Lemma Soft Forums

Hi LSF Creators! (and of course community)


So I've been toying with the idea of hosting a BARA-themed Game Jam on itch.io. It may be a really small sub-genre of game that is enjoyed here, but I really love it, and I'm trying to measure interest in such a game jam.

I'm thinking of hosting this 1-month jam in November 2018. As fellow Creators (and players!) would you be interested in joining or playing the games that come out of this? I'm trying to figure out if this would be worth hosting. If anything I'd just like to hear any and all thoughts on this.

I'm also open to having co-hosts, so if this interests you please send me a PM. Thanks!


PS. The next post will be copy of what I'm thinking the Game Jam description on Itch.io will be. Look forward to hearing your suggestions on it if any!

BARA JAM is a 1 month long jam dedicated to creating male and/or male-relationship focused games that feature the "BARA" influence. So what is BARA? Here are the most informative snippets as taken from Wikipedia:

"Bara - is a Japanese technical term for a genre of art and fictional media that focuses on male same-sex love usually created by gay men for a gay male audience.

Bara can vary in visual style and plot, but typically features masculine men with varying degrees of muscle, body fat, and body hair, akin to bear culture in gay culture.

- commentators sometimes refer to bara as "yaoi", but yaoi is largely created by and for women and features idealized bishōnen. - In contrast, bara is considered a subgenre - for gay males - rather than ones for female readers."

While this jam is, of course, open to all participants/audiences of any gender, please be mindful that your submissions have the characterizations of bara which lean to containing a character(s) who are muscular, bear-like build, possibly hairy or rugged. So although bara can mean different things to different people, a good summary of this jam is a focus on non-bishounen characters, a reflection of varied body shapes and comfortable masculinity. I will not be policing this jam strictly, but please be respectful of the theme.

Also, to be clear, bara need not have NSFW content and submissions can simply discuss themes related to the essence of bara to qualify. For example, a story centering around a non-bara character's love of bara manga would be acceptable. Here's some great examples of titles that are bara without the traditional focus on sex:

- It Will Be Hard
- My Brother's Husband (It's a show/manga but it's spirit is appropriate)
- Let's MEAT Adam (A game with muscles and sex but the focus was discussing the trappings of perceived masculinity etc.)

This jam encourages creation of all genres of games and not just visual novels.


Adapted Rules from Yaoi Game Jam 2018:

1. Your game must focus on queer relationships between men OR the queer male experience. This includes: gay, bi, trans, non-binary, aro, ace, pan, any male-identified LGBTQIA characters.

2. At least 1 of the main characters should have the essence of BARA associated with them.

3. This is an inclusive jam and anyone can join. Although uncomfortable subjects can be explored, please be considerate of the themes/material used, and fellow creators/players. Entries that promote bigotry (i.e transphobic/racism) are not allowed.

4. NSFW entries are allowed, but please indicate and flag them as such.

looks really cool Illum! I can write for someone's project if they have a cool idea (can't really do nsfw though- i suck at it lol)

I'm not super experienced when it comes to the Bata genre, but if anyone out there wants to participate and is looking for a proofreader I would be happy to offer my help! ^_^

This looks great!

Ive posted my game on itch.io before and it got pretty much no views compared to gamejolt and newgrounds.

BUT, this kind of thing is really great and I'll definitely be watching and maybe participate.

I support the idea; who would say "no" to such a cute banner boy?

But in October there will be Yuri jam, Rainbow jam and Monster jam already... Maybe moving it to November might be better?

I'm really glad this exists!

If anyone needs an artist in their team feel free to hit me up --I probably won't have time to do a huge amount of work because I'm already tied up in another project for the rest of the year but if someone just needs a couple of sprites I can do that for free just for this jam -- or if someone actually wants to spend money on a jam game, I take commissions too ;) viewtopic.php?f=62&t=27853
I don't really have examples of bara guys in my portfolio but I enjoy drawing buff characters so it'd be fun to participate!

@Scribbles: Haha please don't feel like there needs to be NSFW stuff in any submission to BaraJam, despite how bara tends to have more adult content. I'll be updating the proposed itch.io description today, stating that there are many examples of bara type works that do not contain NSFW/porn content.


@Zelan: I just wanted to say thank you for being the first to let me know about BaraJam's proposed date, clashing with YuriJam. I'll be updating the main post today, but I think it's safe to say that I'll be moving BaraJam to begin in November instead. I really hope you are able to participate.


@rodent: For the record, I love your Bara games and I don't think it'd be quite the same of a jam if you weren't able to join, so I really hope you can. ^_^. It's odd though that itch hasn't been as successful with "Stranded" for example. It's been really good to me, well for Let's MEAT Adam anyways. I'm just waiting for Steam to finally allow Adult content, and then I'll be putting it up there.


@Ertal: Heh, so the mascot was my idea for a chef who creates gourmet jams using exotic ingredients by day...then makes extra cash as the mascot for BaraJam by night lol. His name is "BJ" (its on his chefs hat, if you look carefully). And yes, it does look like I'll be moving BaraJam to November.


@Aviala: Hey! I've been an admirer of your art for some time now! I do hope you can still join despite BaraJam probably being moved to November. Anyone looking to create a game and needs an artist should def hit Aviala up!

@illuminate001 and @rodent I've played both Let's Meet Adam and Stranded and enjoyed them both...I just don't tend to write reviews because I'm an academic and my reviews get too wordy.

I hear Its like I heard my name being called I fully support this endeavor.
Maybe, just maybe, I might throw something together for this event...

I'm not sure I have it in me to participate, but I love the concept and really wanna see more games!

Have a very self-indulgent cutesy little story I could see turning into a small VN. I'll definitely consider my options, if I can find an artist and have the energy to do another jam this year.

rodent wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 12:44 am This looks great!

Ive posted my game on itch.io before and it got pretty much no views compared to gamejolt and newgrounds.

BUT, this kind of thing is really great and I'll definitely be watching and maybe participate.

I hope you consider participating jyagger, I really love your work, and would love to see more from you!

oooh, November should work for me. If anyone is thinking of a fairly simple VN, I could do sprites and/or graphics for it.

I typed a comment here before I don't know what happened and why it vanished but, yeah, I love the idea of seeing more bara contents! I can't participate myself from what I'm seeing in my schedule but I will definitely support the jam in any way possible!

PMscenarios wrote: ↑Wed Aug 15, 2018 8:38 pm I hope you consider participating jyagger, I really love your work, and would love to see more from you!

Thank you!

Oh, I have been toying around with some ideas revolving around 50's masked wrestlers, I should be free enough in November to cook something up.