Submissions open from 2026-10-21 12:00:00 to 2026-11-22 04:59:00
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Do you love to design characters? Are you looking for a jam to help spruce up your concept art/design portfolio while also making a project you can show off?

Then welcome to:

🍂Character Design Jam!🍂

A jam dedicated to showcasing strong character designs in games!

Character design is the art of giving a visual identity to a concept or idea for a person, object, monster, etc...

Chances are if you've played a game, you've interacted with character design in some way!

For the duration of a month, you'll be responsible for designing characters fitting the theme of the jam and documenting your conceptual process. Your final game should be a stage for these designs to shine in terms of worldbuilding, environmental design, and character writing. 


Judging

Judges:

suojin

nizz

tapewormslurper

basiltaztic


The judges will be critiquing your submission with these criteria in mind:

  1. Are the character designs in your game strong in both conception and execution? Is there a noticeable level of skill to how you design with shape language, color theory, costume design, etc.

 2. On their own, do the character designs tell the story of the character? If I were to take your design out of the context of the game and place them on a lineup, would I be able to hit the major points of who they are what they're supposed to represent?

3. Adding on to the previous point, how does the character reflect their environment? If the character seems like they weren't made with story or worldbuilding in mind, then it's not a strong design!

4. Writing is important, as well! Does the writing in your game compliment or detract from the character design? Do you play exactly to the design or do you subvert expectations? Get creative! 

If this sounds like a lot, don't worry! We want this jam to be open to everyone regardless of where you're at on your art journey. As long as you're working creatively, we want to see whatever you make! 


Theme

To be announced!

Prizes

First place: $100 USD + Art of your game from the judges!

Second Place: $50 USD + Art of your game from the judges!

Third Place: $30 USD + Art of your game from the judges!

If you are participating on the team, please work together to figure out how to distribute prize money. The host and judges are not responsible for disputes between team members regarding payment splitting and assume the person receiving the prize money will distribute fairly to the rest of the team. 

If you're interested in adding more to the prize pool, please contact suojin!


Game Rules

1. All submissions must follow the theme of the jam, which will be announced on this page once the jam starts.

2. Your character designs MUST BE YOUR OWN. We encourage everyone to form teams if they wish, but all content made must be made by the team itself. Basically, don't steal designs from other people. 

(Note: Since we would like for the characters to be original to this jam, please also avoid using your own pre-existing characters or existing characters from other IPs. Everything should be ORIGINAL!)

3. 18+ themes are allowed, but please ensure all topics that may be triggering are given proper content warnings on the game page or in the game. 

4. Any content that is deemed bigoted or harmful in terms of stereotypes or perpetuating hate speech will be disqualified. Be respectful. 

5. Since the judges will be examining the game on the basis of the character designs and writing, the actual game itself does not need to be "full release" quality. Demos or proof of concepts are entirely fine, as long as they are playable. Do note that we are still looking for polish and effort, and strive to make a finished game. This rule is only in place so you do not feel pressured in case you have a tight schedule or will not be able to make the deadline in time.

6. Along with the game itself, you must submit some proof of conceptualization, whether that's concept art, planning documents, notes, or even process videos. Feel free to submit as much or as little as you like. You can either submit it by including it in the game as a gallery of sorts, on the game page as a devlog update, or as a downloadable file on the game page. We want to see what your process looks like!


Technical Rules

1. Your game must be able to run on Windows. Mac, Linux, and Android APKs are encouraged but not required.

2. All participants must be 18+.

3. NO GENERATIVE AI ALLOWED. This includes coding, concept art, writing, everything. Start from scratch and use your brain. This jam is testing your ability to conceptualize and materialize character designs and stories from your own hand. Any suspected use of AI or LLMs will result in disqualification. 

4. All development must take place during the duration of the jam. Using pre-existing code, public domain materials, and free-to-use assets is allowed and encouraged, but please limit the actual creation of the game to the jam timeframe. 

5. Games must be free to download. Suggested donations or optional payment is allowed. Feel free to make the game paid once the jam voting has concluded.

6. Judging has no deadline, and will depend on the number of submissions. We will update this page with the winners and reach out once the judging has concluded.



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