Spooktober VN Jam

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Spooktober VN Jam
Spooktober 2022 key art.jpg
Key art for Spooktober 2022
Years active 2019 to Present
Host Remort Studios
Duration 1 month (September)
Theme Spooky, Horror, Halloween, non-NSFW
Prior work Not allowed
Most entries 210 (2023)
Latest URL https://itch.io/jam/spooktober-2023

The Spooktober VN Jam is an annual event where participants create a visual novel themed around Halloween and/or a "spooky" or horror theme during the month of September. Entries are judged and prizes are awarded to winning participants in October.

The jam is run and strongly promoted by the DevTalk VN developer community, and preparations for the jam start months in advance. The jam's official itch page allowing participants to join is usually published about 1 month prior to the start.

History

The first Spooktober VN Jam took place in October 2019 and the event has grown each year since. 2020 saw a shift to September so that entries were available to play during Halloween season in October.

In 2021, Spooktober became the first itch.io VN jam to produce more VN entries than NaNoRenO in a given year.

Spooktober 2023 became the largest visual novel jam ever by a significant margin, with 1097 participants and 210 entries. It also had the largest total prize pot of any VN jam at $7,500 across several categories & awards.

Rules

The jam's main rules are:

  • work on final assets can only start within the jam period
  • adherence to theme of Halloween, horror, etc.
  • free availability of VN for the judging period
  • no NSFW content / appropriate content warnings
  • Late submissions may be allowed on a case by case basis, but are not eligible for judging or prizes.

Overview & Process

Before the jam begins, participants may sign up, form teams, and plan for story, art, or other aspects of the game. Work on final in-game assets may not be started before the official beginning of the jam. Two Meet and Greets are typically organized in the Devtalk Discord server to facilitate team creation and recruitment.

After the jam submission period is finished, judging begins. To ensure fair treatment of all entries, Judges do not consider updates or changes to games that occur after the jam ends. The judging process typically involves individual shortlists, and typically not every judge will play every submission. Once a consensus on the winners is achieved, the results are published on the jam page, and announced though various other channels.

There are no set overall judging criteria, however each year judges will introduce themselves and present their personal focus points and judging values, e.g. focus on emotional impact, self-expression, or overall cohesiveness.

While judging proceeds, DevTalk promotes and facilitates post-jam activities such as encouraging playing and commenting on entries, hosting or highlighting people's Let's Play streams, encouraging reviews, and working to increase the overall visibility of the jam and its VNs.

Year Judging Team
2023 Arimia, Chaplin, Coda, Vimi, RedOwl
2022 Nai, Arimia, HusbandoGoddess, John, Chaplin
2021 Nai, Arimia, Chloe, TundraFlame, Fra
2020 Nai, Arimia
2019 Nai, Arimia

Categories and Awards

The award categories for Spooktober may vary from year to year. In addition to a "grand prize" awarded to the top three VNs, secondary prizes in various categories may be awarded. The amounts and types of prizes can also vary from year to year, even in the same category, as they are often dependent on sponsorship agreements made for that year. Prizes can be monetary, or license keys for software.

Judge Favorite

This is the most prestigious Spooktober award and is given by the judges for the "best overall" VNs in the form of a "top three" ranked order.

Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2023 Model Employee The Final Prize is Soup Reaplaced
2022 Our Fantastic Wonderland Elevator Hitch All That (Probably) Glitters
2021 StillWater Stardander Revenant Romancing Flesh
2020 Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger Last Meal at Cafe Mori Night of the Lesbian Vampires
2019 Not It (not awarded) (not awarded)

Judge Shortlist

Before the final three titles of the Judge Favorite award are established, a selection of candidates is picked by the judges from the entirety of the submission pool. These include the future Judge Favorite titles.

Year Count Titles
2023 53/210
(25%)		 Angel Hare's Learning Adventure, Are We Still Friends?, Ball of the Black Cat, Beary the Hatchet, Burdock, Counterpart, Curse of the Juniper Tree, Dead Set, Death is a Guest, DISCONNECT, Eldritch Idol, Eva and the Fallen Star, Fear Me: The Silent, Freak The Town, Ghostly Delights, Goblet of Mercy, Hardships Of A Vampire, Head Over Heels, How May I Direct Your Curse, I love my follower (count), Imago Dirge, It's Inside, Living With Ghosts, Long Time No See, Model Employee, Mycopsychosys, NG: Cursed in Love!?, No Time For Mercy, Please don't trust me, protoViolence, Reaplaced, Red Zero, Remnants: Counsel of the Dead, Satan is an Astronaut, Scarlett's Sorrows, Sempre, Shared Beauty, So Below, Stares Back, The Final Prize is Soup, The House on Limbo Lane, The Killer at Moonlight, The Phantom of the Black Rose Revue: Act 1, The Widow's Shadow, The Wrong Evelyn, This Magical Girl is a B⭐tch [ACT 1], Trashwing Crowchild, Trick or Treat, Undead Air, UNDERSTUDY, Undo the Mustache Curse Witch!, WITCHAROO, Wrong Turn
2022 32/160
(20%)		 All That (Probably) Glitters, Autumn Spirit, Beneath the Crushing Sky, Blue Thistle Ghosts, Cal's Costume Conundrum!!, Confessions Amongst the Poppies, Corvus Clueless, Curse in Bloom, Don't Die Alone, Elevator Hitch, Girlfriend Simulator, L.S.D.s --- AKA: Love-Sucking Demons, Lachesis ∨ Atropos, Loose Oddities and Entities, Melissa :heart:, Nameless - The Departed Cycle, Nowhereplatz U3, Offal, Our Fantastic Wonderland, Panacea: Rebirth, Parasite in Love, The Cryptic Caper, The Graveyard Shift, The Madness Of [Redacted], Vivica's Heart, VVVVV, waterborne: immersion (waterborne 2), Who Killed BigFoot?, Wilting Regrets, World of You, Yokai Detective Kou
2021 39/112
(35%)		 All That Ales Yew, Belladonna, Candy Scabs, The Case of the Serialized Killer, DUFE: Masquerade, Falling Stars, Frightwood, Ghost Switch, Graveyard Girls, The haunting of my childhood mall, Hearts & Hexes, The Housemate, Hush Little Lily, InSomno, Jill O’ Lantern: First Slice, Last One There, Limbo Line, The Life We’ve Chosen, Misty Hollow, Mitra, Mothdude, Moths to a Flame, Paranormal Buddies, Perfection Paper-thin, Pumpkin Face, Pusoy Dos, The Raven, Romancing Flesh, Scary Gourmet, Silverblood, The Spider and the Bride, Stardander Revenant, Stillwater, Tales of Misteria, To All the Wolves I’ve Slain, Up All Night: Rumination, waterborne, Wolfskin’s Curse, Who Is the Red Queen?
2020 (0) (not awarded)
2019 (0) (not awarded)

Best Cinematography / Scene Presentation

Year 1st place Nominated
2023 DISCONNECT DISCONNECT, protoViolence, The Final Prize is Soup, First Do No Harm, Shared Beauty, The Widow's Shadow
2022 Our Fantastic Wonderland Our Fantastic Wonderland, LSD AKA Love Sucking Demons.
2021 Romancing Flesh (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded) (not awarded)

Best Voice Actor / Human Voice Performance

Year 1st place Nominated
2023 Davon Oliver Taylor Fernandez, Davon Oliver, Lauren Kong, Pamela Santos
2022 Rachel Schumacher Trickle, Rachel Schumacher, Vera Tan
2021 Paradoxxxical (not awarded)
2020 Nick Chang (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded) (not awarded)

Best Character Design

Year 1st place Nominated
2023 Pearl (Beary the Hatchet) Penny (Model Employee), Tabbie (This Magical Girl is a Btch: Act 1), Lydia (Ghostly Delights), Mio (Reaplaced), Pearl (Beary the Hatchet), Plum (Love, Pumpkin, and Other Complications), Mirabell (Us Three Joined by Flesh), Kara (Trick or Treat), Letty (DISCONNECT), Cassie Cortega (Satan is an Astronaut)
2022 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded) (not awarded)

Best Soundtrack / Score

Year 1st place Nominated
2023 Reaplaced Reaplaced, Satan is an Astronaut, Undead Air, Phantom of the Black Rose Revue: Act 1, Model Employee
2022 Parasite in Love Parasite in Love, Autumn Spirit, Vivica's Heart
2021 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded) (not awarded)

Best 3D Character Model

Year Winner
2023 First Do No Harm
2022 (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded)

Best Itch.IO Page

Year 1st place Nominated
2023 Shared Beauty Satan is an Astronaut, Shared Beauty, DISCONNECT, The Final Prize is Soup, Sea Fever, NG: Cursed in Love?!, Model Employee
2022 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2019 (not awarded) (not awarded)

Itch.io Favorite / Public vote

This is the result of the public voting system. The system follows the itch.io 5-star system, and is calculated with the top result being the highest average score, regardless of the amount of ratings received. In 2019 the results for this section ("community favorite") were announced with Not It (score 4,89 via 9 votes) in 1st place before Halloween Hearts and Bliss Cafe (both scoring 5,00 with 2 votes each) because of the weight of the quantity of votes. In 2022 the winner was not determined by the jam's scoring system as the custom categories were created to add to the spooky nature of the jam rather than offer precise feedback to elements of the submissions, and the single winner was established via the popularity sorting rank on the submissions page.

This overview lists the top three places only, following only the average score (not weighing in the amount of votes)

Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2023 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2022 Melissa
(most popular)		 (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 Mitra
(score 5,000 via 10 votes)		 The Case of The Serialized Killer
(score 4,941 via 51 votes)		 Up All Night: Rumination
(score 4,929 via 14 votes)
2020 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2019 Halloween Hearts + Bliss Cafe
(score 5,000 via 2 votes)		 Not It
(score 4,889 via 9 votes)

Thumbnail

Award for the best thumbnail image on the submission's itch.io page.

Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2023 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2022 Yokai Detective Kou (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 DUFE: Masquerade (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger Bewitched Hearts Oh! Terry!
2019 It's Just The End of the World, Love (not awarded) (not awarded)

Logline

Award for the best log line (1-3 sentences with what the visual novel is about).

Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2023 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2022 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 Wolfskin's Curse (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 Up All Night Devil's Door Play Dead!
2019 I'm A Love Interest In my Childhood Friend's Halloween Story (not awarded) (not awarded)

Monster / Costume Design

Year 1st place 2nd place 3rd place
2023 (not awarded) (not awarded) (not awarded)
2022 The Cryptic Caper (not awarded) (not awarded)
2021 Romancing Flesh (not awarded) (not awarded)
2020 What Grows in the Night House Last Meal at Cafe Mori
2019 Bliss Cafe (not awarded) (not awarded)

Motif

Awarded for the best recurring motifs in submitted visual novels.

Year 1st place
2023 (not awarded)
2022 (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded)
2020 (not awarded)
2019 I'm A Love Interest In My Childhood Friend's Halloween Story

Best Unity Submission

Year 1st place
2023 (not awarded)
2022 (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded)
2020 Soft Drizzle: B-Track
2019 (not awarded)

Best Monster Performance

Year 1st place
2023 (not awarded)
2022 (not awarded)
2021 (not awarded)
2020 MAHO Cody
2019 (not awarded)

Best Live Streamed Performance

Year 1st place
2023 (not awarded)
2022 (not awarded)
2021 Project Flawesome
2020 Tundra Flame
2019 (not awarded)

External Links

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Community
Extras
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