Visual novel jam

A VN Jam, or a Visual Novel Jam, is a type of game jam, an event in which participants try to make a game from scratch within a limited duration of time. VN Jams are game jams that exclusively focus on visual novels or visual novel-like games.

Duration

Visual novel jams are commonly one to two months long events with exceptions that may last for shorter or longer periods of time (e.g., O2A2). Many VN jams start as one-offs, but upon success often convert to annual events. Occasionally jams may also come back after a break of some years based on renewed interest, or a new group of hosts.

Joining and participating

Jams usually don't require any formal statement of participation. Though it's often encouraged to join a jam (i.e. click the "join jam" button as a logged in user) on platforms like itch.io before the submission period, it is also possible to join the jam while the submission period is open. At the very latest this needs to be done before the actual submission, as it is not possible to submit a VN to a jam without joining it first.

Submission period

When talking about jams hosted on itch.io, the jam's duration is effectively the jam's "submission period", which is the window of time during which people can submit their works to the jam page. This is signified by a countdown until submissions are open (before the jam), and another countdown until submissions close (while the jam is ongoing).

Time zones

Centralized jam platforms use one specific time zone (that of the jam host) and recalculate deadlines for other participants around the world. This will lead to jams starting a few hours "earlier" or "later" (occasionally giving the false impression that the jam is starting a day off) depending on the time zone, however on the other end those time zones will have their deadline be adjusted to compensate for this effect, leading to an equal amount of hours for each time zone.

Common Rules

One of the main selling points of jams is their limited time and often artistic or other constraints within which the participants must operate. Rules are therefore one of the key elements of jams, and their specifics will differ significantly from jam to jam.

Pre-Jam

In case VN jams do not specify that participants can submit previously worked on projects (e.g., Winter VN Jam) and the jams request creating a VN from scratch, there are a few activities that most jams will allow:

• Team recruitment
• Story outlines
• Character sketches
• Searching for readily available or Creative Commons assets
• Project planning

Often the formula used to describe these general restriction is that "no work which directly leads to the the creation of final assets is allowed".

Themes

Visual novel jams are not necessarily themed. Some jams such as NaNoRenO do not restrict participant game topics. Others such as Spooktober VN Jam maintain rules on allowable content and topics (in the case of this example, "spooky or Halloween themed"). Check the specific jam's rules to double check on genres, themes, rules on adult content, and other potential restrictions.

Themes can be varied, and often are based on categories like:

• Genre (horror, romance...), e.g. Valentine's VN Jam, Spooktober VN Jam
• Mood / Visuals (seasonal, areas of interest...), e.g. WinterJam, Shoot for the Stars Jam
• Characters (identity, representation...), e.g. AceJam, AroJam
• Relationship (FxF, friendship...), e.g. YuriJam, OtomeJam
• Technical restriction (assets, engines...), e.g. TyranoJam, O2A2

Engines

Main article: Visual Novel Engines

Engine choice (e.g., Ren'Py, NaniNovel) is typically not restricted in visual novel jams. Check the specific jam's rules to double check.

Jams

List of VN Jams

Main article: List of VN jams

Overview of all relevant VN jams, organized by month.

Significant VN Jams

Simplified overview of 10 jams whose events have produced most amounts of entries. For details and exceptions check individual jam pages.

Jam	Description	Game Types	Duration	Partial Completion	Prior Work	NSFW	Theme / Restriction	Most Entries
NaNoRenO	longest running VN jam, currently hosted by sakevisual, held annually between March and April.	VN	1 month	allowed	not allowed	allowed	---	185 (2022)
Spooktober VN Jam	judged VN jam competition hosted by DevTalk, held annually in September in preparation for October	VN	1 month	allowed	not allowed	not allowed	spooky, horror, Halloween	112 (2021)
O2A2 VN Jam	minimalist jam with restrictions on resources (use only one of any asset).	VN	1 week	not allowed	not allowed	allowed	---	96 (2021)
Winter VN Jam	low-pressure jam with a broad theme of winter, the cold, and snow.	VN	1 month	allowed	allowed	not allowed	winter, cold	77 (2021)
SuNoFes	low-pressure jam hosted by Alte, held annually in the summer	VN and narrative	2 months	allowed	not allowed	not allowed	---	69 (2021)
Yuri Game Jam	jam emphasizing relationships between women	any game	2 months	allowed	allowed	allowed	yuri, FxF	66 (2017)
Valentine's Jam	love-themed visual novel jam	VN	1 month	allowed	allowed	allowed	romance, Valentine's	51 (2021)
TyranoJam	engine-restricted jam with themes, inactive since 2018	VN	1-3 months	not allowed	not allowed	not allowed	TyranoBuilder engine	44 (2017)
Yaoi Game Jam	jam focused on M/M relationships for a female audience	any game	2 months	allowed	not allowed	allowed	yaoi, MxM	36 (2020)
Otome Jam	jam focusing on romantic games with a female protagonist	any game	2 months	allowed	allowed	allowed	otome, FxM	28 (2021)