Cookie Cutter RM2k3 Jam and Demon's Keep

pixie forest by peb

I still can't believe this one is happening. After being lightly bullied into it by some gamedev friends, I pulled the trigger on a game jam idea I've had in my back-pocket. I made a handful of maps in RPGMaker 2003, and challenged friends to make a complete game using only the maps I made. You can read the complete jam rules here.

The response has been insane! This is the first game jam I've run on Itch, and we've already gotten seventeen entries and counting. Over fifty people have joined the jam! I've played about half the entries so far, and I'm having a blast. The gamedev channel on the Socks discord has been popping off constantly since the jam started. The vibes have been warm and supportive and exactly what I'd want from an event like this.

Descent to the Underworld by onamint

RPGMaker 2003 is on sale on Steam for $2 until the 23rd. There are still nine days left on the jam — please feel free to jump in! Make a big epic project or a tiny shitpost or anything in-between, all are welcome.

I finished my entry, Demon's Keep, in about ten days. My aim was to make a Completely Normal RPG using the template maps, then balance and present it as tightly as I could with the RPGMaker skillset I've built up over the years. I think it turned out really good — give it a play, along with everyone else's submissions! I thought I'd be an early entry (and give friends a "normal game" baseline to bounce off and twist in wild directions), but instead a bunch of folks beat me to the punch. 

I couldn't be happier or more humbled by the response. I love to see a mix of gamedev vets and complete newcomers joining the jam. There are a lot of entries that are friends' very first uploads to itch! I hope to run (or help run) more events like this in the future. I get a tremendous amount of satisfaction from helping empower folks to make art.