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Thank you for playing! :)

Gosh, I know right? It's one awful thing after another.

Naw, thank you lovely human! 

It's since changed in Australia - tampon tax is no longer a thing in Aus, but it was when I made the game back in 2017. I'm glad you share my anger.

Yeah, 'AFAB? more like BEEN STABBED!' is kickass. I'm a huge fan of it.

That's so rad. I'm gonna check this out later today - thanks for letting me know Matt! :

Hype hype, it's #AGJam day! We officially kick off this evening!!

Our theme will be announced within 24 hours, along with our Diversifier challenges.

Our workshops will begin on Sunday July 19th, and run until the main jamming begins on July 31st.

Our main jamming time will be Friday Aug 31st to Friday Aug 14th.

BUT, if you want to:

- start thinking about ideas
- playing around with new tools
- trying techniques from workshops
- find rad people to work with
- or even make things

before the main time,

OR, you've got a heap of time now that you won't have in August,

OR, you're just a SUPER KEEN AGJAM BEAN,

 you're ABSOLUTELY welcome to start now!

Congrats on finishing the game! Well done. 

I'll jump on and play it once I'm at my computer tonight!

Thank you! I've nearly got it finished, just need to take a photo of a few things to use as images :)

Cool name! Hope the project is coming along well for you :)

So, my own update:

I planned (to be more accurate, I wrote down ideas for) 3 games about menstruation - two that I'll work on in the future, and a very small icebreaker that I might make this month if I'm on track with everything else. I completely forgot to fix up the story from my last period jam - oops, my bad - so I'll probably make that my first priority.

The icebreaker is called "Menstrual Match", and is super simple: half the group gets items like pads, tampons, chocolate, painkillers, a 'listening ear', and the other half get 'my period', 'awful cramps', cravings, and big moods - they have to go around and say things like "I have my period, do you have any pads?", with the idea being that it will help people get more comfortable with talking about periods. Ideally, you'd play this with a class, before learning about periods - or, I guess you could play it anywhere you'll be discussing periods, tbh. I've got the design and words sorted, now I'm just finding out what I'm gonna do about the art...

Hello wonderful people!

I meant to post this a lot early, but I've been unwell the last week. How are we all doing?

It's a little over the halfway point - and it may seem like everything is overwhelming and there's still so much to do on your game - and that's okay! We've all been there, and it can be really hard to reshape a fantastic idea you've had into something you can make in a month (alongside all of life's usual responsibilities and hiccups). You're not alone, and I'm really proud of you for whatever you've contributed or created so far!

Friendly reminder: it's okay not to finish your game this month (or ever), and your health ALWAYS come before the game. Take breaks, sleep, do other things (yes, I know making games is usually more exciting than housework - but housework helps keep life tracking along and keep you tracking along too). Please, feel free to share what you've made so far, or what you're going to make or work on for the rest of the month - no menstruation game is too big, too small, too conventional, or too weird!

Good luck and happy jammin'

Thank you :)  I'll post some progress shots soon - been unwell the last week, but got a bit of writing done for it.

Thanks for sharing Heather! (and sorry it's taken me such a while to respond, too). Did you find a name for their datemate?

I like the details you've added to the datemate's ears, by the way.  It adds some personality, and they look friendly and approachable. What program are you using to design them in? 

I should probably post what I'm making, hey!?

Mostly for this jam, I'm trying to finish the story for the game I began last period jam  - the programmer I'm working with is fixing up the code as well. It's a browser-based game about a trans boy getting his period, told by moving periods (the punctuation mark) to where they need to go in sentences. The period marks appear on the screen as big globs of blood, and the entire story appears on a pad. It's uber cool, and I'm super keen to finish it.

I'm playing around with two other ideas which I might work on as well: one is a clicker game where the thing that keeps ticking is your period, and the options to click when you get your period are the ridiculous things that non-period havers say about periods (like "Just hold in the blood!" or "Can't you turn it off for now?"). It's probably too much for me to actually make this jam, but I might give it a go next jam. 

The other idea is an icebreaker game / board game for young people - I have no idea what it will involve, but I want the people playing it to say "I have my period. Do you have a pad?" and stuff like that, so I'm thinking some sort of set collecting game or the like. Who knows? It has good vibes in my brain, and that's half the battle.

This sounds like a really cool concept - and I'm super excited to hear that you're new to game making and wanting to make games that deal with important topics. Welcome!

Please reach out if you need any help or ideas about where to go from here to build your idea! I (or other folks, if they're here) can recommend some easy to use game engines and tools, depending on what sort of game you want to make and what aspects (like writing, art, code, sound/audio, design) you are skilled in / keen to try out. 

Good luck!!

Hi Heather! Welcome, I'm glad you're here - I'm a fellow making-games-that-have-an-impact human! I hope you can be proud of what you make, and that you have a good time making it too.

Look forward to hearing about what you make!

Hello, and thank you all for being here! 

(at least, I think you're here. I may just be making a game by myself, haha)

How's the first week going? What sort of ideas are floating around out there? I look forward to seeing what y'all make.

Hello and welcome, wonderful humans! 

#PeriodJam has begun, and I'm keen to see what we all create.  But first, let's share who we are and what we bring to our jams - in case anyone is looking for some teammates.

I'm Jess (they/she/he/anything), and I'm an accessibility consultant who is also keen on general design. I love working in Twine and pushing its boundaries to do weird, awesome things, and I have enjoyed working in Bitsy and Construct 2 in the past (along with a little bit of Unreal's Blueprints, some Unity, and some 3D modelling). I really like icon design, and making interactive narratives that don't have a win state, and games about menstruating. (I also love spoons and knitting!)

Who are you?!

I really liked this game and the themes it explores. Thank you for making it :)

(Also, sorry it took me so long to play it - been moving house and then my computer has been out of action!)

I really liked this approach (of playing as 'the period') and the historical aspect - I'd be keen to see more! (Also, super sorry it took me so long to play it - been moving house and then my computer was out of action for a while). Thanks for making your game :)

Thank you for making such a open, authentic experience here - I hope your hard times are on their way to better times soon!

Thank you so much for this game! It's awesome. I wish I'd had something like this when I was going through sex ed at school.

I laughed at (and empathised with) several of Maia's reactions, thanks for making such an authentic and real experience. :)

This is really neat! I really liked the room with the snappy-teeth creatures and the maze. Awesome stuff!

Thank you for telling such a compelling story here. :)

Hello wonderful people!

With us all entering the last few days of this jam, I'm keen to see what you've all been eagerly creating!

If you're running close to time, and reckon you won't get it finished in time - DON'T PANIC! There's no judging or rating here, so feel free to submit whatever you've got and edit it later, or continue working on your game in your own time (but make sure to upload it eventually because I'll obviously want to play it!). Anything else, ping me here or on Twitter (@jessgates025).

And, a massive apology for being somewhat disconnected from everything to do with this jam over the last few weeks (life and brain stuff happened). I'm looking to try to run these on a reasonably regular basis, pending what the next few months bring, so if the creative juices escaped you this time, fear not! There will be more!

Good luck!

Jess

Hi folks!

Please feel free to comment below with your works in progress as the jam continues!

Jess

Hey folks, I'm so glad you're all here!

It's approximately halfway through the #PeriodJam, (unfortunately, I've been unwell the last few weeks, so I haven't kept this as active as it could be), but I'm so excited to see what games y'all make!

If you have any questions, want to share what you've made so far, need some help, or want to find a rad person/people to team up with, give me a shout or chuck a post up here!

Jess

A friend of mine has reached out to me through Twitter with some menstrual cup sounds. They're happy for anyone doing the jam to use them  - and are interested (time permitting) for any further sounds folks need for their jam games. If you're interested in the menstrual cup sounds - let me know in the comments belong or DM me on Twitter at @jessgates025.
Jess

Hi Raed, I'm so glad you're keen. Hopefully you can find someone / a few someones who are looking for some programming help!
Jess

This game looks amazing! I can't play it (non-Apple-user here), but I'm really glad it exists. :D

Thank you, and thanks for playing! :)

well, no, but life took over and I never finished the game. But I guess, maybe I'll make it into some dramatic metaphor or something? 😅

Thanks for playing :) 

That was my favourite scene to create. I'm glad you connected with it so deeply. Thanks for playing :)

Bug is known, and being fixed Tuesday when back at the computer. 

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for your comment and for playing! 

Bug is known, and being fixed Tuesday when back at the computer. 

I'm so glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much for your comment and for playing! 

As promised, for Zem:

This is so many arts!!
Well done you lot. Much fun to play :)

This is really clever! Short, but gets its message and perspective across clear. Love the jellyfish! Well done. 

Thanks Erika! Glad you enjoyed it :)