Welcome to Onyx Oasis

Prepare to roll the dice in the high stakes city! 

This narrative-focused game jam is all about storytelling in a shared world: The Unknown Cities. The unwritten location will be created by you and all who contribute: fill the city with villains or heroes, big payouts or crushing losses, luck and fate are yours to command.

Theme Revealed!

The theme is based on the city of Onyx Oasis pictured above. The challenge of this Jam is to write a narrative story taking place within the walls of this crime-ridden and neon flooded floating city. Below we have listed a couple of well known districts in the city to help spark your imagination and get those creative juices flowing. Keep in mind however that it is only necessary for you to write a story taking place within this city. Whatever locations, characters or events you come up with are all permissible. Take the approach that calls to you and welcome to the seedy sands of every gamblers paradise. To the Onyx Oasis. 

The City Itself

Onyx Oasis is a floating isle in the middle of the sky that embraces the freedoms and vices within man. A sanctuary from the rest of the world replete with flowing cash from the casinos that’s pumped into corrupt society; where [attempted] casino heists are as common as the drunks coming back from the inner cities 24/7 partying. The edges of the city house the more downtrodden areas with underground fight clubs and a drug racket that makes sure its citizens never stay too sane. The city is a lovable metropolis with the kind of freedom that makes its citizens feel as if they can accomplish anything, anything at all.

Districts 

The Downbeat: The main drag of city where the party never stops. High rollers, dancers, gangsters, and mobsters: you can find it all here. 

• Eye of the Desert: a skyscraper with a large disc that flips every solstice.
• Battle arena: where people off the streets compete for riches in life or death tournaments. On occasion, special battles are held for convicted criminals. The reward: their freedom.
• Circuit 9: A high speed racetrack that stretches throughout the city where adrenaline chasers chase one another.

High town: A series of interconnect platforms branching from one penthouse to the next creating a whole other level to the city (as well as demonstrating the gap between the haves and have-nots). 

• Carnival Terrarium: the most well-known indoor forest this side of the continent. Home to carnivorous plants of every kind. 
• Desert Diamond: the ritziest spot in the entire town. Here, restaurants use real crystals for wine glasses. Dresses are adorned with diamonds. Bullets are made of platinum.
  

Silk Knot District: Once home to farming and fish markets, the Silk Knot District now houses the more eclectic, artsy area of town. Operating out of old garages are galleries. Old fishing warehouses are now home to legendary parties.

• Cavalier Market: On the outskirts of the desert, a traveling tent marketplace pops up on blood moons. Only those in-the-know are aware of when and where it will show up. Everything from rare animals to pit-roasted bbq can be found here.
• Subway system: stretches throughout the entirety of the city. The train cars can detach and double as elevators to reach high points.

Ancient catacombs: Remains of the dead city that have been built upon for generations. Despite the live-in-the-moment energy the city has, there are consequences and these catacombs are proof. This is where the worst of the worst go when above-city life is just not working out. Deep within the tunnels, strange echoes are heard.

Rules

Who can enter?

This event is online and thus open to participation for all individuals. 

Your entry can be made solo or with a team of other writers and editors; however, please credit all members involved in the production of your narrative.

Only one person needs to join itch.io and submit the game. However, if others on the team also join itch.io, they can be tagged as contributors. (On your game's itch page, pick "Edit", "More", "Admins", and follow the instructions). 

Office Hours & Jam Events!

If you want to talk about your story or have any questions we are providing a couple of office hour sessions with our volunteers as well as some upcoming events about narrative design to help as well!

Events : Work With Indies [Discord invite link : https://discord.gg/workwithindies ] Writing Chat EVERY TUESDAY 8PM EST - 10PM EST 

Lesson 1 : A blank page is a lot like an empty Bank Account

https://discord.gg/gJeg3eXXN5?event=1141070958124339251

Join us for an overview on different narrative structures (Linear, Branching, Open-ended, Instances, Emergent and Thematic Set-ups) followed by a short exercise of theorizing narrative set-ups based on a prompt finished with a short analysis of audience responses.

Office Hours - Discord Name : DivineShadow777  Hours [ Monday, Wednesday, Saturday 3pm - 11pm EST reach out at least an hour in advance to make an appointment through DM's]

Discord Name : therobinhart Hours [M-F 12:30pm - 5pm PST reach out at least 24 hours in advance to make an appointment through the writers-block channel in the discord]

When does the jam begin and end?

August 8th - August 29th. Three weeks. Feel free to submit at any period during however.

What can I make my game in? 

You may use whatever game dev tools feel comfortable - any engine, middleware, or assets that you can (legally) use you are welcome to. Because this is a narrative-focused game jam you may find it easier to use a simple toolset. If you are undecided he organizers recommend checking out these:

https://www.renpy.org/ (Doki Doki Literature Club, Bad End Theater, Katawa Shojo)

https://twinery.org/ (https://itch.io/games/top-rated/tag-twine)

Ink (80 Days, Sable, Signs of the Sojourner)

Can I use generative AI to create code, art, writing, or music?

No. Absolutely not. This is not a jam about how creative a dataset can appear.