PISS

"A really well-executed boomer shooter with great hand-crafted visuals, buttery smooth movement, and satisfying gunplay. What really made this one stand out was the level design, with lots of attention to detail and little breakaways that encouraged exploration to find health packs and the coveted SMG. The hand-drawn art style added a lot of charm and the spinning crosshair was a great detail. Overall one of the most well-rounded entries."

Delivery Glider

"This game had us hooked for a long time. The core loop of trying to eek out just a bit more distance to get a higher reward and then upgrading your glider really creates a powerful hook. We especially loved how the game flow changes after your first and even second run, with a different pacing and focus. For a game this small, this has a surprising amount of meaningful decisions to make. The glider physics feel satisfying. A very well balanced entry with a strong theme and core loop. Congratulations!"

They came from The Screens

"This game's noir art style was one of the most unique out of all of the entries, and the scene setting was incredibly executed. The first brawl scene definitely set the tone for the rest of the game, hectic and challenging but with a lot of style. The game also leaned heavily on its Cinema theme, with the enemies having a grainy film look and the pause menu being a clapperboard with crew "names" as the options, which was an awesome touch. It's a stylish entry with a lot of good taste."

Top 10 showcase and interviews

The theme of the jam is:

Now That's What I Call A Theme!

Pick your own theme that provides the perfect flavor for your game! Craft your entry with any theme of your choice. The more you lean into it-, the more obvious-, and the more integrated-, the better your theme score will be.

In addition to the theme, more judging score can be gained via:

The Perfect Loop

Focusing on tight, fun, iterative gameplay. Remember the short and sweet gameplay loop mechanics of the classics.

Let your creativity run wild, create the most addictive loop, embrace freedom!

Do you remember the heyday of game development? Unbridled enthusiasm. A new frontier. New technologies. Passionate men pushing the medium further and further, pursuing their own visions instead of bending to the demands of corporations, trends, or checklist design.

Those days are still here. They were never a moment in time. They are a state of mind.

Revive the spirits of the good old days without being revisionist. Utilize new tech to make good games, combine the best of the past, present, and future of game development.

Just make great fun games unshackled from the suffocation of modernity and "The Message"

The Back in the Game Jam features a total prize pool of at-least $250, split between top three submissions.

Prizes will be distributed via either PayPal, Itch.io, or Steam Gifts at your request.

The official channel for the jam is hosted by the Gamedev Monastery.

A Discord server for Gamedevs who tread their own path. Join us, find a team and share your progress and approach with others!

The judges are made up of experienced game developers and gamers.

Criteria

Since we want unshackled game development there are not many rules, but we do have a few:

• Avoid AI-Generated assets. Make your own stuff even if it's just colored rectangles. This is about the craft.

• No asset flips. Original work is strongly encouraged.

• Games should be stream-friendly.

• If joining as a team you need to assign one person to receive the prize. It is up to you to distribute the prize within the team.

• Games must be made for the jam.

• We reserve the right to disqualify submissions.

• Staff-, admins-, and moderators-, of The Gamedev Monastery can not win any prizes and may only participate for fun.

• Judges can not win any prizes and may only participate for fun.