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We don't impose any rules on that sort of thing.

The judge pass is required for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place, prize or no.  Submissions that do not have judge passes are not put in for consideration for the top 3 places.

Which part?  Or did you mean overall?

It connects to Twitch to get events from it to drive most things in the game.  From there you can interact with things or set up custom reactions to cause things to happen based on what happens in your streams.

If you're curious about a specific aspect of Chat is Cooked, let me know.  I could go into the basics of how to use it or talk about how the tech works. 

I wanted to let you know that I got your e-mail, and I'm working on implementing the suggestions you made.  I am admittedly dogwater at UI, so this was super appreciated.

Thank you so much, I'm glad you like it!  

You're welcome to do it here or send me an e-mail over at [edit: removed e-mail address because spammers]

That's my mistake!  Thanks for pointing that out, I got it corrected.  Let me know if there's anything you'd like to see in it or if you have any problems!

Hey there!  In OBS make sure when you set up your game capture for Chat is Cooked, you check off 'Allow Transparency' in the properties.  OBS leaves this off by default.  Should clear it right up!

Thanks for letting me know!  I'm  relieved someone else gave it a shot.

I did leave some miscolored text in the UI in the reaction menu but I need to check the dashboard if it was there too!

It will be, though with my financial goals being what they are at the moment it might be a bit.  

I think the part you're missing here is that treatment of the subject is often mishandled, and while one person might not see it as glorifying, another might.  The rule is as it stands, and the recommendation is less commentary on the rule than it is how often people run afoul to it on accident.

Because my recommendations are not rules, just guidance to improve people's odds during the competition.  

Yep, demos are fine for submission.  

Yep, we download all of the games, so you need to have a downloadable option.

You can participate and even win solo.

There are no limits to the size of the team, though I will warn you larger teams typically have their own problems and rarely make it into the finals if they're competing.

We've had Night in the Woods style submissions before.  If you're making navigation only in the side scroller, that should be fine but if you're making some other type of gameplay with the side scrolling, it would probably get pulled for not being a VN.

Generally it's acceptable as long as the entirety of what is in your submission was something you made within the running period.  If you bring in assets, code, writing, etc. from before the start of the jam, it would be disqualified.

We're fairly flexible with it as long as you're at leaset in the ballpark of narrative games.  Chat sims are even a category this year.

There is no rule regarding length/time to complete, but if you are competing I would suggest aiming for 7.5k-10k with a complete story. 

The judges are looking for reasonably short but complete experiences.

Gore and disfigurement is permitted but as a judge I recommend it in moderation if you are competing for ranked prizes.

We don't distribute prize winnings through any other method than through Itch.IO's own payment system.  Anything compatible with it will work with our prize distributions.

No.

Blood, and psychological themes are generally fine.

Gore and disfigurement is permitted but as a judge I recommend it in moderation if you are competing for ranked prizes.

You cannot demonstrate/instruct, glorify, or issue a statement of intent of suicide,. You've omitted in your quotes.  There are a few exceptions to this, such as instances of noble sacrifice where the desired outcome isn't strictly self-destruction.  As the host of the jam, I would recommend staying far away from suicide as a type of content, as your entry can be pulled, ranked or not, if any of the judges feels it violates that rule.  Visually depicting the act of suicide, or the immediate aftermath of one always violates the rule.

We tend to be fairly permissive when it comes to what we allow.  Minigames and exploration are usually okay, but the primary focus of the visual novel should be the reading moreso than anything else.

Movement and navigation is usually fine as long as things like combat aren't introduced.

Hey there.  Just reaching out about the Spooktober Visual Novel Jam asset bundle!  We need approvals for it to continue.  Can you go here and approve when you have a moment?  https://itch.io/bundle/3846/edit

Hey there! Just reaching out about the Spooktober Visual Novel Asset Bundle!  We need approvals in order to get it started, can you go here and submit your approval? 

https://itch.io/bundle/3846/edit

Hey there!  Just reaching out about the Spooktober Visual Novel Asset Bundle!  I need to collect approvals from everyone who submitted and you're still pending.  

If you could head here and hit approve, I'd appreciate it! https://itch.io/bundle/3846/edit  We unfortunately can't start until we have enough approvals.

Hey there.  I'm reaching out to try to get you to approve yourself for the bundle.  Can you check your itch.io e-mail or go here? https://itch.io/bundle/3846/edit 

Hey there!  Your approval for the inclusion of this pack is outstanding.  Please complete the approval here ASAP.  The bundle cannot go live until we have enough approvals.  https://itch.io/bundle/3846/edit

There are no engine restrictions for general participation.

To be eligible for the Best Light.VN submission and best NaniNovel submission, you do have to use those specific engines, otherwise you're welcome to use whatever engine at your disposal.

See title.  Don't do it.

Yep.  It can be Halloween related but not spooky, or it can be spooky but not Halloween related, or it can be both.  All of those work.

Quick reminder that Spooktober does not allow NSFW entries.  You didn't explicitly say it would be NSFW, but it feels like you may be wanting to go that direction.

https://discord.gg/VabcAmJGVB?event=1532120752902504479

Judge passes are required for presenters only!   You can purchase judge passes from the community Patreon, no subscription required!

Come join us in voice and text to help find teams and team members for Spooktober! This is the best time to find teammates and teams to participate with. Voice participation is encouraged, but not required!

The Meet & Greets happen in DevTalk, the Visual Novel Developer Network's discord server!  In the open Meet & Greets, participants can either listen in or raise their hands when asked to.  The host will ask each volunteer to speak on stage or submit their written responses to be read out by one of the co-hosts.  Be prepared to answer the following questions:

1. Who are you and what team do you represent if any?
2. What are you looking for?
3. Give us a short pitch of your skills or project
4. Answer the ice breaker question, TBD the day of.

You are permitted to give a short presentation lasting no more than 7 minutes of your pitch or skill offerings for teams. In order to present, you must confirm your judge pass with the host.

After all volunteers have been taken, an open floor session will start, where any number of volunteers may raise to hand to speak together on stage with each other and the hosts.