🔪Ryona Yuri VN Jam🔨

This is going to hurt - now with a $600 prize pool!!!

Hello everyone, and welcome to a new jam for a new year. Let's all start the year off with a bang - and make some dark and painful stories.

What is Ryona?

The wikipedia definition is that:

The word ryona (リョナ, ryona; a portmanteau of ryōki ("seeking the bizarre") and onanī ("masturbation")) is a type of sexual fetish in hentai wherein a protagonist is subject to sexual, physical, or psychological abuse from an offender. The term is mostly used in connection to Japanese culture, although the themes of misogyny, misandry, sadomasochism, schadenfreude, compassion, exoticism, and extreme erotica is seen in many other cultures.

Some definitions exclude things like gore. I won't be doing that (because I am a gore fan). I am just looking for games that subject a character or characters to "sexual, physical, or psychological abuse from an offender" - regardless of how that happens.

Also, while some definitions or understanding of the word places a focus on men hurting women, this is the - Ryona Yuri VN Jam - so lets make some women hurt each other.

Now, about that prize pool - this game jam has been ANONYMOUSLY SPONSORED WITH $600!!! The team of judges shall work to select our 3 favorite games, which will each be sent $200 (to be split amongst their teams). Also, games will be considered for the prize whether they are submitted on itch, or they are submitted to me via email.

The judges for this jam are: Nenmyx of Howling Angel Games, Lap, and Me! (Fisher). We will read through all the entries (combined, although ideally we all read every entry) and select 3 winners. Everyone who worked hard enough to submit again will have someone that reads it. I'll also be reblogging entries I see on bsky or things tagged #ryonajam and I encourage folks to do the same!

Some examples of Ryona visual novels I enjoy:

Part Of Me Loves You - (I helped make this!)

With Reckless Abandon - (Made by co-judge, Howling Angel Games)

HEATWAVE - (Excellent. If you are unfamiliar then you should play it.)

Victim Doll - (Alright, this one isn't yuri, but I *do* really like it.) 

Want to team-build or chat with other people joining in the jam? Here's a discord link for all the jams I run. Looking for resources and assets to help make your game? Check out my links and resources page.

Also - consider checking out Noise Jam 2 - which allows you to start working on your submission early. You are welcome to create a game during Ryona Yuri Jam that also fits with Noise Jam and submit to both. (and in general, crossjam games are allowed.)

📝Rules for Stories:

1. While this is the Ryona Yuri VN Jam, Gender Fuckery is allowed. I'm not trying to police the gender here, if it feels like yuri then it is.
2. I would like to explicitly say NSFW entries are allowed, and entries with heavy topics are allowed. In fact, I expect that many of them will be in one of those categories, and look forward to it. Just make sure you tag your entries appropriately.
3. Be mindful of harmful stereotypes or games that come off as malicious towards the reader; There are no specific things that are off-limits, however we may disqualify entries based on our own judgement. (E.g., a game that treats suicide or self-harm as cheap shock value instead of telling something interesting with it.)
4. While the stories themselves can have characters or interactions that are bigoted, I do not want entries that promote bigotry! BE NICE.

🖥️🤓TECHNICAL RULES:

1. Ren'Py is HIGHLY PREFERRED, however any engine/framework which can create visual novels that are playable for all win, linux and mac are permitted.
2. All members involved in a team and the game jam have to be legal adults (18+).
3. This is an unranked game jam, however Nenmyx and I will be selecting our three favorite entries.
4. There will be no ETA for when the judging will be complete. It will depend on how many entries are submitted.
5. No paid games as submissions. Once the judging has concluded you are free to do what you want with your submission.
6. This jam will accept entries with NSFW, heavy and uncomfortable themes, but they are meant to be tagged appropriately.
7. While development should take place within the jam time frame, the usage of pre-existing free to use, public domain, creative commons, etc. resources is allowed and encouraged. (Planning, sketching, or outlining before the jam is fine. If you make something that will end up in the final game before the jam starts, then that's not fine.)
8. The usage of generative AI for your submission is forbidden. If you personally don't think you're very good at a particular artistic endeavor (e.g., art, music, writing), we would still rather see your best and most sincere attempt than generated assets.

📝🖥️Additional submission rules (optional):

Before the deadline, you upload your game to itch. If you are worried it may break itch TOS, you can submit your VN to fishersgamejams(at)gmail(dot)com following this format:

1. Your studio/group/artist name(s)
2. A download link or website that has your VN in Windows, Linux, and Mac builds. (some sort of online file-share system is ok for this)
3. A 128x128 png of a logo/image to represent your team or VN
4. Links to any websites or social medias you want shown alongside your game
5. The best method to get in contact if you win the prize! (If you are working with a team, make sure you discuss how to split the prize in advance.)

I recommend making your own website or itch page to host your game on so that way you can make updates to it, even if I am offering to host some of the games on my website.