VN Jam: Difference between revisions

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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.
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.
==Types of jams==
Different hosts will have different motivations and goals for jams they create, and combined with the rules, jams will develop their own nature or primary atmosphere. Knowing the basic nature of jams is important to be able to calibrate one's contribution and style of work when deciding to join them. Most of these categories feature elements and goals that can be found in all jams, but some jams emphasize them more than others.
===Competition===
Competitive jams emphasize or promote friendly competition and pushing one another to create the best possible work within the jam's framework. Prizes or recognition are awarded to the winner, and rules and restrictions will be mainly applied in regards to ensuring an even playing field and fair judging. (example: Spooktober)
===Celebration / Creation===
These jams strive to create more VNs of a certain type, celebrate or increase the visibility of an aspect or genre of VNs, with a festival-like atmosphere. Typically restrictions on the promoted element will be high, compensated by relaxed rules on other aspects. (examples: AceJam, OtomeJam)
===Challenge===
Challenge jams have the goal of getting participants out of their comfort zones or present a self-contained challenge. This can be through restrictive parameters, or themes. Honorable adherence to rules is often emphasized, and common "dos and don'ts" emerge over time. (examples: NaNoRenO, O2A2)
===Comfort===
Comfort jams are emphasizing a positive participation experience, often promoting healthy working habits. Their rules are designed to create a basic framework within which participants must find their path, and they are generous enough to allow a range of options for participants to decide how they participate. (examples: SuNoFes, WinterJam)


==Common Rules==
==Common Rules==
Line 70: Line 86:
====Iterative submitting====
====Iterative submitting====


From a time perspective, subsequent development stages can be occasionally eligible for submissions in different jams that don't happen in parallel. It can be that an early demo qualifies for one jam (e.g. NaNoRenO), an extended demo that adds romance options qualifies for another (e.g. OtomeJam), an early version of the full game qualifies for another one (e.g. SuNoFes), and the final version with extra routes due to its theme can be submitted to yet another one (e.g. WinterJam).
From a time perspective, subsequent development stages can be occasionally eligible for submissions in different jams that don't happen in parallel. An early demo can also qualify for one jam (e.g. NaNoRenO), an extended demo that adds romance options qualifies for another (e.g. OtomeJam), an early version of the full game qualifies for another one (e.g. SuNoFes), and the final version with extra routes due to its theme can be submitted to yet another one (e.g. WinterJam).
 
==Deadlines and Extensions==


==Individual Jams==
In a VN jam, the submission deadline ("jam deadline") is the point at which your finished work must be submitted, or you will have missed the opportunity and are not considered as someone who completed the jam. The jam page will not have an option to submit the game.


===List of VN Jams===
However there are some specifics to the deadline and a certain flexibility, depending on the jam and its hosts. Below are a few options for interpreting and honoring deadlines in addition to a regular "submitting on time".  
{{Main|List of VN jams}}
Overview of all relevant VN jams, organized by month.


===Significant VN Jams===
===Personal extension===


Simplified overview of 10 jams whose events have produced most amounts of entries. For details and exceptions check individual jam pages.
Any participant will be free to ask the hosts for an extension specifically for them, either privately or publicly. After a participants explains their circumstances, and if the hosts agree, they can allow submit later on when the public submission period is over, often via a special late submission link. A reasonable default expectation is that an exception will not be made. Last-minute technical issues with upload will however have a higher chance of succeeding than extensions requesting additional time to finalize the submission.


{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left";
===General extension===
! 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)
|}


==Help with VN Jams==
This is when the jam deadline is extended for everyone, after multiple requests, or due to a decision by the hosts (in March 2020 NaNoRenO was extended by 2 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns). A jam can also be extended unannounced by the hosts, as a sign of good will, or a sign of appreciation (similar to "re-opening").


===Jam hubs===
===Re-opening===


A built-in space for exchange of information and communication is usually given by default at the site where the jam is officially at home, for almost all jams this will be their respective itch.io site. There will be some form of "community" tab or section where questions can be posed and other participants or jam hosts can reply. Additionally, many jams create other, more immediate hubs like their own Discord server, or a special channel in an existing server. For very large jams there may be multiple such places, depending on how centralized the jam is.  
As the jam hosts have full control over the deadline, they can also re-open the jam once the deadline has passed and set a new deadline. Spooktober 2021 has had two 10-minute re-openings to allow people who narrowly missed the deadline another chance to submit. In 2022 Spooktober hosts kept the original deadline and downloaded all submissions for judging, but re-opened submissions shortly afterwards for 24 hours, with the caveat that any new submissions (while still considered part of the jam) would not be considered for the jam's prizes.


It is often common for platforms that allow user names to be changed for the jam hosts to identify themselves as such (e.g. John Smith, XYZ Jam Host), to ease communication.
===Placeholder page===


===Accompanying events===
Submitting an entry for a jam on itch technically works by the participant submitting an existing project page. This page is not required to have a playable game (downloadable or browser) to be submitted. Because a submitted page can be modified independently of the jam, it is therefore possible to submit the game's page itself in time, but adding the finished playable VN at some later point.


For larger jams VN communities may decide to organize various activities to support participants of jams. These can range from outline workshops, resource collecting sprints, to live sessions facilitating team creation.  
This practice effectively indefinitely extends the jam's deadline for the participants, and technically does not necessitate approval from the hosts, if the rules of the jam explicitly don't forbid this approach, and/or it can be assumed that a flexible deadline is in place.


The DevTalk server typically hosts one or two "Jam Meet & Greet" sessions for jams it officially supports.
Practical application of this will vary. Some jams like OtomeJam 2022 have given permission to participants to submit a placeholder in case they cannot make the deadline (implying the participants would upload their works relatively soon after the deadline). Other jams like Spooktober 2021 have accepted placeholder pages and not removed them since, trusting an eventual submission down the line. In case of the O2A2 2021 jam, placeholder pages were monitored for and instantly removed as they were disallowed explicitly by the jam rules.
{{Main|Jam Meet & Greet}}


===VN Jam resources===
===Unfinished / WIP submissions===


====General VN creation resources====
Some jams (like O2A2) only accept finished, self-contained VNs, while most VN jams (including NaNoRenO, SuNoFes, and Spooktober) explicitly allow partial works and demos. Often this leads to teams who realize the scale of their production is too large for the jam change course and aim for a partial (single-route version), or a demo version of their VN at the end of the jam.


As time and resources are constrained during jams, freely available or pre-made resources such as VN assets (backgrounds, sprites, music) are in high demand by participants, and sites organizing or collecting VN resources are a key support element.  
However most of such jams will equally accept a Work-in-Progress version of a VN, such as one that is fully written, but contains placeholder graphics. Submitting "what you have" at the end of the jam is a generally accepted practice, and will almost never lead to removal from the jam. Most jam hosts will prefer it to submitting a page without playable content.
{{Main|List of VN creation resources}}


====Jam Guides====
Additionally, for jams dependent on strict deadlines, one of the recommended practices is to make/submit a potentially not yet fully polished version of the VN a day before the deadline to ensure not missing it, and keep working on the final version of the submission that can succeed the already submitted one close to the deadline without jeopardizing missing the deadline completely.


Due to the popularity of jams, ideas, tips, or useful articles pertaining specifically to VN Jams have been created. These usually come in form of "how tos", or specific approaches on jam participation. Common themes include:
===Submitting next year===


* proper planning (including margins)
Many VN jams (such as WinterJam, SuNoFes) will allow participants to "start working before the jam" (meaning before the period during which submissions can be made to the jam), or allow participants to "finish existing projects", which in both cases allows a jam participant to work outside of the submission time (also often known as "jam time").
* adjusting on the fly (e.g. cutting content)
* smart use of resources,
* pacing oneself
* prioritizing finishing over perfection


Below are specific case studies or full guides designed to give insight and support with jam participation or some of its aspects, usually authored by single individuals.
As a result, it is technically possible in a jam that allows finishing existing VN projects and is also an annual event to think of this rule as a de facto "365 day extension". Participants can work on their projects past the deadline, knowing that they will get a chance to submit next year. As it's often very disappointing to not make the deadline, these jams will allow the team to regroup and set themselves up to finalize the project next time the jam comes around.


{| class="wikitable sortable"
This can work even if the jam requests that "the bulk of the submission" needs to be done during the jam period, with proper planning.
|-
! Name
! Author
! Year / Update
! Description
! Link
|-
| How to survive NaNoRenO
| Vimi
| 2022
| video showing two teams with different planning approaches and what happens when disrupting events occur
| [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KU7VYaKKWDc Link]
|-
| Enamored Risks Postmortem
| Arimia
| 2020
| article detailing the planning, coordination, production and promotion of a NaNoRenO VN
| [https://arimiadev.com/enamored-risks-postmortem/ Link]
|-
| The last-minute VN
| mikey
| 2015
| article on how to create a very short VN by focusing on location first, and characters last
| [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1c0vKyyD-xzaVZZlyOvkFrDnOvRlb3LShzwY6AUFx4G8 Link]
|}


==Statistics==
==Individual Jams==
Statistics gathered from jams have multiple caveats, such as one VN submitted to multiple jams, not all team members formally joining the jam, various sizes of resulting VNs, varied parameters of jams, and more. The two simplest statistics are the number of entries and number of participants, which can be determined directly from the jam pages (on itch.io).
{{Main|List of VN jams}}


Some of these issues are described in more detail in a 2021 article by mikey called [https://atpprojects.medium.com/what-vn-jam-statistics-tell-us-e90583014134 What VN statistics tell us].
Below is a list of the 10 jams whose events have produced most amounts of entries. For details and exceptions, check individual jam pages and the full list of jams.


===Most entries in a single jam===
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left";
{| class="wikitable"
! Jam !! Description !!Game Types !! Duration !! Partial Completion !! Prior Work !! Theme / Restriction !! Most Entries
! Rank !! Count !! Jam
|-
|  1 || 185 || NaNoRenO 2022
|-
|  2 || 112 || Spooktober 2021 
|-
|  3 || 105 || NaNoRenO 2020
|-
|-
| 4 || 96 || O2A2 2021 
| [[NaNoRenO]] || longest running VN jam, currently hosted by [[sakevisual]], held annually between March and April. || VN || 1 month || allowed || not allowed || --- || 185 (2022)
|-
|-
| 5 || 88 || NaNoRenO 2019 
| [[Spooktober VN Jam]] || judged VN jam competition hosted by [[DevTalk]], held annually in September in preparation for October || VN || 1 month || allowed || not allowed || spooky, horror, Halloween, non-NSFW || 160 (2022)
|-
|-
| 5 || 88 || NaNoRenO 2021
| [[Winter VN Jam]] || low-pressure jam with a broad theme of winter, the cold, and snow. || VN || 1 month || allowed || allowed || winter, cold, non-NSFW  || 138 (2022)
|-
|-
| 7 || 77 || WinterJam 2021
| [[SuNoFes]] || low-pressure jam hosted by [[Alte]], held annually in the summer || VN and narrative || 2 months || allowed || allowed || non-NSFW || 115 (2022)
|-
|-
| 8 || 75 || NaNoRenO 2016 
| [[O2A2 VN Jam]] || minimalist jam with restrictions on resources (use only one of any asset). || VN || 1 week || not allowed || not allowed || --- || 106 (2022)
|-
|-
| 9 || 71 || NaNoRenO 2018   
| Yuri Game Jam || jam emphasizing relationships between women || any game || 2 months || allowed || allowed || yuri, FxF || 66 (2017)
|-
|-
| 10 || 69 || SuNoFes 2021 
| Otome Jam || jam focusing on romantic games with a female protagonist || any game || 2 months || allowed || allowed || otome, FxM || 56 (2022)
|-
|-
| 11 || 68 || NaNoRenO 2017
| Valentine's Jam || love-themed visual novel jam || VN || 1 month || allowed || allowed || romance, Valentine's || 51 (2021)
|-
|-
| 12 || 66 || YuriJam 2017
| TyranoJam || engine-restricted jam with themes, inactive since 2018 || VN || 1-3 months || not allowed || not allowed || TyranoBuilder engine, non-NSFW  || 44 (2017)
|-
|-
| 13 || 62 || SuNoFes 2020 
| Yaoi Game Jam || jam focused on M/M relationships for a female audience || any game || 2 months || allowed || not allowed || yaoi, MxM || 41 (2022)
|-
| 14 || 56 || YuriJam 2016
|-
| 15 || 55 || YuriJam 2018
|-
| 16 || 51 || Valentine's Jam 2021
|-
| 17 || 44 || TyranoJam 2017
|-
| 17 || 44 || Spooktober 2020
|-
| 19 || 37 || YuriJam 2019
|-
| 20 || 36 || YaoiJam 2020
|}
|}


===Most participants in a single jam===
==Help with VN Jams==
{| class="wikitable"
 
! Rank !! Count !! Jam
===Jam hubs===
|-
 
| 1 || *** || SuNoFes 2022 (ongoing)
A built-in space for exchange of information and communication is usually given by default at the site where the jam is officially at home, for almost all jams this will be their respective itch.io site. There will be some form of "community" tab or section where questions can be posed and other participants or jam hosts can reply. Additionally, many jams create other, more immediate hubs like their own Discord server, or a special channel in an existing server. For very large jams there may be multiple such places, depending on how centralized the jam is.
|-
 
| 2 || 891 || NaNoRen0 2022
It is often common for platforms that allow user names to be changed for the jam hosts to identify themselves as such (e.g. John Smith, XYZ Jam Host), to ease communication.
|-
 
| 3 || 678 || SuNoFes 2021
===Accompanying events===
|-
 
| 4 || 535 || Spooktober 2021
For larger jams VN communities may decide to organize various activities to support participants of jams. These can range from outline workshops, resource collecting sprints, to live sessions facilitating team creation.
|-
 
| 5 || 465 || WinterJam 2021
The DevTalk server typically hosts one or two "[[Jam Meet & Greet]]" sessions for jams it officially supports.
|-
| 6 || 450 || NaNoRenO 2020
|-
| 7 || 439 || NaNoRenO 2017
|-
| 8 || 394 || NaNoRenO 2021
|-
| 9 || 368 || SuNoFes 2020
|-
| 10 || 330 || NaNoRenO 2019
|-
| 11 || 325 || YuriJam 2017
|-
| 12 || 320 || TyranoJam 2017
|-
| 13 || *** || YaoiJam 2022 (ongoing)
|-
| 14 || 259 || Valentines Jam 2021
|-
| 14 || 259 || YaoiJam 2021
|-
| 16 || 251 || YuriJam 2018
|-
| 17 || 235 || NaNoRenO 2019
|-
| 18 || *** || OtomeJam 2022 (ongoing)
|-
| 19 || 196 || SuNoFes 2017
|-
| 20 || 189 || YaoiJam 2020
|}


===Cumulative VNs per jam (2021)===
===Resources===
{| class="wikitable"
As time and resources are constrained during jams, freely available or pre-made resources such as VN assets (backgrounds, sprites, music) are in high demand by participants, and sites organizing or collecting VN resources are a key support element.
! Rank !! Count !! Jam
|-
| 1 || 651 || NaNoRenO
|-
| 2 || 306 || YuriJam
|-
| 3 || 183 || SuNoFes
|-
| 4 || 171 || Spooktober 
|-
| 5 || 135 || YaoiJam 
|-
| 6 || 116 || O2A2
|-
| 7 || 100 || WinterJam
|-
| 8 || 94 || TyranoJam   
|-
| 9 || 47 || NonbinaryJam   
|-
| 10 || 41 || Otome Jam 
|}


===Most participants per year===
* [[List of VN creation resources]]
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left";
* [[List of VN creation resources#VN jam guides|VN jam guides]]
! Year !! 1st !! 2nd !! 3rd
|-
| 2022 || SuNoFes (***) || NaNoRenO (891) || YaoiJam (***)
|-
| 2021 || SuNoFes (678) || Spooktober (535) || WinterJam (465)
|-
| 2020 || NaNoRenO (450) || SuNoFes (368) || YaoiJam (198)
|-
| 2019 || NaNoRenO (330) || YuriJam (177) || YaoiJam (84)
|-
| 2018 || YuriJam (251) || NaNoRenO (235) || YaoiJam (123)
|-
| 2017 || NaNoRenO (439) || YuriJam (325) || TyranoJam (320)
|-
| 2016 || NaNoRenO (178) || YuriJam (166) || YaoiJam (105)
|-
| 2015 || YuriJam (103) || TyranoJam (41) || NaNoRenO (39)
|}


===Most entries per year===
==See also==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:left";
* [[VN Jam statistics]]
! Year !! 1st !! 2nd  !! 3rd
|-
| 2022 || NaNoRenO (185) || YandereJam (21) || AmareJam (12)
|-
| 2021 || Spooktober (112) || O2A2 (96) || NaNoRenO (88)
|-
| 2020 || NaNoRenO (105) || SuNoFes (62) || Spooktober (44)
|-
| 2019 || NaNoRenO (88) || YuriJam (37) || BarJam (19) 
|-
| 2018 || NaNoRenO (71) || YuriJam (55) || Ren'Py Jam (27)
|-
| 2017 || NaNoRenO (68) || YuriJam (66) || TyranoJam (44)
|-
| 2016 || NaNoRenO (75) || YuriJam (56) || YaoiJam (19)
|-
| 2015 || NaNoRenO (34) || YuriJam (33) || TyranoJam (33)
|}




{{jam nav}}
{{jam nav}}

Revision as of 01:45, 1 January 2023

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.

Participating

Why participate

Originally, VN jams were primarily designed to enable people to start and finish a small VN. However as many jams have grown in popularity, and many also allow partial works like demos, as well as submission to multiple jams at the same time, the reasons for joining a jam have expanded. People joining jams can thus have a variety of motivations, such as:

  • starting and finishing a self-contained work
  • jumpstarting development on a larger work (e.g. creating a demo)
  • team-building exercise for a group looking to get to know each other before committing to a long term collaboration
  • trying or challenging oneself in a new genre or VN type

How to join

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.

Types of jams

Different hosts will have different motivations and goals for jams they create, and combined with the rules, jams will develop their own nature or primary atmosphere. Knowing the basic nature of jams is important to be able to calibrate one's contribution and style of work when deciding to join them. Most of these categories feature elements and goals that can be found in all jams, but some jams emphasize them more than others.

Competition

Competitive jams emphasize or promote friendly competition and pushing one another to create the best possible work within the jam's framework. Prizes or recognition are awarded to the winner, and rules and restrictions will be mainly applied in regards to ensuring an even playing field and fair judging. (example: Spooktober)

Celebration / Creation

These jams strive to create more VNs of a certain type, celebrate or increase the visibility of an aspect or genre of VNs, with a festival-like atmosphere. Typically restrictions on the promoted element will be high, compensated by relaxed rules on other aspects. (examples: AceJam, OtomeJam)

Challenge

Challenge jams have the goal of getting participants out of their comfort zones or present a self-contained challenge. This can be through restrictive parameters, or themes. Honorable adherence to rules is often emphasized, and common "dos and don'ts" emerge over time. (examples: NaNoRenO, O2A2)

Comfort

Comfort jams are emphasizing a positive participation experience, often promoting healthy working habits. Their rules are designed to create a basic framework within which participants must find their path, and they are generous enough to allow a range of options for participants to decide how they participate. (examples: SuNoFes, WinterJam)

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 engine

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

Submitting to multiple jams

As rules for VN jams have been extended, they can often allow for one game to be present in multiple jams. This practice is generally accepted, and doesn't go against etiquette. Many jams explicitly allow or invite VNs not to be exclusive to their original jam. Statistics of jam entries will have this fact as one of their caveats, as two different jams may share a portion of submissions. Main forms of multiple submissions are:

Cross-submitting

Most jams allow works made for them to also be submitted to other jams. If there are parallel jams and a work fits both criteria, it can be submitted to both. Usually a work will be done for a restrictive jam (such as O2A2), and as such will also fit criteria for other parallel jams (such as SuNoFes or YuriJam, or both).

Iterative submitting

From a time perspective, subsequent development stages can be occasionally eligible for submissions in different jams that don't happen in parallel. An early demo can also qualify for one jam (e.g. NaNoRenO), an extended demo that adds romance options qualifies for another (e.g. OtomeJam), an early version of the full game qualifies for another one (e.g. SuNoFes), and the final version with extra routes due to its theme can be submitted to yet another one (e.g. WinterJam).

Deadlines and Extensions

In a VN jam, the submission deadline ("jam deadline") is the point at which your finished work must be submitted, or you will have missed the opportunity and are not considered as someone who completed the jam. The jam page will not have an option to submit the game.

However there are some specifics to the deadline and a certain flexibility, depending on the jam and its hosts. Below are a few options for interpreting and honoring deadlines in addition to a regular "submitting on time".

Personal extension

Any participant will be free to ask the hosts for an extension specifically for them, either privately or publicly. After a participants explains their circumstances, and if the hosts agree, they can allow submit later on when the public submission period is over, often via a special late submission link. A reasonable default expectation is that an exception will not be made. Last-minute technical issues with upload will however have a higher chance of succeeding than extensions requesting additional time to finalize the submission.

General extension

This is when the jam deadline is extended for everyone, after multiple requests, or due to a decision by the hosts (in March 2020 NaNoRenO was extended by 2 weeks due to the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns). A jam can also be extended unannounced by the hosts, as a sign of good will, or a sign of appreciation (similar to "re-opening").

Re-opening

As the jam hosts have full control over the deadline, they can also re-open the jam once the deadline has passed and set a new deadline. Spooktober 2021 has had two 10-minute re-openings to allow people who narrowly missed the deadline another chance to submit. In 2022 Spooktober hosts kept the original deadline and downloaded all submissions for judging, but re-opened submissions shortly afterwards for 24 hours, with the caveat that any new submissions (while still considered part of the jam) would not be considered for the jam's prizes.

Placeholder page

Submitting an entry for a jam on itch technically works by the participant submitting an existing project page. This page is not required to have a playable game (downloadable or browser) to be submitted. Because a submitted page can be modified independently of the jam, it is therefore possible to submit the game's page itself in time, but adding the finished playable VN at some later point.

This practice effectively indefinitely extends the jam's deadline for the participants, and technically does not necessitate approval from the hosts, if the rules of the jam explicitly don't forbid this approach, and/or it can be assumed that a flexible deadline is in place.

Practical application of this will vary. Some jams like OtomeJam 2022 have given permission to participants to submit a placeholder in case they cannot make the deadline (implying the participants would upload their works relatively soon after the deadline). Other jams like Spooktober 2021 have accepted placeholder pages and not removed them since, trusting an eventual submission down the line. In case of the O2A2 2021 jam, placeholder pages were monitored for and instantly removed as they were disallowed explicitly by the jam rules.

Unfinished / WIP submissions

Some jams (like O2A2) only accept finished, self-contained VNs, while most VN jams (including NaNoRenO, SuNoFes, and Spooktober) explicitly allow partial works and demos. Often this leads to teams who realize the scale of their production is too large for the jam change course and aim for a partial (single-route version), or a demo version of their VN at the end of the jam.

However most of such jams will equally accept a Work-in-Progress version of a VN, such as one that is fully written, but contains placeholder graphics. Submitting "what you have" at the end of the jam is a generally accepted practice, and will almost never lead to removal from the jam. Most jam hosts will prefer it to submitting a page without playable content.

Additionally, for jams dependent on strict deadlines, one of the recommended practices is to make/submit a potentially not yet fully polished version of the VN a day before the deadline to ensure not missing it, and keep working on the final version of the submission that can succeed the already submitted one close to the deadline without jeopardizing missing the deadline completely.

Submitting next year

Many VN jams (such as WinterJam, SuNoFes) will allow participants to "start working before the jam" (meaning before the period during which submissions can be made to the jam), or allow participants to "finish existing projects", which in both cases allows a jam participant to work outside of the submission time (also often known as "jam time").

As a result, it is technically possible in a jam that allows finishing existing VN projects and is also an annual event to think of this rule as a de facto "365 day extension". Participants can work on their projects past the deadline, knowing that they will get a chance to submit next year. As it's often very disappointing to not make the deadline, these jams will allow the team to regroup and set themselves up to finalize the project next time the jam comes around.

This can work even if the jam requests that "the bulk of the submission" needs to be done during the jam period, with proper planning.

Individual Jams

Main article: List of VN jams

Below is a list of the 10 jams whose events have produced most amounts of entries. For details and exceptions, check individual jam pages and the full list of jams.

Jam Description Game Types Duration Partial Completion Prior Work 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 --- 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 spooky, horror, Halloween, non-NSFW 160 (2022)
Winter VN Jam low-pressure jam with a broad theme of winter, the cold, and snow. VN 1 month allowed allowed winter, cold, non-NSFW 138 (2022)
SuNoFes low-pressure jam hosted by Alte, held annually in the summer VN and narrative 2 months allowed allowed non-NSFW 115 (2022)
O2A2 VN Jam minimalist jam with restrictions on resources (use only one of any asset). VN 1 week not allowed not allowed --- 106 (2022)
Yuri Game Jam jam emphasizing relationships between women any game 2 months allowed allowed yuri, FxF 66 (2017)
Otome Jam jam focusing on romantic games with a female protagonist any game 2 months allowed allowed otome, FxM 56 (2022)
Valentine's Jam love-themed visual novel jam VN 1 month allowed allowed romance, Valentine's 51 (2021)
TyranoJam engine-restricted jam with themes, inactive since 2018 VN 1-3 months not allowed not allowed TyranoBuilder engine, non-NSFW 44 (2017)
Yaoi Game Jam jam focused on M/M relationships for a female audience any game 2 months allowed not allowed yaoi, MxM 41 (2022)

Help with VN Jams

Jam hubs

A built-in space for exchange of information and communication is usually given by default at the site where the jam is officially at home, for almost all jams this will be their respective itch.io site. There will be some form of "community" tab or section where questions can be posed and other participants or jam hosts can reply. Additionally, many jams create other, more immediate hubs like their own Discord server, or a special channel in an existing server. For very large jams there may be multiple such places, depending on how centralized the jam is.

It is often common for platforms that allow user names to be changed for the jam hosts to identify themselves as such (e.g. John Smith, XYZ Jam Host), to ease communication.

Accompanying events

For larger jams VN communities may decide to organize various activities to support participants of jams. These can range from outline workshops, resource collecting sprints, to live sessions facilitating team creation.

The DevTalk server typically hosts one or two "Jam Meet & Greet" sessions for jams it officially supports.

Resources

As time and resources are constrained during jams, freely available or pre-made resources such as VN assets (backgrounds, sprites, music) are in high demand by participants, and sites organizing or collecting VN resources are a key support element.

See also