What is Stairway Jam?

Stairway Jam is an annual month-long jam in which developers are challenged to make a game using prompts from the 'Stairway' level from Davey Wreden's 'A Beginner's Guide'. The level ends, in "a room that's warm, and nice, and filled with little ideas for games", all written by Coda ( the sort of the antithesis of the narrator). When found, this room full of ideas is warm and inviting and provides very unique concepts for game developers, that we will be using!

Stairway Jam Rules

• Make a game based on one or more of the provided prompts, and provide your selected prompts in your submission
• You don't need to have played 'A Beginner's Guide', prompts are provided below.
• Allowed before Stairway Jam:
  • Brainstorming
  • Plot Outlining
  • Sketching
• Not Allowed until Jam begins:
  • Coding
  • Asset production
  • Writing

• Use of Creative Commons material and prefabricated assets is totally acceptable! (honestly encouraged)
• Any premade assets used must be publicly available (either free or paid)
• You may release a buggy version of your game by the deadline and fix it up later or release a demo for the Jam.

Game Prompts!

(All prompts come from 'A Beginner's Guide' by Davey Wreden)

• A game of only motivational quotes, played one after the other while the player cannot move.
• A game of only posters and concept art showing what the game is intended to be.
• A game where you collect items, except the game automatically quits when you collect them all.
• A key in one game unlocks a door in a completely separate game.
• A normal game where you have to scream into a mic every 15 seconds to keep playing.
• A series of lavish manuals come with the game giving you incorrect instructions on how to play.
• A stranger appears.
• Game filled with chairs, except one chair is floating.
• Live on a boat taking orders from the captain. The captain is always wrong.
• Play as a pair of floating eyes emitting footstep noises.
• Stand on an X staring at a bear for 3 hours.
• The game is nothing but giant blocks of text explaining what's happening.
• You are a gate.
• Play as the camera filming an advertisement, walking around a set filming whatever you like
• Press U to surrender
• A button you press to stop the chaos, that doesn't work
• Sharks are trying to eat you, simultaneously you are trying to eat the sharks
• Read an enemy's emails to learn how to beat them
• You are the queen, dusting your jewelery [sic] while your kingdom is destroyed.
• You must adress [sic] and rally a group of eager press reporters
• You construct a wall, the wall is destroyed, you are given a medal.
• You play as a loud bodiless sound walking around confusing people.
• You run a shop inside your body, selling your organs strategically to make the most money before you die.
• You start in a small room, until you realize you can just walk through the walls.
• You walk around talking people down from pursuing their hopes or dreams.

Why should I participate in Stairway Jam?

Stairway Jam is a fun and quirky way to get some work done. Simple concepts allow for more time to be spent on learning your mediums by utilizing new faucets or just getting practice in. It's great to be able to start with a direction for your game and sometimes we need that encouragement brought with competition. Stairway Jam lets you choose or combine many unique ideas as you please. Any Jam helps developers have fun while shoehorning in a bit of a predetermined schedule for those of us who aren't prone to making our own. Most importantly, the idea is to enjoy it :)

If you have the time and you haven't already, you should check out the game as well :)

https://store.steampowered.com/app/303210/The_Beginners_Guide/