Yuri Game Jam

[Carrogath]

Hey everyone! KittyKatStar and I are hosting a yuri game jam this year! The jam is two months long, from September 1st to October 31st.

The general idea of the jam is to make more games (mostly visual novels, but it doesn't necessarily have to be) about queer women and their relationships! We're pretty lenient about how "yuri" the game has to be--all we ask is that the game focuses on relationships between women, whether they be friendships, romantic relationships, tension-filled rivalries, or really whatever you can think of. We're running this survey until July 6th to get an idea of who's participating, what they're making, and what they'd like to see from other creators.

I'll be updating this post with more links and information as we get closer to the jam start date. Feel free to PM me or reply to this thread with questions, comments, concerns, etc.

Our official Tumblr is now up at http://yurigamejam.tumblr.com/ and our itch.io page is at http://itch.io/jam/yuri-game-jam. The Tumblr has links to an FAQ and About page, and you'll be able to submit your game on the itch.io page when the jam starts.

Feel free to contact us on Twitter @carrogath or @kittykatstargal. Our official (???) hashtag is #yurijam.

[Bto3]

I'm super happy to see this kind of jam happening! There's never enough yuri and we totally need more!

With that said, I'm still excited to see what people come up with outside of the strictly romance scope.

Is that the same survey that was made awhile ago? I know I filled out one on a yuri game jam a month or so ago...

[KittyKatStar]

The survey has been out for... a month now? since we're trying to collect as much data as possible, especially for the best times to have the jam. =)

If anyone is able to fill it out, thank you so much. >o<

[Bto3]

The survey has been out for... a month now? since we're trying to collect as much data as possible, especially for the best times to have the jam. =)

I did fill this out then! Thank you for clarifying how long it's been up!

[Reikun]

I'M SO EXCITED FOR THIS. I'll be happy if the jam is two months because I (as I'm sure others) start school again around that time xD;;;;; I'll probably only be able to do something short and sweet but nothing wrong with short and sweet!! I already filled out the survey Hope you guys got some good data from it!

[kitsubasa]

Provided I'm not too busy with other stuff at the time, I'd love to participate in this game jam! I really want to get a game about queer ladies done, but since my only project with them is way off completion, it'd be nice to just jam one in a couple of months for fun. I've filled out the survey, and I hope a decent number of people are in for this, because it would be cool to see a few more yuri games out there.

One question; given that this is allowing platonic/rivalry/whatever relationships in addition to romantic ones, are there going to be requirements that the characters involved need to be explicitly queer even if the story is non-romantic? I ask because I'd find it a bit weird if this is being called a yuri jam, but there's no actual requirement for a focus on gay/bi/pan women. Like, on the off chance all it ended up producing was games about female friendships with a bit of subtext and no specific queer themes, I'd be disappointed by the name choice, is roughly what I'm getting at.

[noeinan]

I'd be really interested in participating in this! Filled out the survey.

One question; given that this is allowing platonic/rivalry/whatever relationships in addition to romantic ones, are there going to be requirements that the characters involved need to be explicitly queer even if the story is non-romantic?

^Also interested in the answer to this question.

[Alera]

I'm glad this is actually happening! >v<

Filled in the survey, I'm not sure if I'll be able to actually join because I don't know what the next few months hold for me, but I hope I'll have time to make something small at the very least!

[Caveat Lector]

I hope to be able to participate, though I can't make any sure promises. At the very least, I'd try to do my part to support the makers!

[KittyKatStar]

One question; given that this is allowing platonic/rivalry/whatever relationships in addition to romantic ones, are there going to be requirements that the characters involved need to be explicitly queer even if the story is non-romantic?

It's a very good question since we haven't established the guidelines yet. Once the survey closes, we'll go over everything and start creating rules/guidelines, references/resources, etc.

We're both LGBT women, but we don't want to establish a benchmark on how queer something needs to be. People have their own ideas on what's queer, or what's explicitly queer. So we don't want to feel we're forcing creators if they're unfamiliar with it.

If the game is non-romantic, then it's strongly encouraged to include queer characters, but not a hard rule (yet?). It's possible there's a relationship between women the creators want to explore, but may not quite fit LGBT themes. We want to encourage and see all types of relationships between women - romantic, poly, aro/ace, friendships between lesbians, rivalries, etc.

So any feedback would be appreciated, since we have the theme in mind (LBGT, women, relationships, a wide inclusive spectrum), but haven't ironed out the guidelines. And of course creators can ask questions and get feedback in case they have some ideas but aren't sure yet. /o/

The survey will close July 5th.

[Carrogath]

Survey is now closed! Thanks to everyone who responded. We'll compile the results and publish our findings in a bit.

[Laiska]

If the game is non-romantic, then it's strongly encouraged to include queer characters, but not a hard rule (yet?). It's possible there's a relationship between women the creators want to explore, but may not quite fit LGBT themes. We want to encourage and see all types of relationships between women - romantic, poly, aro/ace, friendships between lesbians, rivalries, etc.

I think a good rough guideline would be "games that feature primarily female characters, and do not focus on a heterosexual relationship," which would allow for a games featuring women who are aro/ace, etc, though I think that romance should at least be strongly encouraged.

Presumably you'd also want the games to be queer-friendly, in which case I would probably include some clause about not catering to male gaze, with a brief explanation of what that means. Though of course, that's a wibbly point, since yuri is oftentimes as much for male gaze as yaoi is for females, so xP

[Carrogath]

Attached you can find some numbers from the survey, out of 79 responses. Since it looks like most people are available from September to October, we'll be hosting the jam from September 1st to October 31st.

As for the responses to the two questions (what do you want to see v. what you don't want to see), the answers didn't vary too much. We found a few things:

• People wanted variety, and they wanted queer characters as the protagonists of genre fiction. So think sci-fi/fantasy, horror, action, etc.
• There were requests for friendships between queer people, poly relationships, asexuality, trans characters, and different sexualities from all over the spectrum.
• They wanted creators to avoid clichés (e.g., high school romance), harmful stereotypes (e.g., psycho/tragic lesbians), and objectification of women.

Lastly, we have two rules so far for the jam, and they are:

1. Your story must be about a relationship between two or more women.
2. If the story features romance, the characters should be implicitly or explicitly queer.

We're also putting a Tumblr together and would appreciate it if anyone could give us any good websites to get themes from. We'll also be posting an FAQ once the Tumblr is up, and opening the Tumblr up to asks.

Would people want the jam to be hosted on itch.io, BTW?

[Alera]

The results sound good, I can't wait for this! ^^

I think itch.io would be a very good place to host the jam actually so I am up for that~

[Caveat Lector]

Question: Would it be okay if maybe I asked, say, INeedDiverseGames to promote this jam? I'm sure they'd be interested in spreading the word! With what I have in mind, I MIGHT be biting off more than I can chew, but I want to at least do what I can to support it.