Welcome

Welcome to the Shared Universe Jam! A game jam where every game will be within the same made up series / universe. Unlike other jams the restriction will not take the form of a theme, but will rather take the form of a made up series with a made up cast, This jam will take place over the course of a week but it is recommended to use 3 days to help stifle procrastination.

Come hang out in the discord: https://discord.gg/4jypesABmG

Restrictions

The only restriction for this jam will be a cast of characters that you must include in the game somehow. This does not mean you need to include ALL the characters. If you so choose you can use only one of them. 

The world of Colomultis is a toy like land with colorful landscapes, where colors and paint grant power. Many monsters and strange creatures exist because of their multitude of colors. 

Some seek to limit the amount of colors in the world, such as King who aims to keep everything he can in a monotone orange to prevent monsters from existing.

Others let color exist naturally and simply enjoy the hostile world as is, fighting monsters and finding strange colorful artifacts. Chet and Mary are such explorers. 

King - Passionate Zealous Perfectionist

Goal: King aims to reduce color combinations in the world, everything should be monotone to prevent unpredictable and dangerous behaviors from nature. The Kingdom does everything it can to mass produce orange paint / dyes to achieve the King's goals. King only does what he sees as absolutely necessary, hence why he is only referred simply as ‘King’.

Chet the Cat - Mysterious Quiet treasure hunter

Goal: Chet aims to gather power to protect the world, they see colors as a thing of beauty and believes it should be preserved regardless of how dangerous the monsters are because of it. Chet appreciates Mary's seemingly endless knowledge of magic and monsters, and returns the favor by teaching Mary how to fight, hide, and survive.

Mary - Curious Childish Knowledgable

Goal: Mary acts as Chets apprentice, traveling around with Chet looking for colorful treasure. Mary doesn't understand King's goals and wishes to stop King at all cost. Mary has a great understanding of the Monsters and powers in the world.

Carrot - Mindless monster, Driven

Goal: Carrot was once a carrot, it then got covered in different paints and because just an example of what the paints and colors of this world could do. Carrot only seeks more colors to cover its body with. 

Feel Free to adapt the style into whatever you want! 3D, Pixel art, abstract. Go crazy.

Things to keep in mind about how to use the restriction:

- You don't have to use any of the above characters as the MAIN character, just include some of them to make your game feel like its in the universe 

- You may use the characters in any art style you want, they don't have to be presented how they are initially announced.

- There will be no required Genre, so even if the characters look like they are from an RPG you can make a Platformer or puzzle game, maybe even a management game!

- Dont worry too much about narrative, think of your game as an "Episode" in a long TV series. Maybe avoid killing characters off, but hey stories can be weird.

- There wont be a strict setting so don't be afraid to have the cast journey to some weird places!

Rules

- Use what ever tools you want, as long as its playable somehow

- The Restriction is required, make sure to signal your use of the character

- Keep things safe for work, Offensive Content, Gore, and Nudity will be removed from the jam

- You may use any assets you legally can, so make sure to double check copy rights on content

- Dont be a jerk, this should go without saying but this entire thing is just for fun so no need to be rude about things.

Games that do not follow the rules will be removed from the jam

Voting Criteria

Gameplay: How fun the game is to play. How polished and balanced does it feel to play. 

Presentation: How does the game look and sounds. How professional does the game seem. How does the game present itself.

Concept: How unique is the game idea. Is the core of the game clear. How strong are the ideas coming through

Use of the Universe: The only unique criteria. How well does this game fit into the universe? did the game use some or all of the cast? does the game fit naturally into what you would expect to see in this world? 

If you have any questions come on the discord and ask!