It is said that perfection is overrated and that creativity works best within some boundaries.

In this game jam, we are going to throw away our perfectionism and just make something stupid and fun, test some ideas, see what works in practice and what doesn't. And we are going to use primarily what's already provided by default with RPG Maker. All those default RTP assets!

Don't try to make some serious, polished masterpiece. Definitely don't treat this jam too seriously and have fun! Make something stupid and fun and/or creative and out-of-the-box for what you usually make. Maybe even something that people would tell you RPG Maker isn't supposed to make. Like a platformer. It most likely won't be much good, but you can learn things doing it that you can use in your serious games.

And try to make it funny.

Whatever you end making might be janky, ridiculous, might not even be much good. But you can learn the most when you try to step out of your comfort zone!

You have 10 days to make a game with any version of RPG Maker that uses primarily default RTP assets of whatever version of RPG Maker you end up using. But don't feel like you have to use all of them. Simply use however much time you can spare for this event!

Choose one Theme for your game.

You have to include your chosen Theme in your game in some way, but it doesn't have to be there in a major way. So long as it is included in some way, it could just be one scene or be referenced in dialogue. This is just to give people direction and to help everyone get into the spirit of this event!

Themes:

1) Epic Quest To Ruin Christmas

2) Ice Dungeon

3) Lair Of The Killer Snowman

4) Lvl 99 Frost Mage

5) Medieval Fantasy Horror Story

6) Dark Lord vs. Dark Lady

7) Healing Potion Shortage

8) Overpowered Skill

9) Worst Gift

10) Snowball Fight

 Bonus Challenges:

As always, these are optional, take them more as suggestions!

1) Use whomever is the default protagonist of your chosen RPG Maker version as a character in your game (Reid or Priscilla for MZ, Harold for MV, Eric or Ralph for VX Ace etc.), have them die during the game and then come back to life with no real explanation.

2) Have there be a part in the game's story where the protagonist wishes for something, with said wish being fulfilled later on in some unexpected way.

3) Include a boss fight with an epic introduction, where the boss is defeated almost instantly after the fight starts.

4) Include a reindeer in your game.

5) Have this line of dialogue show up somewhere in the game: "Everyone out, it's closing time!"

Rules:

1) You can start working on your submission right now, you don't have to wait until the game jam actually "starts".

2) Your game has to be made in any version of RPG Maker (2000, 2003, XP, VX, VX Ace, MV, MZ, Unite).

3) You game has to primarily use the default RTP assets of whatever version of RPG Maker you use to create your game.

4) You CAN use custom assets, but they should be mostly supplemental to the overall game or limited to certain scenes. This is mostly meant for tilesets and character sprites, custom music and sound effects can be used without any limitations.

5) You can use scripts and plugins.

6) You can only use assets you have the rights to use, you have to abide by their Terms of Use and give credit if the Terms of Use of said assets require it. AI-generated assets are allowed, if you disclose their use on the game's project page. This applies even if these originally AI-generated assets are later edited by you. That said, this is only a requirement if there are any AI-generated assets in your game. It doesn't apply if you've used AI-generated images as inspiration or if you've simply asked ChatGPT for coding advice, for example.

7) Abide by the EULA of whichever version of RPG Maker you use to make your game.

8) Abide by itch.io's Terms of Service.

9) Your game has to incorporate one of the Themes of the game jam, at least in some small way.

10) Don't treat this jam too seriously and have fun! Make something stupid and fun and/or creative and out-of-the-box for what you usually make. Maybe even something that people would tell you RPG Maker isn't supposed to make. Like a platformer. It most likely won't be much good, but you can learn things doing it that you can use in your serious games.