, maybe a pool, maybe the dining area, etc…

Next is genre, I am submitting it to a romance jam, so it will be romance, but I have ghosts, so will it be darker? Will it tackle death and grief? Or will it be more comedic?

You’ll need to go over all the info you have about your project and answer these questions, at least as many as you can. Especially if you are the writer. What helps me is bouncing off my own ideas with someone willing to listen and contribute ideas. This can be a friend, partner, even me if you’d like, feel free to dm me I’d love to help!

How long do I want this project to be? I usually try to judge in word count, though you may have a different way to measure, maybe chapters, acts, or you’ll just write and see where you land. 

Since I am making a game, its usually a better idea to have a game on the shorter side so if a player does pick it up they aren’t bored. Also, a great deal of players can be discouraged by long play times on game pages. However, this isn’t an absolute rule, for games like my dating sim, it’s expected that those projects be long, and the game can be tackled route by route etc…

For myself though, this idea I conjured up doesn’t warrant any more than 30k words which is about 3 hours of playtime. 10k words is equivalent to 40 mins-1 hour of reading time. Though of course the numbers vary, but having a good idea can help with marketing and managing scope. 

Which brings me to my next point, what will I need?

What’s helped me a lot in the past is to plan my assets first, or while I outline. 

Keep in mind writing is the most flexible part of the dev process, especially if you are the writer. You can explain away a lot. As well as restrain an entire story to a single setting, or a single visible character if you are clever enough.

For me, finding certain art assets can be the most difficult part of team building as I myself am not an artist and have to outsource in some way. Whether that be commissioning, finding royalty free assets, or finding a generous jam goer to make art for me.  

If you are an artist, this may not be as big of a hurdle. However, another problem can occur. Taking on too much. Because you can draw it all, you do. I don’t recommend this. Especially if you are a newer creative who struggles to complete projects. It’s always a good idea to spread out the work load in a way no one is overwhelmed, even if you are solo deving.

And for jam games, since your time is usually limited, You don’t want to have one artist do it all, since it will mean one of those won’t be done in time, or the artist is overwhelmed and quits, etc… So you’ll need multiple, ideally, 1 artist for each part of your game- so 1 for GUI, 1 for BG’s, etc… 

For example, if you are a writer/artist/programmer solo dev, you may want to consider looking for free GUI assets, making a list of free music tracks you’ll need. Or building a team of artists/composers/programmers etc to help you while you do one specific part of the dev process. 

What’s important is that you are honest with yourself. How much are you willing to do? How much can you realistically do? If you work, have school, or even mental/chronic/physical illness these are all things you need to take in account. 

Especially when building a team of people whose time you want to value. If they’ve offered to help you with your project, you owe it to them to know what you want, be consistent, and to be respectful. 

So, to come back to my hypothetical ghost honeymoon project. I’m not an artist, and I need backgrounds, luckily, I am the writer so although I said there’d be a certain set of backgrounds, if I wanted I could base the entire story in the couple’s honeymoon suite, or if I felt more ambitious, had a click and point system where you explore the hotel as the ghost. The sky is the limit, but you need to make key choices that reflect the project you want and the story you’re telling.

Restriction breeds creativity after all- "Restrictions breed creativity" is a phrase that means that intentionally limiting oneself can lead to more creativity. The idea is that restrictions can help people see problems from a different perspective and can lead to new ways of thinking. 

This same amount of asset planning should extend to GUI, sprites, music tracks, voice acting, etc…

Keep in mind all of this can also be taken out, you may hate voice acting in games, than I recommend not adding something you yourself don’t like. Or you may already have free sprite assets you could use and don’t have to worry about looking for an artist, or doing it yourself.

Your circumstances, what you want from the project, and what you need for your specific project will make all the difference. 

There are free assets available here on itch by going to: “Game Assets”- then find the tags for what you are looking for- GUI, sprites, etc… (please note itch is unfortunately infested with ai art, and many people will not play your game if you use ai, and for the jam you submit to, mine included, you will be disqualified for using ai in your submission.) 

So you’ll have to pay for assets, find royalty free, commission, or enlist help from a generous jam goer. 

I want to build a team

One thing I love to do for my games is make them as original as possible, I don’t like using assets other developers have used as they can be very limited depending on what it is. 

It’s important to me that if I write a story, I have every hand in trying to construct a team of people who can bring my vision to life, or make it better than I imagined. Since I am limited to a certain skill set, and limited by time.

If this sounds like you, building a team may be the way to go.

Now, I know a great many devs who feel ashamed for reaching out to others for help, either ashamed of their ideas or burdening someone else for doing work for free.

I understand this mindset, but I have some counterpoints to hopefully ease your mind.

First, keep in mind there may be those with the skills to make a game, but they don’t have the vision or the drive. 

Another, is that there are people who simply love to help others bring their dreams come to life. (Myself included!)

Something else is, maybe they are also too shy to reach out even though they want to. 

The indie dev space is built on enabling creatives to do what couldn’t be done alone due to limitations, but thanks to the internet and abundant resources for learning and using its never been easier to make a game than now.

To be in this space is to know that this just comes with the territory, and anyone who thinks lesser of you for wanting to build a team to make your passion project isn’t someone you want to be associated with anyway.

There’s also a saving grace for more introverted devs. There’s a such thing called recruiting, that let’s you put your work out there but enables others to reach out to you if they are interested. 

As long as you are honest and make it crystal clear of your intentions, expectations, and scope, then you will have a lot of success. 

So how do I build a team?

The simple answer: make a recruitment doc!

What is a recruitment doc, well its a document that details your project, who you are, what you want, who you need, deadlines, your contact info, etc…. Anything that a stranger needs to know to help you with your project. 

There is no one way to make these either, but this is how I make mine: feel free to use these as a template to make your own! I’d recommend using your color scheme, inserting visuals you have, sketches, mood boards, official art, etc… anything to catch the attention of the reader and try to be as informative as possible without bombarding the reader. 

You can look over them here:

Golden Bonds Recruitment Doc [CLOSED]

JAD/Monstrous Desires Jam Entry ❣️

Where to post the recruitment doc?

I’d recommend 4 main places, though I’m sure there are more depending on what circles you run in- the first is Discord, specifically dev specific servers. 

You’ll have to read the rules carefully before posting spending on the server, but often you can link back to your doc for the bulk of the info.

Some examples:

The next place would be dreaded Twitter, or more recently Bluesky, if you have a following or the right hashtags to gain attention, if you are participating in a jam, make sure to find the hashtag associated with the jam and use it in your post. For this jam its #PolyJamorous2024

Those who are also participating, or the jam runner will be able to find and repost your recruitment doc getting more eyes on it. If you make a recruitment doc for this jam I will happily repost it!

Another place is here on Itch, specifically you’ll go to the main menu and click on the Community tab, then scroll down to “Help Wanted or Offered”, there you can either message those looking to volunteer, or make your own post. I haven’t had a lot of success on Itch as of late, but I have in the past its just very hit or miss. 

You can also, make a recruitment post in the Polyjamorous 2024 community tab where you’re reading this currently! I made one for Josei After Dark Jam recently. 

Last but not least is a more obscure one, and requires you to already have an account to do it. Lemmasoft forums- https://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/

Here you can make a forum post in the “Recruitment/Services Offered” section.

I have also had less luck here lately, but it has worked in the past, especially for reaching out to people you intend to recruit/commission directly. 

Unfortunately, a lot of this comes down to luck, and there is a chance depending on your project specifically it may not speak to as many people, or you may not have many people see your recruitment post in the first place.

Something that has helped me a lot, and may not be something you’ll want to do is to reach out to those you need directly.

What do I mean? Well, other people leave posts in these locations, offering their services. What you can do is dm those individuals and give them a sale’s pitch of your game, and link them the doc you made. 

This of course is vulnerable and leaves you open to rejection, but it really is high risk high reward, as I have been able to find some of my best friends/team members etc… by taking the first step. 

First example I got turned down, but in the other they agreed!

In Conclusion

A lot of this gets much easier as you go, currently it feels a bit second nature and even when things do crop up, experience is often a saving grace, enables you not to panic but adjust and come out the otherside much more knowledgeable. Ensuring every project gets better and better. 

If you have any questions feel free to post below, dm me on discord @flowersforjoy I'd love to hear from you and answer any questions to the best of my ability.

There’s a lot more than can be discussed, especially with very specific situations you may have and I hope I can help in any way I can. Happy team building! Thank you for participating in my lil old jam. And best of luck to you, I can’t wait to read and stream your projects! (did I not mention that before? Only if you’d be okay with it of course.) -Joy