Spooktober VN Jam
 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 | 160 (2022) |
| Latest URL | https://itch.io/jam/spooktober-vn-jam-2022 |
The Spooktober VN Jam is an annual event where in the month of September participants create a visual novel themed around Halloween and/or a "spooky" or horror theme, in any genre (e.g. drama, but also comedy is allowed). Entries are judged and prizes are awarded to winning participants in October, after the jam's main (creation) phase is finished. The name "Spooktober" references October 31th (Halloween).
The jam is run and strongly promoted by the DevTalk VN developer community, and general awareness 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. In 2021 Spooktober VN Jam became the first and so far only itch.io VN jam to produce more VN entries than NaNoRenO in a given year.
History
The first Spooktober VN Jam took place in 2019.
Overview
There are two main phases to Spooktober, one being the creation phase, and an additional phase, where the jam promotes its creations and encourages people to "celebrate the spooky season" by playing its entries while the entries are being judged. The availability of VNs to play during the Halloween-themed time is the reason why the creation phase is in September. Only in its first 2019 iteration did the jam's creation phase take place in October.
Preparation Phase
This natural phase of a jam consists of preparing for the "Creation Phase". Participants may sign up, form teams and do other typical activities allowed by the jam rules. Restrictions apply, such as for the creation of final in-game assets. In the DevTalk server two Meet and Greets are organized to facilitate team creation and recruitment. In this phase participants are encouraged to clarify open questions in regards to jam rules.
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
Creation Phase
This is the "main" phase of Spooktober, taking place during September. Participants create, finish and must submit the VN to the jam page before the end of the submission window. Late submissions may be allowed on a case by case basis, but are not eligible for judging or prizes.
Playing and Visibility Phase
After the jam submission period is finished, the playing and visibility phase begins. At the same time that the judges start their process (see Judging Phase), DevTalk promotes and facilitates post-jam activities in the context of Halloween throughout the month of October. These are 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.
Judging Phase
The judging phase also starts after the jam submission period is finished. Judges download all submissions as they are at the time of the jam's end, and disregard any updates to the VNs made between the end of submission period and announcing of results, to ensure fair treatment of all entries. Judges play and exchange views on submissions privately, and do not publish any preliminary results.
The judging approach is dependent on the number of expected submissions, and it is possible that not all judges will play all VNs. The judging process may involve individual shortlists, or splitting submissions between the judges. Once a consensus on the winners is achieved, the results are published on the jam page, and announces 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.
| Year | Judging Team |
|---|---|
| 2022 | Nai, Arimia, HusbandoGoddess, John, Chaplin |
| 2021 | Nai, Arimia, Chloe, TundraFlame, Fra |
| 2020 | Nai, Arimia |
| 2019 | Nai, Arimia |
Categories and prizes
The prize 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 away by the judges for the "best overall" VNs in the form of a "top three" ranked order. This award serves to highlight standout titles rather than ordering all submissions, therefore no accompanying further or expanded ranked list is published.
| Year | 1st place | 2nd place | 3rd place |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Melissa :heart: (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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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) |
Best Cinematography / Scene Presentation
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 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) |
Motif
Awarded for the best recurring motifs in submitted visual novels.
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 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 |
|---|---|
| 2022 | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | Soft Drizzle: B-Track |
| 2019 | (not awarded) |
Best Score
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 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 Voice Actor / Human Voice Performance
| Year | 1st place | Nominated |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Rachel Schumacher | Trickle, Rachel Schumacher, Vera Tan |
| 2021 | Paradoxxxical | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | Nick Chang | (not awarded) |
| 2019 | (not awarded) | (not awarded) |
Best Monster Performance
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2022 | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | (not awarded) |
| 2020 | MAHO Cody |
| 2019 | (not awarded) |
Best Live Streamed Performance
| Year | 1st place |
|---|---|
| 2022 | (not awarded) |
| 2021 | Project Flawesome |
| 2020 | Tundra Flame |
| 2019 | (not awarded) |
External Links
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