Spooktober Visual Novel Jam: Difference between revisions
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{{Infobox jam | {{Infobox jam | ||
| name = Spooktober VN Jam | | name = Spooktober VN Jam | ||
| logo = [[File:Spooktober | | logo = [[File:Spooktober key art.png|x200px]] | ||
| theme = Spooky, Horror, Halloween, non-NSFW | | theme = Spooky, Horror, Halloween, non-NSFW | ||
| timing = September; 1 month | | timing = September; 1 month | ||
Revision as of 14:05, 28 November 2024
 | |
| Theme | Spooky, Horror, Halloween, non-NSFW |
|---|---|
| Timing & Duration | September; 1 month |
| Status | Ongoing |
| Most Participants | 1,487 (2024) |
| Most Entries | 272 (2024) |
| Year Started | 2019 |
| Creator(s) | Stella |
| Current Host(s) | DevTalk, Stella |
| Cumulative Participants | 4,167 (incl. 2024) |
| Cumulative Entries | 813 (incl. 2024) |
| Most Recent Jam Page | https://itch.io/jam/spooktober-2024 |
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
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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.
Spooktober 2024 again took top spots for participants and entries, beating out Spooktober 2023 and SuNoFes 2024. It had 1,487 participants and 272 entries. The total prize pot was somewhat smaller than the previous year, at $4,550.
Also in 2024, Stella and the DevTalk team underwent a number of marketing & promotional efforts for the jam and its games. VTuber Chizu Koyote hosted several streams sponsored by DevTalk, showcasing Spooktober Entries.
Also, an advergame was put into production, which enabled the creation of a Twitch category to aid in visibility for streamers playing Spooktober games. The advergame unfortunately was not completed before the jam ended, though the Twitch category was live by September 11, 2024. The advergame is in late development as of October 2024.
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 |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Stella, Arimia, Chaplin, Vimi, shino, Mado, Cygni |
| 2023 | Arimia, Chaplin, Coda, Vimi, RedOwl |
| 2022 | Stella, Arimia, HusbandoGoddess, John, Chaplin |
| 2021 | Stella, Arimia, Chloe, TundraFlame, Fra |
| 2020 | Stella, Arimia |
| 2019 | Stella, 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 are awarded in various categories. The amounts and types of prizes 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.
Groupings of awards on this page are arbitrary, and generated only for readability. The competition itself does not arrange awards into groups.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Spirit Driver | Märchen Line | MAMA |
| 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 / Honorable Mentions
Since 2021, a list of honorable mentions is published for each competition. Before the final three titles of the Judge Favorite award are established, a shortlist of candidates is picked by the judges from the entirety of the submission pool, and these shortlisted games are awarded an honorable mention. These include the future Judge Favorite titles. Additional entries may be given an honorable mention by judges even if they did not make it past the formal shortlisting process.
| Year | Count | Titles |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 63/272 (23%) |
A Song for the Damned, A Witch is Getting Married, A Zombie Head Went Missing at the Party Full of CUTE MONSTER GIRLS!?, Puppeteer's Lament, All Hallow's Eve, Awayuki Tasogare, BABELOMANIA, BAD MANORS, Beyond the Veil, CANIDAE, Casey Noir and Carved Pumpkin's Latte, Catfish in Disguise, Comme Tu Veux Demo, Corpse Flower, Death Love Repeat, Demons of the Venta Quemanda, Dream of Rosy Pastries, Drown the Bride, Elfin National Park, Epimutation, GIVE EVIL A FACE, HavE, Help! I Took My Little Brother to a Halloween Party and the Popular Kids Want to Sacrifice Him to a Demon!, Home Haunting, Infected Infestation, Intensive (S)care Unit, Killer Chat!, Knock-Knock, Let's Watch Steamboat Willie!, Lydia's Labyrinth, Märchen Line, MAD LAB PARTY, MAMA, Memory Recoil, Mothers, My landlord is an alien, Necromance, Never Play Again, Not My Body!, Not My Part, Oto-hime, Our Lamb Amidst Mortals, Parasocial! Paranoia! Paradise!, Pippa and Your Phantasmal Problem, PLAY OF WIRE, Red Caps Order, Rot in Paradise, rotten angel, Sayounara My Moon, Shut-in Vampire, Skin Deep, Spirit Driver, Still On Patrol, Sunk, Tell it Slant, The Death Night Show, The Hermetic Tower, The Stars Under Lockehurst, THE UNDERGLOW: Knowledge, Tricks, Treats, and Mirrors - An EoG Side Story, Undergrowth, UnderHolo, Zodiac Paradigm |
| 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? |
Marketing Assets & Itch.io Design
Itch.io Favorite / Public vote
This is the result of the public voting system. It has been measured & awarded in several different ways over the course of the competition.
In 2019, the results for this section (labelled "community favorite") were announced with Not It (score 4,899 via 9 votes) in 1st place before Halloween Hearts and Bliss Cafe (both scoring 5,000 with 2 votes each) because of the weight of the quantity of votes.
In 2021, the awards were given according to the itch.io 5-star system. Rankings were calculated with the top result being the highest average score, regardless of the amount of ratings received.
In 2022, the single winner was determined via the popularity sorting rank on the submissions page.
In 2024, the winner was determined by the greatest number of votes/rankings, regardless of the overall score.
| Year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Killer Chat (671 votes; score 4.725) |
(not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 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) | |
Best Itch.IO Page
This award was given only in 2023, to the most appealing Itch.IO page as determined by the judges.
| 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 |
Best Thumbnail
Award for the best thumbnail image on the submission's itch.io page.
| Year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Pippa and Your Phantasmal Problem | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | Baths, MAMA, Late Night Surfing, Pippa and Your Phantasmal Problem, Never Play Again |
| 2023 | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2022 | Yokai Detective Kou | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | DUFE: Masquerade | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | Therapy with Dr. Albert Krueger | Bewitched Hearts | Oh! Terry! | (not awarded) |
| 2019 | It's Just The End of the World, Love | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
Best Logline
Award for the best log line (1-3 sentences with what the visual novel is about).
| Year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Necromance | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | Necromance, Nine to Five AM, Let's Watch Steamboat Willy, UnderHolo |
| 2023 | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2022 | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | Wolfskin's Curse | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | Up All Night | Devil's Door | Play Dead! | (not awarded) |
| 2019 | I'm A Love Interest In my Childhood Friend's Halloween Story | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
Art & Visuals
Best Cinematography / Scene Presentation
Awarded beginning in 2021 to the submission judged to have the best cinematography and scene direction.
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | MAMA | MAMA, Home Haunting, HavE |
| 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) |
Best Character Design
First awarded in 2023.
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Home Haunting | Infected Infestation, Home Haunting, Shut-in Vampire, Spirit Driver, Epimutation, Not My Part |
| 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) |
Best 3D Character Model
Awarded only in 2023.
| Year | Winner |
|---|---|
| 2023 | First Do No Harm |
Monster / Costume Design
| Year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Epimutation | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | MAMA, Epimutation, Märchen Line, Intensive (S)care Unit |
| 2023 | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2022 | The Cryptic Caper | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | Romancing Flesh | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | What Grows in the Night | House | Last Meal at Cafe Mori | (not awarded) |
| 2019 | Bliss Cafe | (not awarded) | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
Best Graphical User Interface (GUI)
Awarded beginning in 2024.
| Year | 1st place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Zodiac Paradigm | Pippa and Your Phantasmal Problem, Tell it Slant, Babbelomania, Zodiac Paradigm |
Best Video Effects (VFX)
Awarded beginning in 2024.
| Year | 1st place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | UnderHolo | UnderHolo, MAMA, HavE |
Motif
Awarded in 2019 for the best recurring motifs in submitted visual novels.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2019 | I'm A Love Interest In My Childhood Friend's Halloween Story |
Audio & Voice Acting
Best Voice Actor / Human Voice Performance
Awarded beginning in 2020.
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | cobaltkobold | cobaltkobold as The Narrator in Tell it Slant, Ren Alberg as Cat in Zodiac Paradigm, itsnotmika as The Narrator in Demons of the Venta Quemada, Ryan X. Messcher as Jack 'The Voice' Reynolds in Song for the Damned |
| 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) |
Best Original Soundtrack
Awarded beginning in 2022 for the best original soundtrack, defined as a musical soundtrack produced entirely within the jam's timeframe.
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Märchen Line | Märchen Line, Pippa and Your Phantasmal Problem |
| 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 |
Best Monster Performance
Awarded only in 2020.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2020 | MAHO Cody |
Best Live Streamed Performance
Awarded from 2020-2021 for the best voice acting performance during a livestream playthrough of a submitted game.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Project Flawesome |
| 2020 | Tundra Flame |
Sponsored & Engine-Based Categories
Best Unity Engine Submission
Awarded in 2020 to the best submission created using the Unity engine. Sponsored by NaniNovel.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2020 | Soft Drizzle: B-Track |
Best LightVN Submission
Awarded in 2024 for the best submission made with the LightVN engine. Sponsored by LightVN.
| Year | 1st place | Nominees |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 | Play of Wire | Awayuki Tasogare, My Landlord is An Alien, Play of Wire |
Best Boys' Love VN
Awarded in 2024 and sponsored by JAST USA.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2024 | Our Lamb Amidst Mortals |
External Links
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