Are you just starting out with game development or are you already an experienced game developer? Do you want to create a horror game? Are you looking for a game jam to motivate you to finally finish something? Are you willing to follow a certain theme, in order to find inspiration and maybe try something else you wouldn't normally consider? Whether you plan to make a serious, dark horror masterpiece or a B-movie style game about typical horror movie protagonists going into spooky places where no sane man would ever dare to tread, this game jam is for you! Hopefully, at the end of the game jam you will have something playable you can be proud of!

Theme: Dreadful Nightmare

Bonus Challenges: Unlike the Theme, these are entirely optional. Feel free to do one, two, all of them or ignore them completely.

For this game jam, the optional challenges are the following three:

1 - False Hope: There's a part in the game where what seems to be a safe place to seek shelter in or an exit from the area suddenly disappears or is blocked in some way.

2 - The Dream Is Changing: The game features a sequence where the surrounding environment gradually morphs into a completely different one.

3 - Descent Into Horror: The game starts out as relatively normal or even cheerful, only to gradually descend into horror territory.

Discord: Here's the link to the Discord server!

Rules:

- You can only start working on the actual game project after the submission period starts, but you can start planning and creating/gathering assets and other resources before that time.

- There's no restriction on the Engine, Libraries or Framework you can use to develop your game. Feel free to use Godot, Unity, Unreal Engine, Game Maker Studio, Construct, Pixel Game Maker, Adventure Game Studio, RPG Maker or anything else you want.

- Your game must be a horror game, or atleast have horror elements. It doesn't have to be outright scary, so long as it can even remotely be considered one.

- You can use premade assets, so long as you have the rights/license to use them, abide by their Terms of Use and give credit.

- Your game must incorporate the Theme in some way.

- Abide by itch.io's Terms of Service.

- Provide content warnings for your game if needed.

- Suggestions: Try to include a Browser version of your game if you can. It's not a requirement and you don't have to do so, but you will get a lot more people to play your game if it can be played in a browser.