EXTRA CHALLENGES & ACCESSIBILITY TIPS etc..

• Similar to the rules and FAQs, I have moved all the info about accessibility tips and resources here, as well as a new element of the game jam: extra challenged and/or themes!
• This is to encourage developers and creators who are comfortable using their engines and game-making skills to create more diverse stories, or to include additional accessibility features for their games/entry.

Accessibility & Intersectionality statement

• I’d like to encourage anyone who is coming into this game jam to think of their games accessibility and intersectionality, and what do those things mean to your gameplay and game-world. I’d like to encourage people to create stories outside of their own purview and experiences (i.e. creating games with bipoc, disabled, trans, queer, neurodivergent, and other marginalised identities in mind) and to explore what ‘yandere’ might mean to you through the lens of those life experiences.
• This doesn’t mean you MUST make entries that are accessible or intersectional, just that I’d like to invite people to think about those kinds of explorations of the ‘yandere’ niche/genre.

EXTRA CHALLENGES/THEMES

These bonus challenges are not necessary to submit your entry. I am including a few of them to encourage developers who partake in this game jam to create more diverse projects instead of continually portraying common-place representations (i.e. games full of white/cis/able-bodied/hetero people etc.)

Challenges:

• Additional accessibility features: additional font choice, colour-blind fiendly toggles (E.g. GUI, font colour options etc.), additional sound sliders for differentiating different types of sound, captions for images for blind or visually impaired players, etc.

  • Examples: See accessibility tools section below (primarily geared to Ren’Py.)

• Character customisation: pronoun selection, sprite customisation, name change (i.e. ability to change player character’s default name), gender identity customisation etc.

  • Ren’Py Sprite Customizer by Foxcapades
  • Free Character Creation Template for Ren’Py by LunaLucid
  • Custom Input by Zeil Learnings
  • [Ren’Py] Example games: Our Life by GBPatch, Blood & Sherry by karmic-punishment, Killer Chat by roserot & co, Courtin’ Cowboys by mrfishess, Lord of the Wings by marysuegames, FAVOR by concreteparasite, Restart Heart by QueenLilithPrime, Witch You Want by Studio Élan and many many more!
  • [RPGMaker] Example games: Ballad of the Cosplayer by futotori
  • [Godot] Example games: MeniMenos Character Creator by MeniMenos, Pixel Character Maker (Minigame) by SnowHex and Mr. Walkman, Sketchy Individuals by shawcat

• Think about including characters from all walks of life: black, disabled, trans, queer etc. (You don’t have to add all, just consider how these identities might play into your story.)

  • Ask others to consult on your project to avoid any harmful and/or negative stereotypes if you are inexperienced (such as DevTalk or the YanJam discord server.)
  • Don’t just add marginalised characters for the sake of ticking a box. Always consider how might their presence might impact your narrative and how your narrative might impact their personal arcs in a realistic way that is appropriate to your world.

How to make your game more accessible 101

• Due to the nature of this jam, it is essential all entries have a trigger and/or content warning. Look at the guide I have put together below for game creators and contributors on how to make your game page, and gameplay, more accessible:

Accessibility features and add-ons [Ren’Py]

• As most entries to this jam use Ren’Py, here is a compiled shortlist of different accessibility plug-ins for the engine.
  • Some of these have not been updated for the new 8.0+ version of Ren’Py, so beware of using them (always test out plug-ins in a test project before implementing them into your project!)
  • Many of these have text tutorials on their product page, or Youtube videos demonstrating how to use them appropriately

Tools [Ren’Py]:

• Pronoun tool by npckc
• Caption tool by npckc
• Content warning tool by npckc [note: for game pages, includes a pop-up and drop-down menu, like above for placing warnings inside]
• Ren’Py accessibility add-on by minute [note: allows player to change text, sound and images]
• Custom pronoun system by oneirocritica
• Ren’Py font mod by teatime [note: allows players to add their own custom fonts!]
• FeniksDev’s entire library has a variety of tools, some for accessibility some to extend Ren’Py’s abilities
• A contrast checker for colours created by WebAIM (there are loads more online too- this is not a tool exclusive for Ren’Py-users)

If you are using other engines (such as Godot or RPGMaker) there are likely lots of pre-existing plugins or projects that showcase similar features (e.g. subtitles, captions, etc.) I am most familiar with Ren’Py, so if you need help for another engine it would be worth joining a discord or forum for them!

Tagging and putting warnings on your game page [Ren’Py]

• I recommend using the Content warning tool listed above by npckc to create a pop-up or drop-down menu on your itch.io game page, which will contain any content or trigger warnings which might apply to the entry
• For inside of game warnings, you could create a splash screen (video tutorial, Ren’Py documentation) which shows before any gameplay.
  • Or, you can start the game off with a playable warning section if you prefer (i.e. once the player clicks start/new game they will be guided through an label with an NPC guiding through them the types of content in-game.)

JAM RULES & FAQs

I’ve moved a lot of the information from the jam page to the community tab including topics of:

• What content is/is not allowed
• What kinds of projects can be submitted (i.e. format, 2D vs £d etc.)
• Information about resubmitting a previous yan jam project
• Difference between trigger VS content warnings

For the extra challenges/themes and accessibility tips, please read the other thread I have sticky’ed here.

What kind of content is not allowed?

• Beastiality
• Loli/Shota/Underage
• Any sort of incest/pseudo-incestual content
• No entries which contain and advocate hate speech, discrimination or bigotry
  • As with last year’s clarification on the bigotry rule: ** please make sure any content that is sensitive or potentially triggering is tagged in your work, both on the game page and inside the game**.
• Entries that fail to provide proper content and/or trigger warnings in game and/or in the game page will be removed from the jam
• REGARDING A.I. TOOLS: Yandere Jam no longer accepts any submissions made with the help or use of A.I. tools (including generated text, audio, images, effects etc.) I strongly ask participants to not use A.I., as if your entry is found to have used A.I. assets your entry will be removed and you’ll be banned from the game jam for the foreseeable future. This game jam is about uplifting human creators and storytellers, not plagiarism machines.

What kind of game formats are allowed?

• Demos
• Full games
• Pre-existing projects that fit the jam’s theme (including previously submitted entries WHICH HAVE NEW CONTENT.)
• Anything 2D (visual novel, interactive fiction, point & click etc.)
• Anything 3D (board games, card games, games using 3D assets or game engines etc.)

Resubmitting a previous years’ entry?

• This jam is made to showcase new projects and encourage newer devs with little to no experience in game creation to make their first game. Because of this, if you would like to submit an entry you have already submitted in a previous year of Yan Jam, please make sure that the entry has new content so people are not playing the same entries and detracting from newer projects/devs.
  • For example, if your initial entry included a ‘day 1’ but since you have added more in-game days for players to enjoy, it’s okay to resubmit the entry as people will be experiencing new scenes and content beyond the pre-existing things available.
  • If your entry has changed things only visually (such as new sprites or UI) I wouldn’t say that is enough for re-entry, as the gameplay content itself has not changed.

Difference between trigger VS. content warning?

• Look at the table below to see some examples of what topics/actions counts would go under a content warning VS. a trigger warning. This is not a full list, just a few examples if you need some direction on what kind of content falls into what space! [Alt: A table with two columns, on the left it is titled ‘content warning examples’ with a list of examples (Gore, blood, vomit, insects, alcohol use, drug use.) On the right is a similar list, titled ‘trigger warning examples’ with a list of examples (sexual assault, verbal/physical violence, child abuse, self harm, non-consensual use of drugs or alcohol). /EndAlt]
• Entries with sensitive content, which do not contain any sort of warnings on the game page and/or inside the game, will be removed and disqualified from submissions.
• Trigger/content warnings are essential to the safety of the players and consumers, even if we all know what kind of content we are going to engage with might be upsetting.

Thank you for submitting this as an entry to the Trans Representation 2024 Game Jam! I appreciate every entry we get, even though I don’t usually have time to play all of them to 100% completion due to just life happening, nor do I usually comment since Hatoge is the main host and I just do the other tasks like server maintenance/community stuff. But I wanted to leave my own comment on this one.

I can tell a lot of work went into this game as a whole, and it is always great to see respectful exploration of different trans experiences. I also love to see trans games being made by trans people.

Growing up transgender in general is very messy, especially if you are not raised in an environment that is aware of trans people being an actual thing, add to that any kind of religious influence and it can take a lot of time to figure out who you actually are, and if it’s really okay to take up space as someone who happens to be trans. I know some of the depictions in this game might not be comfortable for some people, but the different stories and sides of being trans are pretty realistic to some actual experiences by real-life trans people. I think it’s important to remember (for other players, and people in general) that no singular trans person is a monolith for an entire community, and nor should they be, and that’s okay because the human experience is a diverse spectrum.

I hope to see more cool games made by trans people, if only for the reason that a young trans person sees it and realises that it’s okay to be themselves and that people like them do actually exist and can lead a long, happy and fulfilling life. I think if more games with trans characters/rep existed it wouldn’t have taken me so long to get on with my own life too (lol.)

Once again, thank you for the beautiful entry and I hope to see more wonderful games from everyone on the team :]

Hello! Your topic’s content has been edited to comply with the new community rules set in place (primarily the one about not giving out personal identifying information.) Hope you have a good rest of the jam!

Hello! Your title has been edited to comply with the new community rules set in place (primarily the one about not giving out personal identifying information.) Hope you have a good rest of the jam!

Hey, this game jam is finished for the year so you’d have better luck joining the discord and looking for a team there for next year’s jam :) you can find the link to the discord on the main page for the game jam

if you liked ‘boys run the riot’ you should check out ‘to strip the flesh’ as the first few stories focus on a trans man character and its really sweet. one of my favourite trans stories as a trans-masc myself (it’s an anthology tho so it has a few other fun stories within it!)

It’s alright! I’ve definitely had moments like this with my jam projects too, you think you’ve tested everything and a bunch of bugs come up once you compile… OTL

Excited to see what you do next! :DD I love ‘love company’ because its so visually unique, kind of reminds me of oil painting on glass or something, really fits the unnerving vibe of the setting.

I know you were worried about this being appropriate for the yandere jam, but as stated on the page regarding yanderes: “An entry is to have at least one character who encapsulates the essentials of yandere (yangires included) aesthetic― which is being possessive, obsessive, unstable, insatiable, stop at nothing to get what they want etc.” so I think it suited the jam(s) very well! Yandere games are not just about being the beloved of a yandere though that is common, I liked how your game portrayed the flip side of that (being the rival/bystander) because it’s a fun way to play with the trope/genre!

I think there’s enough new content as well (even though there are some bugs) that it def qualifies for this year too! Especially because of the point and click stuff and clicking on the other characters standing around (so from a coding-point of view there’s still def enough new things)

There are a few bugs which I’ll put below:

1

While running game code: File “game/in_game_screens.rpy”, line 788, in script centered “{i}This ain’t it, boss{/i}…{w=,5} at least, for the time-being.” ValueError: could not convert string to float: ,5

– Full Traceback ————————————————————

Full traceback: File “game/in_game_screens.rpy”, line 788, in script centered “{i}This ain’t it, boss{/i}…{w=,5} at least, for the time-being.” File “renpy/ast.py”, line 921, in execute renpy.exports.say(who, what, *args, **kwargs) File “renpy/exports.py”, line 1373, in say who(what, *args, **kwargs) File “renpy/character.py”, line 1263, in call dtt = DialogueTextTags(what) File “renpy/character.py”, line 83, in init value = float(value) ValueError: could not convert string to float: ,5

2 While running game code: File “game/in_game_screens.rpy”, line 919, in script if confrontation_dissuade_known == “death_unnavoidable” and confrontation_stall_known = “none”: SyntaxError: invalid syntax (in_game_screens.rpy, line 919)

– Full Traceback ————————————————————

Full traceback: File “game/in_game_screens.rpy”, line 919, in script if confrontation_dissuade_known == “death_unnavoidable” and confrontation_stall_known = “none”: File “renpy/ast.py”, line 2115, in execute if renpy.python.py_eval(condition): File “renpy/python.py”, line 1090, in py_eval code = py_compile(code, ‘eval’) File “renpy/python.py”, line 1027, in py_compile raise e SyntaxError: invalid syntax (in_game_screens.rpy, line 919)

3 While running game code: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2385, in script if j_gender == “fem”: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2385, in <module> if j_gender == “fem”: NameError: name ‘j_gender’ is not defined

– Full Traceback ————————————————————

Full traceback: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2385, in script if j_gender == “fem”: File “renpy/ast.py”, line 2115, in execute if renpy.python.py_eval(condition): File “renpy/python.py”, line 1092, in py_eval return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals) File “renpy/python.py”, line 1085, in py_eval_bytecode return eval(bytecode, globals, locals) File “game/script.rpy”, line 2385, in <module> if j_gender == “fem”: NameError: name ‘j_gender’ is not defined

4 While running game code: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2387, in script if j_gender == “masc”: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2387, in <module> if j_gender == “masc”: NameError: name ‘j_gender’ is not defined

– Full Traceback ————————————————————

Full traceback: File “game/script.rpy”, line 2387, in script if j_gender == “masc”: File “renpy/ast.py”, line 2115, in execute if renpy.python.py_eval(condition): File “renpy/python.py”, line 1092, in py_eval return py_eval_bytecode(code, globals, locals) File “renpy/python.py”, line 1085, in py_eval_bytecode return eval(bytecode, globals, locals) File “game/script.rpy”, line 2387, in <module> if j_gender == “masc”: NameError: name ‘j_gender’ is not defined

5 There’s a line when you accept the coffee after denying with a typo: “Thank you.!”

I didn’t notice or get any other bugs, so hopefully this is all you need to fix if you wanna push a hotfix! Also, rolling-over any of these bugs didn’t impact the game (like it did not crash Ren’Py)

i’ll send them over then, i didnt wanna spam out of the blue or anything lol! it was no bother i loved the project it was a really refreshing take on certain aspects of superheroes and their powers <3

spoilers in this comment for peeps who havent played, idk how to spoiler on here other than doing a bunch of dots lol

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honestly just so good i love ray so much binary star is stinky >:/ (i was never much for heroes, i liked his just total insane fuck it we ball side tho) i kept getting his ending for ages lmfao until i eventually figured out how to get ray’s one so i can get his afterstory.. i could go on and on about ray’s design i really loved just every part of his character, even tho he is a lil unhinged (i probably would be too if that was my power and childhood and also job lol. man gets no off days like damn guys…. cant rely on a single guy to keep the planet safe!! smh.) the shower scene just made me think of that lets take ibuprofen together meme, truly my poor little war criminal u_u

i found it so funny how the player was so shocked finding out they’re the same person like how did we ever survive being a villain?? like bro i have been notified since i saw this depressed little wet pathetic cat in the cafe on my shift!1!! i loved the moments of the narrative where characters spoke more about the world (giving context to agencies like NAHA, gov corruption and the questionable ethics of superpowers/heroes etc.) it would be interesting to see a spin-off or something exploring that more if you are already interested in making something like that!

the art was absolutely gorgeous but i noticed with the parallax the images do cut off, so i recommend upsizing them just a very tiny bit so when the player moves the mouse inside the viewport the images don’t de-sync because theyre precisely the size of the screen (something like 50-100 pixels on each side would be a good margin for players who will try to look around in parallax scenes)

i’ve spotted some grammar/spelling mistakes, but i’m not sure what lines they were on so i just have some screenshots i’ll probably send over on discord if thats cool with you since we’re in some shared servers o7

as for completion, i can confirm it took me around 2.5hrs for completion (mostly bc i was getting repeated endings from trial and error) and i am a fast reader so thats probably a minimum guideline, if people like to slow the text display speed or leave it at default (my eyes find instant text display/max text speed much easier to handle personally)

can’t wait to play more of your projects!

First off, thank you for the comment and feedback, I really appreciate it especially on jam entries where there are limitations set in-place (such as this one.)

I do agree in hindsight that way too much of the game was taken up by no visuals, especially since I made custom choice boxes that could’ve gotten more use if most of the information was delivered more naturally through Miron’s prayer session. As I was working on it I felt a little frustrated we could only have one background because I really like how the photobash came out in the end!

I think if I do a post-jam version I will try to explore that sort of dynamic between the statue and Miron deeper, I was struggling a lot with the writing and especially with the word count as ending titles are included inside it so I didn’t want to have too many choices (as each branch counts toward the total WC too and the limit was only 1,000 words.)

As for Miron’s sprite… I was struggling thinking of an actual detailed look for him, which is why I left him pretty identity-less overall in the way he looks, it unintentionally made him look a little like a statue too in the end when I look back on the assets actually.

Once again thank you for your feedback! It’s really nice getting external feedback/critique so I kind of get confirmation on stuff that bothered me anyway so I know that I’m going in the right sort of direction lol!

damn :[ that would’ve been the best ending

tas ftw i love his character design but what i kept wandering was why is he just. he so naked. so much body confidence LMFAO. i need more ghosts in my life trying to possess me 10/10 very fun little experience!

i love marcelo and his shitty burnt cookies i forced my player to eat :3c

i loved the writing and the art was insanely gorgeous, especially the sprites (obviously) and the background pieces too. can’t wait for a full/extended/postjam version if that is in the works!!

marcelo is like 10/10 if it were me i wouldve married him instead (at least from what i am seeing from this demo about his character and personality lol)

YES MAKE MORE GAMES!!

You can use AI, but only to generate max 30% of your code. We suggest you join the discord server if you need any help with coding or some discord servers for the language you will be coding in instead of generating code via AI so you will have a better understanding of how to code yourself and maybe make some friends during the jam.

In the discord server for the game jam we have a resources channel where people can link a variety of resources, and we also have a feedback/help channel if you need help with a part of your entry. There is also a looking for teammates channel you can utilise if you’d prefer to have help from another person to work on the code side of your game ^^.

I’ve seen that sort of lag with the animations (when its like coded into script and not just a transparent .mov file) and I havent seen anything as to how to fix it unfortunately :[

oop not me going back to annoy him </3 i’m sorry sir i am a completionist i must do this (T o T)

I really enjoyed this demo! The art is nice and I appreciate the effort to include customisation for the player. I noticed a few things that aren’t necessarily errors or anything tho but just wanted to comment in-case they haven’t been brought up yet.

Firstly, when Ramsey comes into your room with a transition from the right to left, I found that if you didn’t let it play out (and clicked to progress as it is playing) he stops in whatever place he was at during the click. It’s not game-breaking or anything, I just rolled back and let it play out, it kinda gave me the impression he was peeking in from behind the door LOL! Even with transitions turned off it plays out like that so I don’t think it was because of that.

The second is during the sword fighting mini-game he favours attacking a lot (he chose to attack 3x in a row on my first playthrough.) I am guessing his moves are supposed to be random, but with only 3 actions that randomness is very limited. I don’t know how much love/affection you can curry up with him to that point, but if his movesets were impacted by that it would add a nice little detail for anyone who is watching out for it!

But even without that, the mini-game is fun imo. I liked the fact that it isn’t time-based as someone who has issues with my hand joints (thanks to stuff like carpal tunnel and lifting-related injuries lol) I find those very stressful, so the menu-approach is great and does not take away from the experience of it at all. In fact, I find that it probably helps to an extent, because when you are fencing or fighting you need to examine your opponent and think ahead, and the menus give the player this opportunity. I kind of wish it was a bit longer in all honesty!

I can’t wait for a full or extended demo, this was a really interesting game to experience! :]

i’m present in the yandere jam discord server that is linked on the jam page [ https://discord.gg/HTwHjJZUhY ] ^^

yep late submissions are totally okay! you will need to dm me over at discord or another social media you have for a link to submit late entries (thats just sadly how itch.io works ugh)

the last date for late entries is March 13th

Hello,

I didn’t find any social media to contact you on, but I noticed you haven’t put any warnings on the game page for this entry, I see that you did put some inside the game.

Please make sure you also put content and/or trigger warnings on your game page as well for the discretion of any potential players.

Thank you